DOT Hosts Intermodal Safety Data Conference

Contact BTS 5-00 Carole Zok 202-366-5694

Tuesday, April 11, 2000 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today hosted the first intermodal conference on safety data.

The conference brought together some of the most influential members of the transportation community to discuss the critical role data collection plays in reducing transportation-related accidents.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater and Deputy Secretary Mortimer L. Downey participated in the day-long conference along with the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) Director Ashish Sen and other senior DOT officials.

More than 2,000 of the nation’s key transportation stakeholders have been invited to participate in this "Safety in Numbers" event in Arlington, Va. The objective of the conference is to improve the timeliness, relevancy and quality of safety data and to develop an action plan that includes recommendations from across the transportation community.

The Department also sought feedback on a draft safety data action plan which is available for review on the BTS website at www.bts.gov.

Persons not able to attend the event but who want to view the proceedings may do so via a live webcast through the BTS website. Viewing the webcast requires "RealPlayer" software. The website provides information about obtaining a free copy of the software and detailed installation instructions.

The conference was conducted in response to the U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater’s 1999 National Transportation Safety Conference where stakeholders identified better data collection and reporting across all jurisdictions as one of the top priorities for improving safety. It also supported the DOT top strategic goal of "Promoting the public health and safety by working toward the elimination of transportation-related deaths, injuries, and property damage."