The Transportation Department has initiated a national competition for interested participants to examine surface transportation risks with the use of data analytics technology.
DOT said Monday its Solving for Safety: Visualization Challenge seeks to encourage data scientists, local government workers, technologists, academic and safety professionals to visualize data that can offer insights into highway safety challenges.
The contest is part of the Safety Data Initiative that aims to leverage stakeholder expertise in data integration, visualization and predictive approaches meant to help DOT protect transportation systems.
Participants will compete over the next six months for a $350,000 grand prize.
“Recent innovations in data analytics and visualization tools give us the potential to understand risk at the system level, and to develop tools and discover insights that will lead to new, life-saving strategies that address injuries and fatalities on our roadways,” said Derek Kan, DOT’s undersecretary for policy.
The department noted that analytic tools may help mitigate risks by forming clear data visualizations of factors such as weather, road conditions and time of day that potentially contribute to crashes.