WASHINGTON, D.C. --- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) have released a new guideline to help states collect consistent, reliable data on vehicle collisions.

The new guideline has been posted with other updated background information on www.mmucc.us.

Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC) is a voluntary guideline for crash data that can ultimately be used for identifying traffic safety problems, establishing goals and performance measures, monitoring the progress of programs, and allocating resources for enforcement, engineering and education.

Some of America's leading traffic safety experts worked together to develop and update the guideline, including representatives from groups in safety, engineering, emergency medical services, law enforcement, the research community and federal agencies.

First published in 1998, the guideline has been updated every five years since, and MMUCC compliance among states has steadily increased during that time.

"MMUCC has allowed states all across America to significantly improve the quality of the crash data they collect, which is an invaluable asset for effective implementation of highway safety programs," said Barbara Harsha, the executive director of GHSA and a member of the expert panel that oversaw development of the 3rd Edition, MMUCC (2008). "Updating MMUCC every five years has allowed us to address emerging issues such as distracted driving and all-terrain vehicle crashes, and the collaborative approach to updating the guideline has played a key role in keeping it current."

To help encourage states to become MMUCC compliant, Traffic Safety Information System Improvement Grants are available under Section 408 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the current federal transportation legislation. In order to receive one of the grants, a state must certify that it has adopted and uses model data elements identified by the U.S. secretary of transportation or that it will use Section 408 grant funds toward adopting and using the maximum number of such model data elements as soon as practicable.