Summary
S4A is Florida’s crash-query front end (long/short form reports, geocoded). Standard pull = 5 most recent complete years, corridor or intersection polygon, export CSV + report PDFs for the fatal/serious.
When to use
Any safety study, TIA safety section, calming justification, corridor screening.
Steps
- Define study geography FIRST (writing: “[Route] from X to Y incl. intersections within 250 ft” — record exactly; reviewers ask). Draw polygon/buffer accordingly.
- Date range: 5 complete calendar years (note if latest year is provisional/incomplete — S4A flags data currency).
- Filters: on/off system as needed; keep both long & short forms unless told otherwise; note S4A’s non-redacted access rules (user agreement) — treat person data as confidential.
- Export: CSV of all records + summary dashboards; save raw export untouched (
_RAW), work on a copy. - Immediately log in project note: pull date, geography definition, years, filters. This paragraph goes verbatim into the report methodology.
- Spot-verify 3 crashes against report PDFs (location snapping errors are common near interchanges/parallel roads).
Free companions
- FDOT SSOGis Crash Query Tool — the no-login alternative when you don’t have an S4A agreement: query By Shape or By Value, up to 5,000 records per public pull, plus ARCA/CRASH project layers
- FLHSMV Crash Dashboard — topline statewide stats from the official records custodian for report narratives; full long-form reports purchasable after the confidentiality window
- FDOT crash-records explainer — who holds what, the 60-day exemption under s.119.07 F.S., and what’s shareable; read this before forwarding raw records to a client.
Cleaning gotchas
Duplicate report numbers; crashes geocoded to wrong parallel facility; “SR/US/local name” aliases splitting one corridor; intersection-vs-segment assignment near ramp termini.
Example application
A recent corridor safety pull followed exactly this shape — fold the cleaning scripts it produced into Starter Automation Projects.
Cross-links: How to Summarize 5-Year Crash Data · the Signal Four entry in MOC - Data Sources
Practice question
A crash shows on the frontage road but narrative says mainline — which controls, and what do you document?
QA/QC reminder
Geography definition + pull date recorded, or the pull didn’t happen.