Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
What Constitutes a Road Traffic Accident?
• Defined as an accident on the public highway involving an injury to a person to which the police and/or the emergency services have been summoned.
• Sometimes called a Person Injury Accident or P.I.A
• Statutory duty on the Police and Highways Authorities to record traffic accidents
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
How is Data Collected?
• Police must record details of the accident
• Details entered on ‘STATS19’ form
• Separate details for vehicles and casualties
• Up to 100 fields to complete
• Very comprehensive record
STATS19 Record
1. Accident Cause
Driver error
Manoeuvre error
Causation Factors Driver Pedestrian Vehicle Local conditions Obscuration
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
STATS19 Record
2. Location Data Road name and number Road layout Road class and type Pedestrian crossing details Junction type and control Weather and lighting conditions
Road surface Carriageway hazards
Ordnance survey grid reference Sketch plan showing accident details
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
STATS19 Record
3. Vehicle Information Registration number (removed by LA) Make/Model Vehicle Type Vehicle manoeuvre Impact details Skidding/overturning details Collision Type Impact and damage details
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
STATS19 Record
4. Driver Details
Age/Sex
Breath tested
Hit and Run
Address/Postcode
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
STATS19 Records
5. Casualty Details Age/Sex Severity
Fatal / Serious / Slight Road user class
Car driver or passenger Pedestrian cyclist
Pedestrian details Location and movement
Passenger details
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
The West Midlands Case Study
Data collected and processed by West Midlands Police since early 1970’s
First computerised by West Midlands County Council in 1974
Responsibility passed to West Midlands Joint Data Team in 1986
Currently managed by Mott MacDonald in Public/Private Partnership
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
The West Midlands Case Study
1974 - 1980 ICL Mainframe Relational Database
1980 - 1998 Mainframe unformatted flat file
FORTRAN66 software Processing, Interrogation and Analysis routines 10,000 accident records per annum Networked to seven West Midlands Districts
1998 to date. PC Server
Called JSYS-ACCIDENTS ACCESS database VISUAL BASIC software MAPINFO GIS interface
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
JSYS-ACCIDENTS
Consists of Four Modules
Data Entry and Processing Data Validation Data Interrogation Data Analysis
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
JSYS-ACCIDENTS
1. Data Entry and Processing
Carried out by West Midlands Police
Accidents located directly on to OS digital maps
Data punched directly into PC from STATS19 using customised data entry screens
Accidents located automatically using GIS tools
Validation tools to ‘nudge’ accidents
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
JSYS-ACCIDENTS
2. Data Validation
Carried out by Local Authority staff (jdt)
Add local highway features
junction numbering link numbering pedestrian crossings road kilometrage
Accident updates and edits
Scanned accident diagrams
Masterfile updates.
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
JSYS-ACCIDENTS
3. Data Interrogation
Single accident by accident number by selection within GIS window
Multiple Accident Selection by Location by junction reference number by road name and number by kilometrage by selected links by selected area within polygon
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
JSYS-ACCIDENTS
3. Data Interrogation - continued
Multiple Accident Selection by Description Severity Causation Age Lighting Location etc. etc.
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
JSYS-ACCIDENTS
4. Data Analysis
Network Analysis
Trend Analysis
Blacksite Analysis
Density Analysis
Cluster Analysis
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
JSYS-ACCIDENTS
Data Output and Presentation Text Output
Single line output Full English Summary Matrix output
Graphical Output ‘Stick’ Diagrams Graphs, Pie-Charts etc
Mapping Output Density Plots Dot Distributions Multiple Accident Plots
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
Uses for Accident Data Systems
Identification of Accident Black-Spots
Analysis of Causal Factors
Specific Accident Problems
Identification of accident frequencies and locations by specific accident type
Trend analysis and monitoring
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis
Uses for Accident Data
Accident Remedial Measures
Traffic Management Measures
Traffic Calming
Specific junction and link treatments
Traffic Safety Audits
In other words
Making Roads Safer
Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis