Barry Storey

jdt / Mott MacDonald

Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis

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

Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis

- Processing Module

Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis

- Accident Diagram

Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis

- ‘Stick Diagram’

Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis

- Summary of Accidents

Road Traffic AccidentsData Management and Analysis

- Accidents by Type