Botanical Garden of the
University of Valencia
(Spain) 14-15/June/07
Urban Traffic Accident data collection and
analysis in Europe: Survey study
Urban Accident
Analysis Systems
Project co-financed by the European Commission,
Directorate-General Transport and Energy
(TREN-03-ST-S07.30828)
(TREN-03-ST-S07.30828)
Carlos Martínez Pérez
[Objective]::
Stages of the study
Obtain an approximation of the characteristics of the
current accident collection and analysis systems carried
out at the local and European level.
Prior stage: Convention with the DGT. Survey about
urban traffic accident data management in Spain.
1st Stage: European Survey “A” sent to contacts - expert
in traffic - in different European countries.
2nd Stage: European Survey “B” from the results obtained
in the previous stages.
[2]
[Prior stage:
Observatorio Nacional de Seguridad Vial
Spain]::
Description
The survey on Urban traffic accident data management contains 87 items of
different type, Likert scale type, of multiple answers, single answer, and open
question.
The items refer to:
Descriptive characteristics
Accident rate evaluation
Police forces and traffic management
Specific training
Procedures (information record, management, analysis…)
Resources (materials, questionnaires, programmes…)
Representativity (under-reporting)
Data quality (under-recording, biases,…)
Analysis possibilities and information usefulness
Monitoring within 30 days
Identification of strong and weak points, new ideas
Complaints and actions of accident prevention
Collection of the documentation used
Objective: To diagnose the situation of the procedures, systems and quality of the
collection of traffic accident questionnaire information in urban areas with municipal
competences in traffic in Spain. To study the current information needs by analysing
and identifying the main deficits and deficiencies in the use of data collection and
codification.
[3]
[Prior stage:
Observatorio Nacional de Seguridad Vial
[4]
Spain]::
Study stages
Sample
Establishment of a Technical Commission of multidisciplinary work of which function
has been to put together the fundamental contents of the survey and evaluate each
item, through the achievement of a pilot test.
Elaboration of a first version “pilot survey-questionnaire". Study, evaluation and
modification of the contents and design of the definitive version of the survey .
Design of the sample distribution based on the size of the population. For that, a
minimum size of 5.000 inhabitants is considered, establishing layers from the
following points of cut: 20.000, 50.000, 150.000 and 500.000. This raises groups of
accumulated population enough approximate. With that all the great cities are
covered, reducing the coverage as the size of population reduces .
Sending of the survey.
Follow up of the reception of the survey and use of different reminder strategies to
collect the information.
Entry of the questionnaires received and analysis of the information.
Writing of a final report in which the study carried out and the most important
results are commented and explained, and a diagnosis and the main conclusions are
extracted.
[1st Stage:
European Survey
A]::
Description
The European Survey “A” sent to several contacts – expert in traffic – contains 24
items of different type; with many open questions.
Objective:
The items refer to:
[5]
To receive feedback about the adequacy of the selected procedures to distribute the
survey to the police agents in charge of the urban traffic accidents.
To know some main characteristics about the urban traffic accident management in
each country, aiming to avoid terminological confusions.
Instrument of decision to design one or several surveys.
Police forces competent in urban traffic accidents
Organizations competent to take the decisions about traffic
Addresses of the contacts
Documents used by the police to collect information
Organisation that carries out urban accident rate statistics
Use of specific software
Actions carried out to improve the data quality, reliability and management
Negative or improvable aspects of the current collection systems
Best practices
[2nd Stage:
European Survey
B]::
Description
The “B” survey is aimed at the police
forces competent on urban accidents
in the different European countries
Objective: To obtain an
approximation of the characteristics
of the current accident rate collection
and analysis systems carried out at
the local level in Europe. Concretely:
Collection systems
Data management
Data storage
Main identified problems
The survey has been sent in three
languages (English, French, Spanish)
and it could be filled in on paper or
on-line.
The European Survey “B” contains 39
items of different type; Likert type
scale, multiple answer, single
answer, and open question.
The items refer to:
[6]
The characteristics of the
municipality
Accident rate information
Specific training of the police
Completion of statistical
questionnaires
Collection systems
Identification of strong and weak
points, new ideas
Accident rate evaluation
[European Surveys ]::
Sample
Sample:
CUAAS survey: Spain
A Survey : 12 countries
B Survey : 14 countries
Surveys received from :
Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Estonia, The Netherlands,
Italy, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania,
Luxembourg,
Poland,
Romania,
Slovakia,
Slovenia,
Sweden,
Switzerland, United Kingdom and
Spain.
No answer from:
Austria, France, Portugal, Eire,
Denmark, Finland, Malta, Latvia,
Norway and Croatia.
19 countries +
Spain
[7]
Switzerland
and Cyprus
[Main results]::
Police action, traffic accident
competences and management
Almost all the countries that answer the European
survey point out that in their cities they do have
traffic units (i.e. that exclusively attend traffic and
road safety questions). The police generally do not
depend on the Town Council except for Estonia,
Luxembourg, Poland and Spain.
Most of the police agents in charge of the urban
accidents are competent in the roads that belong to
the municipality:
[8]
State or regional unique police forces: The polices of
the Czech Republic, Estonia, Sweden, Slovenia,
Luxembourg and Poland are competent in urban
zones and in motorways.
Motorway police forces different from the ones that
act in urban zones: In Spain, Belgium, Germany,
Hungary, the Netherlands and France.
The coexistence of several police forces is usual,
most of the time with different action scopes and
sometimes shared like in Italy. The disparity of
territorial competences and distributions of the
different polices makes the comparison very
difficult.
[Main results]::
Police training
According to the surveyed polices:
Formación especializada en Europa
100
Hungary and Belgium are the only
countries in which the police in charge of
the accident data collection have not
received any specific training.
The Czech Republic facilitates training
with practical experience.
Switzerland and United Kingdom train the
departments according to the task they
fulfil (e.g.: Switzerland trains the agents
that collect data only for the questionnaire
completion).
In Spain, according to the CUAAS Survey,
50% of the police are trained for filling in
statistical questionnaires. 43% on the
DGT questionnaire.
Europa
España
90
80
70
Porcentaje
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Formación
Cumplimentación
de cuestionario
Investigación de
accidentes
Reconstrucción
In Spain, the size of the town is a decisive
factor for the training of the agents.
The smaller training for statistical
questionnaires in Spain as for the SAU survey
may be due to the size of the municipalities
that answer the survey.
[9]
[Main results]::
Traffic accident definition
The traffic accident definition causes divergences among European
countries, so this does not allow an accurate comparison of the accident
rate between the countries.
WHO definition: traffic accident is the accident in which there is at least one
vehicle involved in a public road or in a private road allowing the access to
the public and in which, there is at least one fatality or injured person.
Germany, Luxembourg and United Kingdom answer that the definition of the
traffic accident in their country does not correspond to the WHO definition.
Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania,
Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland and Spain do adopt this definition, even
though the nuance of the incorporation of the damage only accidents is
made.
[10]
[Main results]::
Traffic accident definition
[11]
[Main results]::
Traffic accident definition
[12]
[Main results]::
Data collection
Documentation
There are no differences between the
documents that generates an accident in
motorway or in urban area in any of the
surveyed countries except for Germany.
Except for Sweden, Germany and Estonia, all
the countries have to fill in several
documents to collect all the accident
information.
However, we have to bear in mind that:
The needs of the urban information are
different from the motorway ones.
[13]
The management characteristics are
different and more varied.
The
available
means
in
the
municipalities are not always sufficient.
The coexistence of different police forces in
charge of collecting traffic accident
information
makes
necessary
the
establishment of standardized procedures to
collect, manage, exploit or analyse the
accident rate data.
[Main results]::
Collection of information “in situ”
Objective: to know what is the methodology used to collect accident data in the place where
it happens.
Î Own form (in paper) developed for that purpose
Î Free notes
Î Entry of the data directly in a laptop
Î Directly in the national statistical questionnaire
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary,
Romania, Switzerland, Sweden and
United Kingdom directly collect the
information if the national statistical
questionnaire.
In the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland the
data is directly entered in a laptop. In
Spain, this methodology is used by 3,1%
of the surveyed municipalities.
Recogida de información en el lugar del accidente
90
80
Europa
España
70
60
Porcentaje
50
40
30
20
10
0
Formulario propio
[14]
Toma de notas
Portátil
Formulario
estadístico nacional
[Main results]::
Questionnaire for the accident statistics
Î In all the countries there is a compulsory national statistical questionnaire. (In Germany it
is integrated in the computer system).
Î The statistical questionnaire is the same for all the accidents with casualties (slight,
serious or fatal). Luxembourg has a statistical questionnaire for the fatal accidents.
ÎIt is like that is spite of the fact that:
Î In the slight accidents there is less time for intervention.
Î The training of the agents that attend these accidents use to be smaller.
Î The investigation procedure is much more lower than the one carried out for
more serious accidents.
Î In many cases, the police are not present.
[15]
Added to this questionnaire, several countries report the existence of local traffic accident
questionnaires that are also filled in in case of accidents with casualties. (Belgium, Hungary,
Switzerland, Spain).
Countries like Slovenia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Luxembourg, Romania,
Switzerland and Spain report the existence of other specific questionnaires for damage-only.
Moreover, in several countries, special accidents are recorded no matter its severity: alcohol
related, with the police…
[Main results]::
Entry and sending of the statistical information
All the countries fill in and send the accident rate statistical questionnaires to one or several
central organizations in their country (National database, Scientific Institutes, National Service of
Statistics, Police Central Office, National Council of Road Safety, General Directorate of
Roads…).
There are differences between the countries in connection with the methods used to fill in and
send the statistical information. Even in a same country, depending on the municipality or region
the system varies. More and more countries are using computer systems to fill in and send the
data.
The ideal information entry and sending system would imply a police software that:
In exchange, the central administration should:
[16]
allows carrying out several steps/formalities avoiding the duplication of entering
information.
contains a unique exchange file for the police with the central organization.
allows sending electronically the data and with the minimum delay.
allow the access to the data for the police that have sent them.
allow the comparison between similar municipalities.
facilitate the obtaining of lists according to the urban needs.
Completion and
sending of the
Introducción
statistical
information::
[17]
[Resultados principales]::
y envío de la información estadística
Management /
analysis software
from the
Introducción
regional / central
organization::
5
[Resultados
principales]::
y envío de la información4
estadística
4
4
5
5
5
5
5
4
5
5
4
5
4
[18]
5
[Resultados principales]::
Aplicaciones informáticas
En la encuesta CUAAS, más específica realizada en España para la DGT se
obtuvieron los siguientes resultados:
El 35,4% no utilizaba ninguna herramienta informática para la introducción y
almacenamiento estadístico de datos de accidentes
El 5,2% utiliza SIG y realiza algún estudio
El 3,1% utiliza SIG y no realiza ningún estudio
El 31,3% de los municipios no tratan estadísticamente los datos de accidentes
de tráfico
Las bases de datos y herramientas ofimáticas y los programas de elaboración
propia específicos son los más utilizados, sobre todo en los municipios de más
de 50000 habitantes.
El 63% de los municipios más pequeños no utilizan ninguna herramienta
informática para introducir o almacenar la información.
[19]
Statistical
treatment
at the
Introducción
local level::
[Resultados principales]::
y envío de la información 4
estadística
5
5
54
4
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
[20]
5
[Resultados principales]::
Tratamiento estadístico a nivel local
Según la encuesta española, los programas más utilizados para el
análisis estadístico son las hojas de cálculo. Los municipios de
mayor tamaño utilizan en mayor medida Access.
[21]
El uso de calculadora y métodos más tradicionales es aún
muy elevado, no sólo en los municipios más pequeños.
Los programas de elaboración propia son característicos de
los municipios de mayor tamaño, pero menos utilizados.
El 32% no trata ni analiza estadísticamente los datos de
accidentalidad.
El 57% de los municipios más pequeños y el 30% de los
municipios entre 20000 y 50000 habitantes no tratan
estadísticamente la información.
[Main results]::
Questionnaire evaluation
In the survey, the police were asked to
evaluate the following questions:
[22]
País
item
30
item
31
item
32
item
33
item
34
item
35
Bélgica
4,3
4
8,3
5
5
0,6
Bulgaria
1
1
9
5
10
0
Chipre
0
1
10
10
República
Checa
5
4
8,5
5
Estonia
4
1
9
7
Hungría
0
0
8
8
8
0
The completion of the current official
accident statistical questionnaire implies
an extra work that is worth investing time
(item 33)
Alemania
0
1,5
9
2
0
4
5
3
10
4
4
1
7
2
8
8
The completion of the own/municipal/local
accident questionnaire (if it exists) implies
an extra work that is worth investing time.
(item 34)
Rumanía
6
0,5
8,5
5
5
0
0
7
9
3
0
0
3
3
8
8
3
3
9
9
2
0
9
10
España
3,2
4,5
8,2
7
7,4
5,6
Media
Europea
2,9
2,3
8,7
6,4
4,4
1,5
The information collected during the police
action on accidents only contribute to
identify the guilty persons. (item 30)
The information collected for the official
accident statistical questionnaire has only
a bureaucratic purpose. (item 31)
The statistics obtained on the accidents
are useful to guide the road safety police
actions. (item 32)
In general, statistics are useful but the
police do not have access to them. (item
35)
Lituania
Luxemburgo
Eslovaquia
Eslovenia
Suiza
Reino Unido
0
0
3,5
0
0
0
5
2
0
[Main results]::
How does the accident severity affect the collection
The accident severity affects the collection of the accident information.
Firstly, the surveyed countries emphasize thay:
[23]
When an accident is fatal, the accident statistical questionnaire ius always
filled in and sent.
When the accident is serious, several surveyed municipalities admit that they
never fill it in.
This percentage of municipalities that do not fill in the questionnaire is even
higher when the accidents are slight.
This procedure varies from several questions for each country, and municipality or
region:
Economic and technical resources available
Amount of accidents to collect
Training of the technical staff
Contents of the statistical questionnaire and complexitiy
Appropriate applications or computer systems
Circumstances of the filling in
…
[Main results]::
Severity criterions
These circumstances affect the establishment of comparisons between different
municipalities / regions and countries.
Secondly, the difference of criterion to set the casualty severity is another
obstacle to carry out comparisons.
[24]
Hospitalization criterion (standard criterion)
Injury type and severity
The hospitalization criterion has several problems:
Transfer time.
Available means (hospital beds, doctors, ambulances).
Hospitalization differentiated with admission. ¿Is the time spent in the
emergency services counted?.
Transfer to another hospital.
In many cases, the relationship police/doctor is not appropriate and it is
difficult to know the information.
For Spain, this criterion is different from the one that is used at the legal
level. This causes doubts among the agents.
The WHO definition based on the injury type and severity is not used given its
complexity.
[Main results]::
Severity criterions
[25]
[Main results]::
Severity criterions
[26]
[Main results]::
Monitoring of the serious injuries to 30 days
Nowadays, the monitoring of the
victims to 30 days is carried out in most
of the surveyed countries, except for
Spain, Luxembourg and Portugal that
carry out a limited number of monitoring
and apply correction factors later.
The hospital centres or medical units
that attend the patient in Estonia and
Lithuania have to communicate the state
of the patient, so the police just monitor
to 24 hours.
In Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Slovakia,
Slovenia,
Romania
and
Switzerland, the monitoring is done b y
an agent, sometimes in collaboration
with the medical staff, sometimes with
the public prosecutor and other entities.
Sweden has the STRADA database, in
which the traffic accident information
and the health data are combined.
[27]
[Conclusions]::
Problems of the current records
Problems of the current system:
[28]
Needs of computer and technical resources.
There are not electronic means (pda/laptop) to collect the accident
data directly in the place of the accident.
High delay to close an accident (2-3 months)**.
Work and coordination procedures.
Discrepancies in the criterion of the injury severity.
Problems in the collection of fatality within 30 days.
Complexity of the questionnaire. (Under-recording).
Information not adjusted to the urban needs and the new
technologies.
Excess of information for the statistics.** (Under-reporting & underrecording).
Positioning systems to locate the accident are not yet available.
Excess of time to fill in the documents**
There is a high number of unknown accidents (bicycles, pedestrians,
slow vehicles). (Under-reporting).
There is no integration between the police data and other sources.
[Conclusions]::
Quality control and noteworthy elements
3 out of 4 surveyed countries have developed actions to improve the quality. These
actions are in the line of:
Formal control of the accident data.
Design and improvement of computer applications, cartography**
Training on accident management and experience of the agents.
Data filters.
Data check by a superior.
Data validation by an external statistical agency.
Cooperation between regional, local and national initiatives.
Unique accident data entry.
Different criterions of information collection.
Information decrease.
Compare with accident data from other organizations.
Noteworthy elements of their systems
[29]
Integration of all the accident documents.**
Allows carrying out statistics and information availability.***
Shares information with other institutions.**
Exchange file of standard information.
Description of the accident type and causes, use of images.
Comparisons of accidents that happened in the same scene (2,5km).
These initiatives from most of the countries implies a knowledge of the information
quality and the disposal to carry out strategies to increase it.
[Preguntas]::
[30]
¿Coincide la definición de accidente de tráfico con la utilizada en su ciudad?
¿Los criterios utilizados para definir a los heridos graves se ajustan a los
utilizados actualmente en su ciudad/ país?
¿Qué criterio considera el más adecuado para definir la gravedad de las
lesiones?
¿Identifican alguna de las problemáticas descritas con las existentes en su
ciudad?
¿Se ajusta el cuestionario estadístico a sus necesidades urbanas?
¿Qué información le interesaría disponer para sus estudios en seguridad vial?
¿Atiende todos los accidentes de tráfico con víctimas que ocurren?
¿La información que se conoce del accidente, es la misma independientemente
de la gravedad del accidente?
¿Están llevando a cabo algún tipo de actuación para intentar solucionarlas?
¿Qué se considera zona urbana a efectos de intervención policial?
Botanical Garden of the
University of Valencia
(Spain) 14-15/June/07
Thank you for your attention!
Carlos Martínez Pérez
[31]