DEVELOPING SYSTEMS TO UNDERSTAND CAUSAL FACTORS IN ROAD ACCIDENTS

摘要

The persistent lack of accident and causation data to help inform and monitor road and vehicle safety policy is a major requirement at EU level. A recent analysis conducted by the European Transport Safety Council identified that no single accident database could meet all of the needs and that there were major gaps including in-depth accident causation. Specific policy questions at EU level involve the role of infrastructure in accident causation, the monitoring of progress towards the 2010 targets and the improvement of vehicle performance in accident and injury causation. This paper will give an overview of the situation and describe the development process of two databases designed to fill these gaps. The first is a broad ranging, intermediate level, fatal accident database. The second is an in-depth accident causation database. The two databases have divergent character and together will contribute a major advance of the knowledge of accidents and injuries at EU level. This work is being undertaken as a work package within the SafetyNet integrated project (http://safetynet.swov.nl/).