Road safety data collection

Road Safety – Annual Report 2014

Inhabitants: 311.6 million

Vehicles/1 000 – inhabitants: 846

Road fatalities in 2012: 33 561

Fatalities /100 000 in habitants in 2012: 10.7

The State Police collect data on motor vehicle traffic crashes on specific roadways in the State. Each State also has local police jurisdictions within counties, cities and towns that collect data on motorvehicle traffic crashes on the roadways not covered by the State Police.
The NASS (National Automotive Sampling System) consists of 2 sub-systems: the General Estimates System (GES) and the Crashworthiness Data System (CDS).

Both sub-systems are probabilistic surveys designed to produce national estimates on motor vehicle traffic crashes annually.
The CDS is a nationally representative sample of police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes in which at least one light motor vehicle (automobile, automobile derivative, minivans, vans, pickup
trucks, and sport utility vehicles) was towed from the crash scene as a result of the crash.
The GES is a nationally representative sample of all police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes occurring across the United States, designed to produce national estimates on general characteristics
of motor vehicle traffic crashes.
In particular, the (GES) data are obtained through a sample selected from all police-reported motor vehicle crashes. Although various sources suggest that about half the motor vehicle crashes in the
country are not reported to police, the majority of these unreported crashes involve only minor property damage and no significant personal injury. By restricting attention to police-reported
crashes, the GES concentrates on those crashes of greatest concern to the highway safety community and the general public.
Approximately 90 data elements are coded into a common format. To protect individual privacy, no personal information (names, addresses, specific crash locations) is coded.
Strengths of the system:
• obtaining information on all types of motor vehicle traffic crashes that can aid policy makers in enhancing safety standards in the motor vehicle;
• can produce national estimates on a characteristics of the crash.
IRTAD 2014 Annual Report © OECD/ITF 2014 United States – 507
Weaknesses:
• the PAR may not be completed when it is obtained by the GES, therefore some of the information may not be available on the PAR;
• access to the PARs is dependent on the cooperation of the police jurisdictions.
Challenges collecting at the federal level is obtaining and maintaining cooperation with the police jurisdictions (State and local).
In the GES, serious injuries are defined as incapacitating injuries which are defined as severe lacerations (exposure of muscles or bone), broken or distorted extremities, crush injuries, internal
skull/chest/abdominal injuries, significant burns, unconscious, and paralysis.
MAIS 3+ injuries are coded in the CDS, not the GES, and are defined as serious injuries.

Source: http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/