We do not expect a doctor to prescribe aspirin if a person has contracted cholera, yet we find people doing the equivalent when it comes to road accidents. Road accidents are not all the same kind and there is no single treatment that affects them uniformly. The problem originally was to devise a system of classification capable of being used by different groups of coders and produce substantially the same results. This paper describes the introduction of the accident-type method into Australian computer data systems and the recent production of costs for accident-types. The dual tool, accident-types and their costs, can be applied to a wide variety of road traffic problems from the traditional area traffic problems from the traditional area of hazardous location identification and treatment to the new area of IVHS for collision avoidance devices. (A)
Abstract