It was investigated whether traffic accident registration forms are useful as an aid in traffic safety research. It is pointed out that experience with the usage of the Dutch Road Accident Registration (VOR) database demonstrates that little can be found concerning accident type and circumstances. To get an insight into possible causes of this, a test was done with more than fifty forms. These concern accidents with victims who were transported to two hospitals during three successive months. Per accident, the codes of the VOR system were also available, and each time a comparison was made with the form. In this respect, the emphasis is laid on data about: (1) location of the accident; (2) parties involved in the accident; (3) accident type; (4) course of the accident; and (5) possible explanation and eventual details.
Abstract