A pilot study was made of the introduction of an electronic accident report (EAR) on a hand-held computer with the Australian Federal Police in the Australian Capital Territory as a replacement for the current paper report form. The introduction of an EAR on a hand-held computer utilising pen technology in the feasibility study found an acceptance by the police officers using it. The EAR was considered easy to use, logical in presentation, produced a superior diagram to the existing paper report form and took no longer to fill in. The EAR used in the trial, while having the potential for much enhancement, was found to provide a 32 per cent time saving in the recording process used by the Australian Federal Police. The size of the benefits from time savings alone provided by the EAR were calculated to far exceed the likely expenditure required for implementation of a "full system". (A)
Abstract