Within the European Union the target of halving the number of fatalities by 2010 on European roads was established in the White Paper: 'European transport policy for 2010'. During recent years several projects were initiated. STAIRS (Standardisation of Accident and Injury Registration of system) was the first approach to harmonize relevant in-depth road accident data. Furthermore the protocol has been enhanced by several European Commission funded projects. In January 2002 the Austrian Government introduced a Road Safety Programme. The goal is to halve the number of fatal accidents by 2010 based on the average from 1998 to 2000. As vehicle owners could ask for personalised number plates (with an extra cost) an important instrument was created - the so-called Road Safety Fund. Basically every legal person or institution can develop countermeasures to improve road safety and they could be funded by this tool. One of the main aspects of the Austrian road safety programme is black spot management. Fatal accidents do not necessarily occur on such black spots, especially single vehicle accidents. Therefore one of the final aims is to find out whether there are similarities between fatal accidents. To do so a unique Austrian in-depth database of fatal accidents has been developed as part of the ZEDATU project - 'Zentrale Datenbank tödlicher Unfälle mit Auswertung der Vermeidbarkeitsmöglichkeiten'. Comparable databases that only include fatal accidents currently exist in Finland (VALT Database on fatal accidents) and in the USA (FARS - Fatality Analysis Reporting System). Based on the STAIRS protocol a database was created. Additional key elements from the Austrian statistics were also included so that in total more than 700 data fields can be evaluated. By taking into consideration risk and key factors a completely new statistical analysis of road accidents is possible. By examining the initial data different approaches become apparent, for example, to reduce single vehicle accidents, One of the main hazards identified were trees very close to the road. Unprotected embankments, bridges or the end of safety barriers are also problematic. In order to examine the effectiveness of the countermeasures it is proposed to prepare continuous data gathering. There are two feasible options: 1) A complete retrospective study in which all court documents are organised and analysed. 2) A primary investigation done immediately after the collision by the police combined with a retrospective primary study carried out by special investigation teams who gather data from the vehicles once they have been taken to a garage. Other countries like Sweden, Finland, and Germany are taken more effort in analysis of in-detph databases. (Author/publisher)
Abstract