The Seminar on International Road Traffic and Accident Databases was initiated by the Steering Committee for Road Transport Research of the OECD. The Seminar was organised and hosted by the Finnish Authorities. It was held on 11th-13th September 1995 in Helsinki, Finland. 18 OECD Member countries were represented and road safety experts and statisticians from 13 Central and Eastern European countries and two international organisations attended. Its aims were (i) to review the scope, status, objectives and complementarity of existing and planned European and worldwide accident statistics; (ii) to consolidate the existing databases in use, including the International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) of the OECD and make their utility known to a broader policy community responsible for road safety issues both in the public and private sectors. In addition to the Opening and Concluding Sessions, the Seminar was organised around eight technical sessions: Session I: Strategic use of databases; Session II: Comparative safety development research using national and international databases; Session III-A and III-B: Current developments, experience and needs; Session IV: Models/analyses; Session V: Need for exposure data; Session VI: Quality data problems and solutions; and Session VII: Needs of Central and Eastern European countries. In all, 35 papers were given. Much work remains to be done to assure adequate data reliability and comparability at international level, in particular, for injuries and exposure. The Seminar highlighted the potential offered by the IRTAD database for policy makers in shaping road safety programmes and plans and its complementarity with other databases. For abstracts of individual papers see C 22238 - C 22255 (IRRD 889189-889206).
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