In Nordic countries the insurance companies have good statistics on compensated accidents. In Finland and in Norway special traffic safety bodies of the insurance industry collect information from these accidents into traffic accident databases. In Sweden, single companies use their accident data in safety work of their own. This paper presents in detail the database and usage of the Finnish Traffic Safety Committee of Insurance Companies (VALT). The file is a disaggregated, hierarchical database, which is also available to cooperative organisations and outside researchers in certain circumstances. The annual report produced by VALT (see ST 961056 STA) includes basic information of accidents and examines topical issues by way of accident trends and other descriptions. By means of the material the outside researchers have studied, for example, traffic accidents by car model, costs and benefits of centre high mounted brake lights, "black spots" on road network and accidents of elderly drivers.
Samenvatting