Previous research has demonstrated that current road accident database systems provide incomplete information and are prone to error. Thus, the data contains incorrect attributes, or does not contain all of the attributes required for the effective design of accident remedial schemes. The cause of error has been found to lie in the flawed design of local authority databases, in coding errors and in the misinterpretation of accident report forms. In the United Kingdom any road traffic any road traffic accident that involves personal injury is required to be reported to the police. Data collected by police officers at the accident site is forwarded under national procedures to local government authorities and the Department of Transport. The design of the form used for initial data capturing, known as the Stats 19, has been revised on several occasions; the administrative arrangements for the processing of the data have also been modified, but the level of error is still judged to be in need of improvement. The paper reports on aspects of a project undertaken at Middlesex University which attempts to identify and address the issues of incorrect data capture. Based on an analysis of existing Stats 19 forms, and a survey of the procedures followed by UK police forces the paper will highlight two main sources of error in the use of forms: a) semantic confusion and b) syntactic and pragmatic confusion, both of which significantly affect the accuracy and relevance of the recorded data. Subsequently, the paper will outline the phases of the research undertaken to improve the quality of data collection methods and the design of a police accident report form and a Stats 19 form which are less prone to misinterpretation. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting