The purpose of this study was to document the variety and relative usefulness of road crash databases in Australia. Although analysis of some of these databases has been published in a variety of Australian and overseas publications, and the existence of these databases is known generally within the road crash research community in Australia, such a comparison has not been previously documented in this way. In Australia, the number and characteristics of road crashes have been or are being recorded in primary or secondary source databases. This paper examines only primary source databases, some of which are specifically constructed from road crash information. For example, Main Roads, Transport Traffic and/or Police authorities in each state and territory maintain databases of reported (to the Police) road crashes. These databases are used to identify blackspots in the road environment, and assess both crash incidence and causation over time. Other primary source databases pertain to data collections made for other purposes. For example, state and territory health authorities collect in-patient, including injured road users, data for public and private hospitals. Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments of metropolitan public hospitals collect, out-patient data. Motor vehicle insurance companies collect data on motor vehicle damage claims. A discussion of the usefulness of these primary source databases in both aggregate road crash costings and cost-benefit analyses of road crash prevention and injury reduction programmes in Australia reveals some important shortcomings and recommendations for improvements. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E202275.
Samenvatting