CONCERTO is a new tool based on a Geographic Information System to improve the knowledge of road safety at a local level. It enables the study of accidents on different scales from city to "departement" (county in France). Its use transforms the approach to accident research which used to rely mainly on global statistics. CONCERTO uses the accidents data base produced by the police and local geographic data bases from various origins. Each type of data is stored in a layer which can be combined with the others. For instance, the authors can compare land use data with some types of casualties, eg children involved in accidents according to the distance from school. The final version of the sofrware was designed at the end of 1998. It was first tested in a few "departements" and in the towns of Toulouse and Metz. It can easily run on a PC but the critical point lies in the accuracy of the data. Its large scale deployment is now going on. The Ministry of Transport has decided to implement it in all its local units. (A)
Samenvatting