CRASH: The Essex Experience

Background to CRASH in Essex Problems & Solutions Benefits CRASH in Essex – The experience so far Background to CRASH in Essex Problems & Solutions Benefits “The CRASH Effect” – how CRASH affects recorded severity Just the Essex perspective Might not be relevant to all, but hopefully there is something to learn from our experience

Dedicated team of file managers Background Adopted 2015 Dedicated team of file managers System fully embraced File managers ensure collision details are complete before files are marked for export. FMs are a mixture of PCs and support staff. You will get a bacon sandwich if you time your visit well.

Fully embraced? Notes taken at scene by OIC OIC fills in paper form Support staff input to CRASH Stats generated and severity decided CRASH partly utilised Notes taken at scene by OIC OIC direct input to CRASH CRASH fully embraced There are a number of differences, but the main one is where Stats are generated and severity is decided Direct input to CRASH at scene by OIC using tablet The future?

Problems & Solutions Key - File Manager (FM) QA processes Data Quality - File Manager (FM) QA processes - Officer training Key Essex Police action Essex Highways action EH action Enabled by Buchanan Computing Enabled by DfT Managing workflow - SQL query unvalidated collisions in AccsMap Receiving amendments - Minimised by FMs - Retain Eastings and Northings - Select fields to update Data Quality: Contributory factors, Blank fields, Seatbelt, Skid/overturn, Breath test Managing workflow: Most important is to validate fatalities first. Old system had a stack of paper to work from. New system, printing SQL query results Receiving amendments: Want to avoid validating/checking each collisions multiple times. “Trunk and Branch” – Re: conversation with Paul Baden. Feeding back amendments - Minor: DfT “Trunk and branch” philosophy - Major: Email File Manager to amend CRASH master

Benefits Shorter waiting times for data Quicker input-validation process – staff can do more, freeing up my time for Google image searches. More accurate data, especially locations

What is the CRASH effect? “Increase in the proportion of non-fatal casualties recorded as serious” CRASH decides severity based on injury instead of OIC deciding severity Why does it occur? What can affect it? Level of CRASH utilisation Road user type Pre-CRASH practices Level of CRASH utilisation – essentially it whether CRASH or OIC decides severity. Different road users susceptible to different injury types – e.g. graze to the head might be slight under old system but serious under CRASH. Broken collarbone will always have been serious. How pedantic were officers before CRASH implementation? The more pedantic, the less the CRASH effect. Under reporting of slights can skew Crash effect calculations

Calculating “The CRASH Effect” Requires full data for Serious and Slight Different for each user type Overall figure for Essex: 45% Have to calculate CRASH effect per user group to control for changes in the proportion of casualties from each user group, as each user group see different of magnitudes of CRASH effect Treating all users as one group gives CRASH effect of 48%. Actual CRASH effect is only 45%, because 2016 saw a 1% decrease in proportion of non-fatals that were car occupants who have a CRASH effect of 55%, While there were 1% increases in proportion who were pedal cycle and P2W casualties which have smaller CRASH effects.

More persuasive engagement messages? “The CRASH Effect” What to do about it? KSI looks worse: More persuasive engagement messages? Road Safety given more funding? Positive message? “Improved data quality” Should we correct the baselines from which we measure casualty reduction? These aren’t solutions, but ideas to prompt some thoughts/discussion

Small Changes Save Lives SERP’s vision is to reduce death and serious injury due to road traffic collisions in Essex to zero. The partnership cannot do this alone, every road user plays a part in making sure that everyone gets home safely.  A small change in everyone’s road user behaviour could have a huge impact on casualty numbers. Please go to www.saferessexroads.org and sign up to the #smallchanges pledge.