23/10/2015 Page 1© Institute of Transport Economics The importance of better data on traffic injury – state of the art European Road Safety Day, October 13, 2010 Rune Elvik, Institute of Transport Economics, Oslo, Norway

23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 2 The need for data on traffic injury  Fatalities are well recorded, and of first priority for prevention, but represent only part of the problem  Injuries are incompletely and inaccurately reported  Very little is known about the long-term consequences of traffic injury  The gaps in knowledge may result in an underestimation of the problem and misguided priorities for prevention  There are indications that the incidence of traffic injury has an inverse social gradient  Modern information technology can greatly improve the quality of data

23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 3

23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 4

Level of reporting in some countries 23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 5

Level of reporting by injury severity 23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 6

Level of reporting by road user group 23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 7

23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 8

23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 9

23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 10

23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 11

23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 12

Loss of functional capacity (Miller 1993) 23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 13

Some opportunities offered by modern technology  Automatic accident notification (e-Call) to shorten response time by emergency services  Installing GPS and crash pulse recorders in all cars to locate all accidents accurately and determine their severity  Systematic recording of injuries at all hospitals and outpatient clinics – accurate information on injury severity  Most injury victims will be able to indicate the location of the accident by studying computerised maps and clicking to indicate the location 23/10/2015 © Institute of Transport EconomicsPage 14