Road safety Data Collection, Transfer and Analysis (DACOTA)

Research Project, 2010 – 2012

Evidenced based approaches lie at the heart of the most successful road safety polices and accident and other road safety data is a key component. No single set of data can support all road safety questions and the European Road Safety Observatory has been developed as a focus for a range of data and information types. One part of the Observatory includes a series of data protocols and collection methodologies for a range of data types including national level and in-depth accident data, exposure data and safety performance indicators. Although it is a substantial step forward the ERSO remains the first stage and further development is needed.

This proposal addresses the needs for further improvement of the Observatory by enhancing, structuring and applying the data and information it contains. DaCoTA WP3 aims to continue the efforts made in previous projects by gathering, consolidating and standardizing the available road safety data and information, through the exploitation of all available sources, in a systematic and comprehensive way. New data on road safety management processes will be gathered from a selection of key EU Member States together with data concerning exposure and indicators. This will be assembled and structured using, for example, the approaches developed within the Sunflower project. DaCoTA will identify, train and further support new teams across the Member States to conduct detailed accident investigations for safety purposes. It will develop new approaches to evaluate the casualty reduction effectiveness of new technologies and will develop new innovative approaches to gather routine data on normal driving behaviour.

Key factors of the proposal include a highly skilled and experienced team to develop the safety information resources, the involvement of industry stakeholders as partners within the project and the close liaison with Member States through enhanced national experts groups.