No abstract

Crash data collection is crucial for road safety improvement, but Italy is considerably behind the best international practices. To help to bridge this gap, a critical review of international crash databases was carried out and recommendations for improvement of the Italian police crash data collection and the national crash database were formulated. Main issues identified in the research are related to the database access procedures, the crash report, the crash location, the crash classification, and the severity classification

Because the quality of decision making in road safety is dependent on the quality of the data on which decisions are based, efforts to improve the quality, timeliness, and accuracy of crash databases are crucial. A critical review of Australasian, European Union, and U.S. crash databases was performed, and future directions were identified. Major issues included procedures for access to crash data, crash report forms, severity of crashes reported in the databases, crash locations, crash classification, and crash severity. Access to crash databases could be provided to approved road safety professionals through a web-based portal, which could also provide detailed police crash reports. The use of electronic crash report forms was strongly recommended because it might solve most of the problems associated with paper forms. The severity of crashes reported in the databases varied across countries, and not all countries reported property-damage-only crashes. However, for both prevention and consistency between countries, collecting property-damage-only crash reports and using them to develop safety strategies is recommended. Combined use of Global Positioning System devices and geographic information systems improves the reporting of crash locations and overcomes traditional problems such as inaccuracies and collection mistakes. To develop effective countermeasures, it is recommended that crashes be classified by the maneuvers and sequence of events for each traffic unit. The adoption of the same system for crash severity classification in different countries would allow comparisons in safety performance between countries and jurisdictions.

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This paper estimates the effect on health of traffic injury and air and noise pollution from a proposed inner-suburban freeway in Melbourne. We estimated levels of these health problems for the year 2001 using traffic flow projections for the presence and absence of the freeway. For noise and air pollution, it was necessary to use pollutant levels as proxies for levels of associated diseases and health states. In 2001, there will be an increase in all traffic movements in the study area but a decrease of 100000 vehiclekilometres per day on major roads, excluding the bypass. This is associated with a projected reduction in the study area of about 100 to 110 injuries of all types. The major air pollution problems associated with motor vehicle emissions are ozone and respirable particulates; sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide are unlikely to pose a health hazard. Levels of respirable particulates, lead and polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons are generally low. There should be no detectable increase in average or maximum noise levels adjacent to the freeway if attenuation measures are employed. A reduction in average and maximum noise levels should occur on some main roads in the affected area. The effects of the freeway on the area should be favourable to health, with reduction in traffic injury and noise-related health problems outweighing any risk of a small deterioration in respiratory health associated with atmospheric pollution. (AurfJfiblic HeuUh 1995; 1 9 347-56) HE Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion identifies 'building healthy public policy' as