TASAS (Traffic Accident Surveillance and Analysis System) and Injury Data Base Development

The California Highway Patrol reports on motor vehicle accidents on California Highways in Traffic Collison Reports (TCRs). Caltrans processes approximately 200,000 of such reports on a yearly basis to extract critical data that is used for safety evaluation and planning purposes. Caltrans Traffic Accident Surveillance and Analysis System (TASAS) branch codifies and organizes such critical data into a computerized database (TASAS accident database). The extraction and input of the data into the TASAS accident database is performed by trained personnel and can be resource intensive. The objective of this research study was to determine the extent to which TASAS accident data could be processed automatically and to develop a software system that could potentially assist in the processing of TCRs. The emphasis was on coding the accident location (referred to as Card 8a) and coding of the sequence of events in an accident for simple two party collisions (referred to as Card 8b). The software system developed is termed “TCRPRO” and was found that in terms of Card 8a only a small percentage of TCRs (approximately 13.8%) can be coded within the TASAS branch accuracy requirements. In terms of coding for Card 8b, the system was able to handle much of the coding for simple two party collisions with the exception of the lane of travel in which the collision occurred. TCRPRO is successful, however, in other important areas. It can extract the “Summary” portion from the Narrative section in the TCRs. This automated collection of the Summary text will be able to replace the existing labor intensive methods of manual extraction. TCRPRO also provides data such as the GPS coordinates of the collision location. Interface programs can also be developed to flag certain kinds of reports with specific collision attributes that reside solely in the narrative section.

• Record URL:
  https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/research-innovation-system-information/documents/final-reports/ca19-2906-finalreport-a11y.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://merritt.cdlib.org/api/presign-file/ark%253A%252F13030%252Fm5k98fm7/3/producer%252FCA19-2906.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/64455
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1140102549
• Corporate Authors:

  AHMCT Research Center

  UCD Dept. of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
  Davis, CA  United States  95616-5294

  California Department of Transportation

  Division of Rail and Mass Transportation
  ,    
• Authors:
  • Fyhrie, Patricia
  • Hovhannisyan, Grachya
  • Swanston, Travis
  • Ravani, Bahram
• Publication Date: 2019-6-19

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 127p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Coding systems; Crash data; Crash locations; Crash records; Crash reports; Data collection; Databases; Geographic information systems
• Identifier Terms: California Department of Transportation; California Highway Patrol
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01732475
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: UC Berkeley Transportation Library
• Report/Paper Numbers: CA 19-2906, UCD-ARR- 19-06-30-0
• Contract Numbers: 65A0560
• Files: CALTRANS, BTRIS, NTL, TRIS, ATRI, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Feb 28 2020 5:10PM