You should also look to sources such as the
Department for Transport and Office for National
Statistics for road accident and safety statistics, such as
the annual DfT reported road casualties documents 1 .
These are available to everyone and give numbers of
people killed and seriously injured in crashes (KSIs)
as well as their causation factors. Other online, widely
available resources include MAST online, which
provides data concerning KSIs and crashes both
regionally and nationally (see page 13). This source is
particularly useful as you can manipulate and analyse
the data in a number of ways, without you having
to source and use a suitable data analysis package.
However, this does not give specific data relating to
mobile phone use by drivers.
Another option for finding out about the problem is
self-report data. Whilst there are some limitations to
this sort of data (mostly concerning the need to trust
members of the public to be honest about offending
behaviour), this type of data is useful as it can give us
an understanding not only of how frequently individuals
admit to using a handheld device while driving, but
also how frequently they use a hands-free device while
driving. A major, annual, report based on self-report
data is the RAC Report on Motoring, which can be found
via the link at the bottom of this page 2 . Observation
is another way of finding out who is doing what (and
who is doing it without having had a crash, yet). Some
national statistics are based on observations, or you
could collect your own, but remember that not all forms
of phone use are easy to see.
If the data you need is not currently held, you might
want to consider whether it is possible to start
collecting it yourself. This way, you can make sure that
you have the exact data you need, for the area you
are intending to work on - though it may mean a delay
before you can get started, and there may be resource
implications.
“There’s suddenly a real problem
with crashes caused by people using
their phones”
Not all data is going to be in the form of numbers
in tables. Don’t underestimate the value of
‘local insight’ (otherwise known as anecdote or
experience). Whilst we wouldn’t suggest designing
a whole project around that local wisdom, it
may be that gut feeling or instinct (yours or a
colleague’s) is a good place to start, and gives you
a focus for starting to interrogate the data.
1 DfT (2015). Seat belt and mobile phone use surveys: England and Scotland, 2015. Statistical release. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/
government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/406723/seatbelt-and-mobile-use-surveys-2014.pdf
2 RAC (nd). RAC Report on Motoring. Available from: https://www.rac.co.uk/report-on-motoring
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