Leveraging Motor Vehicle Crash Data
Bill Williams Law Enforcement Liaison
The Georgia Department of Transportation ( GDOT ) is charged with overseeing the motor vehicle accident report formats and reporting procedures , pursuant to O . C . G . A 40-6-278 . The outstanding support from our law enforcement partners across the State , through their investigation and reporting of automobile crashes , is critical for the on-going improvement in and safety of Georgia ’ s roadways . In addition , the electronic submission of crash reports to GDOT by the overwhelming majority of agencies saves considerable resources and ensures information is correctly loaded into the States database .
To support electronic crash reporting across the State , Georgia DOT has partnered with LexisNexis ( LN ) Coplogic Solutions . The LN team provides free crash reporting software to any requesting agency , manages the State ’ s GEARS ( Georgia Electronic Accident Reporting System ) database , and supports the distribution of Easy Street Draw Crash Diagraming 7.0 software . The crash reports provided by law enforcement from around the State serve as the cornerstone of the State ’ s safety programs . The information pulled from reports is used to support investment decisions directing the allocation of millions of dollars . As the quality of the crash reports improve , so will the effectiveness our state ’ s safety programs and investments . As part of the effort to improve the quality of the State ’ s crash reports , GDOT would like to share some general observations concerning a few fields on the State ’ s crash report .
1 . Operator Contributing Factors , Vehicle Contributing Factors , & Roadway Contributing Factors The underlying reason that a traffic crash happens varies widely . Although many of the same themes repeat themselves , such as following too close , speeding , or driving while distracted ; every crash is unique . The contributing factors are a critical piece of information to determine the events resulting in the crash . In addition , these factors are critical data points used to evaluate behavioral actions and the built environment that include the roads , shoulders , intersections , driveways , and buildings . In 2020 , GDOT received more than 35,000 crash reports that had no contributing factor coded . Over the past 5 years , nearly 20 % of all non-private property crash reports lacked a contributing factor .
48 FALL 2021