Title: Main stumbling blocks for a good traffic accident database system - evidences from Brazil

Authors: Barbara Stolte Bezerra; Flávio Craveiro Cunto; Heloisa Maria Barbosa; Clodoveu Davis; João Felipe De Almeida Lança

Addresses: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNESP – Univ. Estadual Paulista, Brazil ' Department of Transport Engineering, UFC – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil ' Department of Transport and Geotechnical Engineering, UFMG – Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil ' Department of Computer Science, UFMG – Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil ' Department of Production Engineering, UNESP – Univ. Estadual Paulista, Brazil

Abstract: Research on road safety requires, as one of its main assets, a good accident database system (ADS). This work proposes to identify the requirements for such a system, as well as the main stumbling blocks in the path of its creation in Brazil. Results show that each municipality makes its own partnership with the police, database maintenance is irregular and dependent upon political change, and no municipality has information from hospitals. The information varies from municipality to municipality; the level of reported accidents also varies. Therefore, we propose that developing countries could design accident recording systems from a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) perspective. Accident data can then comprise a uniform dataset, potentially hosted by several different institutions, to be made readily and freely available through the country's spatial data infrastructure.

Keywords: spatial data infrastructure; traffic safety analysis; traffic accident databases; Brazil; road safety; developing countries; accident recording systems.

DOI: 10.1504/LAJMSD.2015.071986

Latin American Journal of Management for Sustainable Development, 2015 Vol.2 No.2, pp.112 - 123

Received: 18 Dec 2014
Accepted: 09 Apr 2015
Published online: 26 Sep 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article