Integrated System for Collecting and Reporting

Crash and Citation Data

Alexander Paz, Cristian Arteaga and Carlos Gaviria

Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, PO Box 454007,

Las Vegas, U.S.A.

Keywords: Crash Data Collection, Citations Data Collection, Geographic Information System, Mobile Data Collection.

Abstract: Currently, the collection of crash and citation data is performed by law enforcement agents without taking

full advantage of existing state-of-the-art technologies. Availability of communication networks and recent

developments in software technology provide opportunities to collect data in an easier, faster, and more

accurate manner. Key challenges in collecting of this type of data include standardizing and capturing the

right location where crashes occur as well as minimizing the exposure time of law enforcement agents at the

scene. This paper describes the development of a state-of-the-art crash and citation data collection system and

geospatial database, hosted by a remote server, a mobile application, and a web portal. The proposed system

takes full advantage of Geographic Information and Positioning Systems to capture location data and provide

tools to create scene diagrams. The proposed system was designed and implemented in cooperation with law

enforcement agencies and data users to meet the needs of various stakeholders.

1 INTRODUCTION

Some of the existing software and hardware used by

law enforcement agencies to collect crash data are

obsolete for several reasons, ranging from budget

constraints to lack of coordination across various

groups. The most significant consequence of using

obsolete tools are location errors, which preclude the

correct use and reliability of the data. In addition, the

time required for law enforcement agents to be at the

scene could be lengthy, especially to collect data

adequately.

Accurately locating crashes is key to geographic

analyses of crash statistics and patterns as well as for

the development of safety recommendations for crash

‘hotspots’. Generally, an involved process is required

to locate crashes and collect relevant data on public

roads, using text formats and hand drawings. Many

crashes cannot be located or have been incorrectly

located, and the data are hard to register. The main

impediments to locate crashes accurately and collect

crash data are well known, and include errors in data

entry, street name errors by the recording officer, the

existence of alias names, and county coding errors as

well as many other factors.

Crash data can be analyzed to study the incidence

of the various factors in crashes; for example,

information of events involving drivers under the

influence of alcohol (DUI) can be used to support

decision making. The methodologies for traffic safety

management recommended by the Highway Safety

Manual (AASHTO, 2010) require accurate crash and

location data (Paz et al., 2015), currently collected by

law enforcement agencies. This data are needed for

performance-based traffic safety programs as well,

and must be prepared by state agencies to address

requirements from the legislators (NCHRP, 2010;

FHWA, 2013).

To address data-collection issues and provide

better technology for law enforcement agents, the

Transportation Research Center (TRC) at the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), has

developed and implemented a system for the accurate

and efficient collection of crash data, including

location. The proposed solution uses a Geographic

Positioning System (GPS) and a Geographic

Information System (GIS) to geolocate crashes and

provide a map-based data-collection environment.

Compared to existing processes and technology in

use, this system greatly reduces the time and

resources involved in consistency checking and error

correcting during data collection.

Paz, A., Arteaga, C. and Gaviria, C.

Integrated System for Collecting and Reporting Crash and Citation Data.

DOI: 10.5220/0006648202250230

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS 2018), pages 225-230

ISBN: 978-989-758-293-6

225

The proposed system was developed with help

from various law enforcement agencies in Nevada.

Considering the challenges associated with collecting

location information as well as the data need of

various stakeholders, in addition to the geospatial

coordinates of the crash, the proposed system

includes a scene diagram that captures screenshot of

the crash location, using a GIS map.

The development, implementation, and testing of

the proposed system included continuous interaction

between users and developers in order to take full

advantage of field experience and associated needs

(Racheva and Daneva, 2010). This ensured that the

expectations and needs from law enforcement

agencies and data users were fully addressed.

2 PROPOSED SYSTEM

The system involved a server hosting a geospatial

database, a mobile application, and a web portal, as

shown in Figure 1. Law enforcement agents collect

crash and citations data using the mobile application.

The data are send in real time to the geospatial

database hosted by the server application, which

makes the data available through the web portal. In

addition to a website, the web portal offers a REST-

API (Fielding, 2000) web-service endpoint, which

allows external systems to extract raw or aggregated

information. This web service endpoint was built

using Open Data Protocol (OData, 2010).

Figure 1: Conceptual illustration of the proposed system.

The primary requirements of the proposed

solution include:

1. Accuracy of the location information;

2. Efficiency to minimize the time required by the

agent to be in the field;

3. Flexibility to navigate through menus;

4. Synchronization across crash and citation data,

when required;

5. Capabilities to create a scene diagram, powered

either by a map or using a freehand sketch view;

6. Capabilities to attach to reports all types of files,

including pictures, and a screenshot of the crash

location;

7. Capabilities to read information from driver

licenses and vehicle registrations by using a

barcode reader, and

8. Querying capabilities through the web portal to

generate graphs, charts, and reports.

In addition, it is desirable that a data collection system

considers real time statistics, ease of access to the

data, data completeness, and safety of the data

collector, among other primary issues. A description

of how the proposed solution addresses these issues

is provided in this paper.

The proposed system will be tested by law

enforcement agencies in Nevada. Therefore, the

system was implemented in compliance with the

standard data dictionary for crash and citations

information for the State of Nevada Citations and

Accident Tracking System (NCATS) (NHTSA,

2010).

2.1 Data Accuracy

Although all collected data are important, currently,

the most challenging issues focus on location and

scene information. Current data collection solutions

used by law enforcement agencies, require typing the

location of the crash or citation. Those locations can

be translated into coordinates and geographical

information. However, frequent entry errors preclude

the correct translation. The proposed system allows

on-site location capture using GPS and maps. Figure

2 illustrates the user interface that allows location

capture. The coordinates and corresponding address,

if existing, for a crash or citation is provided by GPS

and displayed on the screen. If the accuracy of the

GPS is not sufficient or the data collection device is

located away from the crash location, the agent can

use the touch-screen map to set the correct location.

An additional challenge for locations on highways

is when a location does not have a physical or mailing

address. In these cases, police officers assume a

reference point (for example, an intersection or ramp)

and guess a distance to such a reference point.

However, guessing is subjective, and generates

accuracy issues and inconsistency in the stored data.

To address this challenge, the proposed system allows

the administrator to partition the highways into small

regions, each with a unique geo-tag or standard

VEHITS 2018 - 4th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems

226

location label. This partitioning enables consistent

location information and accuracy. Figure 3

illustrates this geo-tagging functionality. Using this

capability, a police officer collecting data just needs

to check that the software has selected the right geo-

tag or geographical region.

Figure 2: Capture of crash and citation location by the

proposed system.

Figure 3: Definition of labeled areas for location on

highways.

Figure 4 illustrates the user interface that enables

the construction of a crash scene diagram. This

interface shows, by default, the GPS location of the

mobile device hosting the mobile app. In order create

a realistic and detailed representation of crash, the

interface allows the agent to drag with his or her

finger all the elements involved in the crash scene. In

addition, the agent can create a freehand sketch of the

scene, and take an unlimited number of photos.

Figure 4: Crash scene diagram.

2.2 Real-Time Collection and

Reporting

The data collected are automatically sent to the server

in real-time on a regular basis by means of the cellular

network. This was designed to minimize the risk of

losing data because of a special event, such as the loss

or damage of the mobile device. If network

connection is not available, the data are stored in the

mobile device until the connection is reestablished

and the data are completely received by the server.

Once in the server, the data can be aggregated and

filtered in real time to generate reports. Among two

important applications. Figure 5 shows how the

system provides color-coded locations and the status

of crashes, based on how old they are, and/or an

applied filter. This type of information could be

important for real-time operations and tactical

decisions by managers and supervisors. Figure 6

illustrates how a heat map is used that allows the user

to zoom into specific zones and apply filters to

analyze crash patterns in detail.

Figure 7 illustrates the density of crashes by day

of the week and time of the day for a selected year.

By default, this summary includes the entire number

of crashes in the system but it can be filtered by the

severity of the crash (injuries, fatalities, property

damage). Other available filters and diagrams include

severity of crashes, involvement of drugs, and gender

or age.

Integrated System for Collecting and Reporting Crash and Citation Data

227

Figure 5: Crash location and status.

Figure 6: Heat map of crash densities.

Figure 7: Crash density by day of week and time of the day.

2.3 Ease Access to Data

The data collected are available online and can be

accessed easily through the web portal or the REST-

API. For the web portal, an account is required to

feature has been included in the proposed system to

allow exporting aggregated or disaggregated reports

in 1) common formats for data interchange, such as

XML, CSV, and JSON; and (ii) common document

formats, such as PDF, DOC and XLS. If desired,

some of this information can be made available for

public access, including special statistics.

If required by government agencies or

interconnected systems, this proposed system offers a

REST-API with OData protocol implementation. The

use of an OData implementation makes information

retrieval of linked entities easier (Carey, 2012). The

access to the REST-API is available only for

authenticated users.

2.4 Data Completeness

Law enforcement agencies have requirements

concerning the collected information. Data

dictionaries are designed to standardize the structure

and codification of the information. For illustration

purposes, the proposed solution for this system

implements all the required fields that are specified in

the NCATS data dictionary, version 2010.

Implementations using a different data dictionary

requires changes to the system, which could be minor

or large, depending on the differences with NCATS.

However, all important and significant capabilities,

such as the collection of location information and

scene diagram, require no changes to the system

unless special needs or upgrades are demanded.

In order to minimize the risk of mistyped

information, and reduce the effort required to

manually type in the data, such features as barcode

readers for driver license and vehicle registrations

were implemented in this proposed system.

2.5 Safety of the Agent

It is very important to minimize the time that the

agents are exposed to traffic and danger. The

proposed system was designed to minimize the time

required by an agent to collect field data. In critical or

urgent situations, an agent can collect on-site critical

information rapidly by using a minimum number of

touches to the screen on the GPS device, the camera,

and the barcode reader. Later, when in a less risky

environment, the agent can complete the rest of the

VEHITS 2018 - 4th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems

228

data collection by using the mobile application or the

web portal.

Table 1 shows an estimated time to collect critical

information about a typical crash scenario with two

cars and two occupants. This estimation assumes that

the agent has access to the drivers’ licenses and

vehicle registrations.

Table 1: Estimate time to collect critical crash data.

Information

Item

Time

(sec)

Location

Vehicles

Drivers

Pictures

Total

3 RESULTS

Multiple meetings with law enforcement agencies in

the State of Nevada have been conducted to review

the design and implementation of the proposed

system. Law enforcement agents have acknowledged

that the mobile application provides enough accuracy

to capture location information. They agreed that the

crash-scene diagram tool provides all the necessary

elements to create a reliable representation of the

scene. In addition, they have suggested usability

improvements, such as pre-filled values and favorite

lists for commonly used fields.

Administrative staff has validated compliance of

the collected information with the NCATS data

dictionary. It has been confirmed that the reports and

statistics generated in the web portal contain the

required information. Additional statistics and reports

have been suggested by administrative staff to

increase the benefits of the reporting tool. Feedback

has been collected from multiple agencies, and new

features have been added to the proposed solution

based on their suggestions.

To validate the proposed system in a real-life

environment, a field test was completed with the

Nevada Highway Patrol (NHP) Southern Command.

The field test was designed to collect feedback from

four police officers having distinct roles in the data

collection process. One agent was the system

manager, and had a high-level knowledge of the

technical features of the system. The other three

agents were troopers who collected daily information

on crashes and citations on the highways. Two of

them collected information using a tablet device and

the other with a handheld device. The requirement

was that all four police officers collected at least three

crash reports and three citations. In total, 12 crash

reports and 15 citations were collected.

Results from the field test were used to improve

the system. Several enhancements related to usability

were implemented. The field test participants

highlighted the (i) significant reduction in time

required for data collection and (ii) ease of interaction

with the system.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The developed system is able to collect crash data in

situ and store it in a geodatabase. Data that is

collected is characterized and processed in real-time

to generate reports, maps, charts, and statistics. The

proposed data collection system facilitates the data

collection while saving time, reducing errors, and

enabling the collection of the more valuable

information from crashes, such as the scene diagram.

The proposed system is the result of a combine effort

involving law enforcement agencies, the Nevada

Department of Transportation, and the University of

Nevada, Las Vegas.

Future work includes the development of

additional performance measures. A key capability

required by law enforcement is the ability of multiple

officers to be able to work on the same report at the

same time. In addition, such capabilities as the ability

to generate collision diagrams and visuals are

desirable that can report various statistics, including

expected crash frequencies and the rankings of sites

based on them (Paz et al., 2014). The field test

provided a great opportunity for NHP to propose

valuable capabilities, such as:

 Geo-tagging or highway regions to improve

location accuracy.

 A tool to compute the distance from a crash

location to a reference point defined by the

agents.

 Towing sheets to register and print

information of vehicles that were towed

after a crash or citation.

 Social media notifications for crashes

classified as severe.

These are very desirable features that were

devised only because of suggestions and ideas

generated during the field test. These capabilities are

currently under development for planned field testing.

Integrated System for Collecting and Reporting Crash and Citation Data

229

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study was sponsored by the Nevada Department

of Transportation and the Federal Highway

Administration. Special thanks to Major Thom

Jackson and Trooper Nicholas O'Conner from the

Nevada Highway Patrol for their guidance and

recommendations. Similarly, many thanks to

Lieutenant Brandon Brooks from the Henderson

Police Department and Lieutenant Leonard Marshall

from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

for their support and provided information. Many

thanks to the Technical Writer of UNLV’s Howard R.

Hughes College of Engineering, Julie Longo, for

editing this manuscript.

REFERENCES

Carey, M.J., Onose, N. and Petropoulos, M., 2012. Data

services. Communications of the ACM, 55(6), pp.86-

97.

Fielding, R.T., 2000. Architectural styles and the design of

network-based software architectures (Doctoral

dissertation, University of California, Irvine).

Manual, H.S., 2010. American association of state highway

and transportation officials (AASHTO). Washington,

DC, 10.

National Cooperative Highway Research Program,

Cambridge Systematics, American Association of State

Highway and Transportation Officials, 2010. Target-

setting Methods and Data Management to Support

Performance-based Resource Allocation by

Transportation Agencies (Vol. 666). Transportation

Research Board.

Nevada Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

(2010). Nevada NCATS Data Dictionary. [online]

Available at:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/stateCatalog/states/nv/nev

ada.html [Accessed 23 Nov. 2016].

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

(2010). Nevada NCATS Data Dictionary. [online]

Available at:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/nhtsa/stateCatalog/states/nv/nev

ada.html [Accessed 23 Nov. 2016].

Odata. (2015). OData - the Best Way to REST. [online]

Available at: http://www.odata.org [Accessed 23 Nov.

2016].

Paz, A., Veeramisti, N., Khanal, I., Baker, J. and de la

Fuente-Mella, H., 2015. Development of a

comprehensive database system for Safety Analyst. The

Scientific World Journal, 2015.

Paz, A., Khanal, I., Veeramisti, N., Baker, J. and Belmonte,

L. 2014. Development of a Visualization System for

Safety Analyst. Transportation Research Record. No.

2460, 175–184. doi:10.3141/2460-19.

Racheva, Z. and Daneva, M., 2010. Clients’ participation in

software projects: comparative case study between an

agile and a ‘traditional’ software company. first

Workshop on Leveraging Empirical Research Results

for Software Business Success.

VEHITS 2018 - 4th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems

230