The Effect of Type of Attributes on the Fill-Ability of Accident Reporting Forms (ARF)

Abstract

Accident Reporting Form (ARF) is the basic building block of an Accident Database. Incorrect and incomplete forms result into the formation of erroneous database which contains partial or no essential information required for the statistical analysis of accident data. Policies made on the basis of the results of such databases will have little or no effect on the improvement of safety of roadway facilities. In most countries filling of the ARF is the responsibility of Police/Investigating officers. Due to lack of interest, all the details are not recorded by them. Thus, it is very important to investigate the type of attributes and their respective items filled most. The objective of this study is to evaluate the attributes given most importance by the person in charge of filling the ARF and the items most neglected. The probable reasons for the complete/incomplete recording of the details of certain items were also examined. For this study a total of 642 forms were obtained from the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) for evaluation. Each form contained 91 attributes, as per number given in the accident reporting form known as POL 27. The items were divided with respect to driver, passenger, vehicle, pedestrian, location, road environment, road information and additional information. The fill-ability for each item was estimated in terms of percent filled. The items were evaluated in terms of least and most filled and the probable reason for the complete/incomplete filling of each item was then investigated. It was found that items related to location were most neglected. The second most incomplete items were associated with the vehicle and the driver. While the attributes related to the road and the environment were found to be the most filled. The probable reason for lack of fill-ability of location related items was their placement in inappropriate sections. The important finding of this study is the high number of items in the POL 27 which makes it difficult for the officer to fill the form completely and is the major cause of reduced fill-ability.