Principal Investigator
- Nichole Morris, Director, Human Factors Safety Lab, Mechanical Engineering
Summary
This project proposes to explore the completeness and accuracy of driver crash reporting of property damage only (PDOs) crashes compared to police reporting. Historically, under Minnesota Statutes (Section 169.09, Subdivision 7), drivers were required to submit an electronic or written report, known as the Citizen Crash Report, to Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) after being involved in a crash. This requirement was repealed in 2021 as report transcription was time-consuming and was deemed redundant with the superior police crash report of the same crash. However, a recent revision to MN Statute 169.09 (HF 3436) would now loosen requirements for police to document PDOs and risks a loss of up to 50% of PDO crash reports, as well as some possible injury or suspected minor injury crash reports. Prospects of a loss of crash data for state and local agencies of this magnitude demands urgency to identify alternative, supplementary data sources. This project explores the idea of reprising a driver crash report in electronic form for PDO crashes to determine the degree of data completeness and accuracy to supplement crash data in the absence of police-reported PDO crashes. The study simulates PDO crash exposure among a population of drivers with no experience in crash reporting, and analyzes their inputted data in the MNCrash crash reporting system (or replica) to determine their degree of completeness and accuracy. Driver provided crash data is compared to data provided by trained police officers, who are presented with the same simulated post-crash scene, and compared to a gold standard crash report (validated by multiple experts). Findings will identify and explore a human-centered, abbreviated crash report and its feasibility for both citizen and police use.