SUNSHINE WEEK: YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW
State's traffic crash records questioned
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By Rob Perez
Advertiser Staff Writer
When a federal team came to Hawai'i in October to evaluate the state's traffic records system, the team found many problems.
The database for crash records was unreliable and unable to fully support the state's highway safety programming and analysis, the five-member group determined.
The mini-computer system that housed the records was outdated.
The information from thousands of major crashes had to be entered into the system manually, the data entry was as much as two years behind, and few quality control mechanisms were used to ensure accuracy and completeness.
And probably the most glaring problem, the experts representing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found, was that the data weren't widely available to researchers outside the state Department of Transportation, which maintained the database and did the analysis to support traffic-safety projects.
The unintended consequence, the experts wrote in their assessment report, was "an inability to fully meet the state's responsibility for providing a safe environment for its traveling public."
If the records system was plagued with problems and the analysis that sprung from the data didn't get the benefit of outside scrutiny because non-agency researchers had little or no access to the underlying data, how could motorists and pedestrians have confidence the state's analysis was on the mark?
They have reason to be wary, said one expert.
"If the data are junk, the prospects for getting sound analysis are limited," said Karl Kim, University of Hawai'i urban planning professor and editor of a national journal on accident analysis and prevention.
Alvin Takeshita, state traffic engineer for DOT, defends the system as reliable and said quality controls "are at an optimum under the current data transfer process" and the crash database has experienced no significant problems.
"We have been able to meet the needs of almost all safety stakeholders," Takeshita said in a written response to The Advertiser. "However, we are requesting a system upgrade and other improvements to achieve enhancements."
Some of the improvements planned:
The various upgrades, he added, will "enhance and improve the accident data environment."
ACCESS A BIG CONCERN
UH's Kim, who had access to the department's crash data until about 1999, said he and his fellow researchers would find many errors and inconsistencies with the data, which they were able to overcome by cross-checking with information from other providers who deal with accident victims, such as insurance carriers, hospitals, ambulance operators and others.
"The data they (the state DOT) turned over to us were a mess," he said.
The issue of reliability, however, did not appear to be the primary concern of the federal assessment team. The main one, the team indicated, was that the data weren't readily available, even among divisions within DOT.
"The lack of data accessibility for the traffic safety community is of real concern," the members said in their report.
Release of data files and sometimes of processed information based on requests is dependent upon "the trust of the custodian" of the crash data, the team said. "Adverse experience with misused crash data in the past has caused significant restrictions upon the release of data and information even within HDOT," the team wrote.
The limited access, it added, "will impede the continued development of a robust traffic records system to support the statewide traffic-safety initiatives."
SYSTEM IS 'RESTRICTIVE'
Federal team member Leslie Nelson-Taullie, a Colorado State Patrol manager who has 26 years experience in data management and analysis, said Hawai'i's system was unusually restrictive because access was limited even within the Transportation Department itself.
When state transportation departments instead of state police or other agencies maintain the database for crashes, "they tend to be a little more guarded and restrictive in terms of who gets the information and for what," Nelson-Taullie said.
But of all the systems she is familiar with, she said she was unaware of one that restricted access even within its own agency. In that aspect, "Hawai'i was unique," Nelson-Taullie said.
Another problem the team identified was timeliness of the data. Kim said it was an issue even when the university had access years ago.
Today, delays are caused by crash reports not submitted by law enforcement, reports held at the transportation agency's district office for extended periods and DOT's inability to accept crash data electronically, the team's report said.
The team noted that the agency's most recent annual report on major crash statistics covers only 2002 data.
Takeshita said statistics for 2003 and 2004 will be combined in a report expected to be released this summer.
Reach Rob Perez at rperez@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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