Safe Speed Forums

I sent this:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Freedom of Information Act Request
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 17:58:27 +0100
From: Paul Smith <psmith@safespeed.org.uk>
Organization: Safe Speed
To: DfT DfT <road.safety@dft.gsi.gov.uk>

Hi,

Please service the following request made under the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

I wish to understand in considerable detail any changes that have taken place
in the gathering, recording, definitions, and auditing of fatal road casualty
statistics over the last 20 years or so.

For example, One of your staff informed me that deaths from medical errors or
hospital acquired infections were excluded from national roads fatality
figures in 1998 for the first time. Please confirm.

I am also concerned that recent 2004 figures may have been compiled on a
slightly different basis from earlier years

Therefore, I need to know exactly what is included, what isn't, and what
changes have taken place.

The address for correspondence is:
Trace House,
Clay of Allan
Fearn near Tain
Ross-shire
Scotland
IV20 1RR

Please acknowledge this Freedom of Information request.

--
Best Regards,
Paul Smith
Safe Speed

web: http://www.safespeed.org.uk
---------------------------------
promoting intelligent road safety

And I got the following in reply:

===================================


Dear Mr Smith,

I am writing to in response to your request made on 4 July regarding any changes that have taken place in the gathering, recording, definitions and auditing of fatal road accident statistics over the last 20 years.

Definition of a fatality.

There have been no changes to the definition of a road accident fatality in the last 20 years. A fatality is defined as any casualty where death occurs in less than 30 days as a result of the accident. This definition came into use on 1 January 1954 in accordance with a recommendation of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to allow for satisfactory international comparisons of road accident statistics.

The current definition of a casualty is any person killed or injured in a road accident. These include:

(a) a person who moves quickly to avoid being involved in an accident, is successful in that, but in doing so incurs an injury (e.g. twists an ankle). Also includes occupant of vehicle which manoeuvres or brakes suddenly to avoid an impact, but in so doing sustains an injury;

(b) a pedestrian who injures himself on a parked vehicle;

(c) a person who is injured after falling from a vehicle;

(d) a person who is injured boarding or alighting a bus or coach;

(e) a person injured whilst aboard a bus or coach, whether or not another vehicle is involved;

(f) a person who is injured away from the carriageway as a result of an accident which commenced on the public highway;

(g) all casualties in accidents arising from deliberate acts of violence;

but exclude:

(h) death/injury to babies unborn up to the time of the accident;

(i) a person injured in a road accident as a result of illness (e.g. fit) immediately prior to the accident, where injury is deemed to be a result of the illness rather than the road accident.

(j) a person who dies in a road accident from natural causes (e.g. heart attack) and whose death is not ascribed by the Coroner’s Court (Procurator Fiscal in Scotland) to have been a result of the accident. Other casualties in these accidents should be reported;

(k) confirmed suicides.

(l) any person who witnesses an accident and suffers shock but who is not directly involved.

Deaths from medical errors or hospital acquired infections.

You have asked for confirmation that deaths from medical errors or hospital acquired infections were excluded from STATS19 in 1998 for the first time. I can confirm that this is not the case.

There are currently differing opinions over whether persons who die as a result of medical errors or hospital acquired infection should be included in STATS19. The argument for inclusion is that the casualty would not be in hospital in the first place were it not for their involvement in the road accident. The counter argument is that the two events are separate issues and therefore any medical error or hospital infection could not said to be caused by the road accident. Due to this uncertainty, DfT's current advice is that the casualty should be recorded as a fatality when there is any doubt over the cause of death. Even in cases where the casualty's death is not recorded in STATS19, they will be recorded as a serious injury for the injury which put them in hospital in the first place.

Gathering, recording and auditing of deaths.

The information on personal injury road accidents collected by the police on behalf of the Department for Transport is listed in STATS19. I have attached a copy of the version of STATS19 in use between 1999 and 2004 - the latest version from which published data have been derived. Police have detailed instructions for the validation of each record. The Department for Transport carries out a reconciliation process on the data at the end of the year.



The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Most documents supplied by Department for Transport will have been produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown copyright on HMSOnline at:

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/copyright/licenc ... e-home.htm


Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non Crown Copyright) information.

If you are unhappy with the way the Department has handled your request or with the decisions made in relation to your request you may complain by writing to me at the above address. Please see attached details of DfT’s complaints procedure and your right to complain to the Information Commissioner.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely,




Richard Campbell
==========================================

I smell a rat here. I'm not sure why. I have a feeling that there's something 'hidden' in the answers but I can't quite put my finger on it. Anyone?

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

They seem to have been careful to avoid telling you what is the difference between a serious and non-serious injury.

DfT's current advice?

The denial of the allegation is a bit of a non-denial.

I'm not sure if that's a yes, a no or a maybe.

So of the statistics so beloved by Brake, etc the majority (b,c,d, part of e, and g) gave nothing whatsoever to do with drivers......assuming that (g) would result in a charge other than a motoring offence.

Hmm.....

I wonder if they'll ever start listening to the Police Fed's ideas of how to report....nope, didn't think so....

_________________
Never point a speedmeter at a civil or military aircraft, vessel or armoured vehicle. Many military aircraft, vehicles or vessels have target acquisition detectors, some of which initiate automatic counter measures.
Association of Chief Police Officers