Numerous interdisciplinary aspects are considered in the research and development environment, particularly in the field of vehicle and traffic safety. The relevant issues of assisted, connected, and automated driving and the further development of passive and integral safety systems require reliable data sources. The sometimes very heterogeneous traffic and accident situation between countries and continents makes it necessary to take as many as possible data sources from several countries/regions into account.
The project “Objective assessment of database quality for use in the automotive research and development process” takes various accident data source from different countries worldwide into account.
In the process, a meta database was developed which based on the database structure of the German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS). In its development, a distinction was made between national data sources, which are mainly based on police reported accidents, and in-depth data sources, which contain more details than the national data sources.
In addition, a questionnaire is used to check the applicability of the developed meta database for specific questions from the German automotive industry. The outcome is a useful tool to make the development process even more efficient by minimising the research time for suitable data sources to answer the relevant development questions in the field of the vehicle safety. Furthermore, the meta database can act as a platform to bring several data providers from different countries together and to encourage the global harmonisation of road accident data sources.