In 2003, the Idaho Transportation Department's Office of Traffic and Highway Safety was backlogged seven months in motor vehicle crash data. The paperwork involved in completing the standard Idaho Vehicle Crash Report was time consuming and led to inaccuracies. Idaho's Crash Analysis Reporting System (CARS), a software program designed to assist in the analysis of motor vehicle crash data, was expensive, licensed software that proved incapable of keeping pace with the incoming crash data.
The Office of Traffic and Highway Safety in Idaho responded with the Idaho Mobile Program for Accident CollecTion (IMPACT 2K), software designed to complete crash reports electronically, and the WebCARS software program designed to replace CARS. IMPACT 2K allows officers to easily record data at the scene of a crash in half the time as by hand. WebCARS, an Internet-based crash analysis tool, is a free, comprehensive application that effectively detects high crash locations, performs intersection analysis, sorts crashes by location, time of day and severity and includes other programs for monthly and yearly summaries.
IMPACT 2K software electronically transmits crash data to WebCARS, creating an advanced, timely crash data collection and analysis system available 24 hours after the information is uploaded. Before IMPACT 2K, the average time it took data to be entered into Idaho's system was 23 days. Data technicians now enter crash reports at a speed three times faster than before, allowing technicians to spend more time analyzing each crash. Thirty-eight agencies with 104 users use WebCARS to analyze crash data in Idaho. Eighty-seven percent of the state's law enforcement agencies are using IMPACT 2K.
No longer hampered by the inability to record and analyze highway data, the electronic software provides an efficient solution for implementing and evaluating highway safety policies and programs.
For more information please contact Mike Elmer at mike.elmer@itd.idaho.gov.