Electronic Crash Reporting

Indiana Criminal Justice Institute

Overview
Until recently, most agencies in Indiana did not submit crash reports electronically because of lack of computers in police units and a reluctance to change to a computer-generated system.

However, using their Electronic Vehicle Crash Records System (eVCRS), Indiana was able to increase the percentage of agencies submission of electronic crash reports from 32 percent in December, 2005 to 90 percent in October, 2007 and has become a leader in the nation on electronic crash reporting. Below is an outline of how this was accomplished:

• Law enforcement agencies were surveyed about their submission and equipment needs.
• The eVCRS, configuration assistance, regular upgrades and help desk is provided to agencies free of charge
• Personal visits by the SHSO and the IT developers of eVCRS to agencies in the state improved enrollment into eVCRS.
• Deployment of surplus State Police laptops to local agencies contributed to the increase enrollment into eVCRS.
• Law enforcement liaisons urged agencies to enroll in eVCRS and submit reports in a timely manner.
• Agencies saw a reduced cost of operation: Electronic submission reduced mailing cost and staff time at the local level
• The bar code scanning capability on eVCRS allows for the possibility to auto load driver and vehicle information into the crash report.
• The Easy Street draw program in application eliminates hand drawing a crash diagram

Electronic Crash Submission Rates

Submission Timeliness of Crash Reports
Percentage of all crash reports submitted into the data repository with 5 days

Crash Report Data Quality
The increase in electronic submissions greatly reduces the number of data quality errors that were being committed in paper submissions. This is a vast improvement over the number of paper reports that had critical errors, which was upwards of 40 percent. The current data quality error rate is 3 percent. Standardization of input and immediate feedback to the officer via eVCRS means complete, accurate and timely data is now available to NHTSA, FMCSA, FHA and other traffic safety stakeholders. Not only does better information lead to more informed decision-making, but timely and accurate data helps to develop programs counter crashes and save lives.

For More Information

• Visit: http://www.in.gov/cji/traffic/.
  
  
• Contact:
  
  
  • Ryan Klitzsch
    Division Director, Traffic Safety
    Indiana Criminal Justice Institute
    317-232-1296
    rklitzsch@cji.in.gov
    
    
  • Nils D. King
    Traffic Records Coordinator
    Indiana Criminal Justice Institute
    317-234-4318
    nking@cji.in.gov

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