OHIO
Redesign of the Ohio Traffic Crash Report

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

The redesign of the Ohio Crash Report (OH-1) was recommended in the Ohio Traffic Records Strategic Plan developed in 1995. The redesign was needed to simplify data capture and paperwork, incorporate national standards, and provide the capability of scanning the form.

The design and functionality of the previous crash report form had limitations, including special coding and data entry requirements that delayed turnaround times; data entry forms did not take advantage of new technology and forms were not year 2000 compliant; and information about current safety issues (such as airbag switch information or school bus related crashes) was not collected on the form.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The new form helped to eliminate the challenges of the old form and also provided enhancements. The new form:

• is easy to read and can be scanned in order to utilize data capture, which creates a quicker turnaround in processing the crash;
• incorporates Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC) data that is a national standard and addresses today’s traffic safety issues; and
• includes latitude and longitude fields that greatly increase the accuracy in determining crash locations.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

A Crash Report Focus Group was created in late 1997. The group consisted of representatives from the Ohio Department of Public Safety (ODPS), Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP), Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association, Ohio Association Chiefs of Police, Ohio Department of Transportation, and county and city engineers. The main objective was to help ODPS develop a new design that law enforcement could use and that also collected important safety information.

The Crash Report Focus Group looked at six forms from other states. The group’s staff and associated organizations selected three forms on which to input Ohio data and create a sample design to evaluate. The new form would also need to include a template.

When the final MMUCC (the national standard for crash reporting) was released the ODPS decided to incorporate the MMUCC data into the new form. The ODPS and OHSP reviewed several mockups of the new design of the crash report. The report was field tested by a variety of law enforcement organizations, but the pilot test determined that a template version of the form would not work in the field.

The next revision process included a committee of road officers. The committee determined that a three-page report would work in the field and would accomplish the desired data collection goals. This form was packaged with all three pages together and did not require a template. One set of forms would handle over 80 percent of the crashes in Ohio; another form would be used for the remaining 20 percent of the crashes.

The second pilot that was conducted was a success. The time to complete the form was reduced and the readability of the form was increased. The group established an implementation date, created training videos, and conducted train-the-trainer sessions. Over 2,000 law enforcement personnel completed the train-the-trainer sessions. Agencies were encouraged to begin using the new Crash Report Form once training was completed.

RESULTS

The benefits of the new Ohio Crash Report include:

• The time of data entry has decreased. With only half a year's data being submitted on the new form, 2000 crashes were closed three months earlier than in 1999.
• The cost of data entry / data capture has decreased by more than 50 cents per crash (saving nearly $180,000 per year).
• The error rate is less than two percent for all crashes submitted for 2001. 
• The new form incorporates approximately 99 percent of the MMUCC elements.