Overview of Three Expert Systems for Crash Data Collection

There is a demand by the highway safety community for better quality crash data to meet a wide variety of needs. The goal of the FHWA Crash Data Collection Expert System Program was to use expert systems technology to improve the accuracy and consistency of police-reported data. The program and the three expert systems developed and evaluated—seat belt use derivation; vehicle damage rating, including extent of deformation; and roadside barrier problem identification—are discussed here. In the program, police officers used pen-based computers that contain the expert systems to collect on-scene crash data. Embedded in the expert systems is data collection knowledge derived from experts in crash data collection and analysis. The expert systems use this knowledge to intelligently select the data to collect and assign values to elements. This knowledge is also included in on-line help screens that help the officer accurately identify the physical characteristics of the crash scene. The expert systems were evaluated during two field tests. The field test results indicate that the expert systems were well accepted by the officers, that the systems were validated by experts in the expert system domain areas, and that the officers collected data at an average of about 2 min per expert system.