New Connecticut accident-reporting system could mean safer roads

You know the streets that you drive on regularly well. You probably know which ones people speed on often and which ones have the most crashes. However, just because you know this information does not necessarily mean local police officers do. That may soon change, though, as the Connecticut Department of Transportation and the University of Connecticut team up to create a new and better system for reporting car accidents and other traffic-related information. 

The new traffic-reporting system will move police officers from a primarily paper-based system to a totally electronic reporting system. Paper-based systems can create backlogs of information that someone needs to input into a computer and analyze. With the new electronic system, however, police will be able to enter information about car accidents from the streets.

The state is funneling $600,000 of federal money into this crash-reporting overhaul in the hopes that it will give police and policy makers a better picture of what is happening on Connecticut roads. They hope it can increase traffic safety. For example, if police are able to notice a pattern of drunk driving in a particular area or on a certain road, they will know where the most effective places to patrol are. Similarly, engineers might be able to rework a section of a road if there is a high rate of fatal crashes. 

In a digital age, it makes sense to switch to a completely electronic traffic-reporting system. Not only that, but having the most  up-to-date reporting system in the nation could go a long way toward keeping Connecticut roads safe. 

Source: CT News Junkie, “Modernizing Traffic Accident Reporting,” Hugh McQuaid, April 29, 2013