IRTAD An International Expert Network and Database on Road Safety Data

The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) is a permanent working group of the Joint Transport Research Centre of the OECD and the International Transport Forum. It is composed of road safety experts and statisticians from renowned safety research institutes, national road and transport administrations, international organisations, universities, automobile associations, the automobile industry, and others from OECD and non-OECD countries.

Its main objectives are to contribute to international co-operation on safety data and its analysis. Its key outputs are the IRTAD Database that currently publishes safety data from 32 countries and its annual report on road safety performance. It also conducts regular research and analysis on topics related to safety data analysis (e.g. forecasting, relationship between speed and crash risks, road safety and economic developments).

Currently, more than 70 organisations from 40 countries are members or observers of IRTAD – representing a wide range of public and private bodies with a direct interest in road safety (see list of members at the end of the report).

The ambition of IRTAD is to include new countries and to build and maintain a highquality database on road safety information. IRTAD offers a mechanism for the integration of prospective member countries while assisting with improvement of road safety data collection systems, where needed.

The most visible product of the IRTAD Group is the International Road Traffic and Accident Database. The database includes aggregated data on injury accidents, road fatalities, injured and hospitalised road users, as well as relevant exposure data, in relation to factors such as population, motor vehicle fleet, road network length, vehicle-kilometres and seatbelt wearing rates from 32 countries, covering every year since 1970. Key road safety indicators are compiled on a monthly basis. Data on serious injuries based on MAIS3+definitions are being progressively included.