Enhancing the Oregon Crash Reporting Process: A Feasibility Assessment

Wilson, Erin; Springberg, Amber; Monsere, Christopher M. · 2006 · ROSA P / Portland State University. Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (full text — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study addresses the inefficiencies and data quality issues inherent in Oregon’s motor vehicle crash reporting system. Unlike most states that rely primarily on police reports, Oregon depends on citizen reports for approximately 70% of its crash data. The current process involves paper forms submitted by citizens and police, which are then manually coded by state agencies. This labor-intensive method results in significant delays, high costs, and errors due to the difficulty of interpreting literal text descriptions from citizens. The research aimed to assess the feasibility of implementing a web-based electronic reporting system to improve data timeliness, accuracy, and processing efficiency. The researchers conducted a comprehensive feasibility assessment defined by public acceptance, institutional/technical barriers, and cost-benefit analysis. Methods included a literature review of electronic reporting practices in other states, an audit of existing paper crash reports to identify common citizen errors, and a survey of drivers who had recently filed crash reports to gauge interest in online submission. The study also analyzed the current operational workflows of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) to estimate potential savings. The findings indicated that while current usage of online DMV services was low, nearly half of the surveyed citizens expressed willingness to file crash reports electronically. The audit of paper reports revealed significant errors in data entry and description, suggesting that structured electronic forms could improve data quality. Crucially, the study identified no significant institutional or technical barriers to implementation. Economic analysis estimated high-level benefits ranging from $0.8 to $1.1 million over a ten-year period, primarily driven by labor savings for the state agencies. The main challenge identified was securing available resources within the existing budgetary climate rather than technical or legal hurdles. The study concludes that transitioning to an electronic crash reporting system is feasible and beneficial for Oregon. It recommends implementing a web-based system to reduce manual coding burdens, accelerate data availability, and enhance data accuracy. The research highlights that while electronic reporting is rare for citizen submissions nationally, the potential for improved efficiency and data integrity makes it a viable solution for Oregon’s unique reliance on citizen-reported crashes. The findings support the adoption of e-government tools in transportation safety data collection, provided that funding and resource allocation challenges are addressed.

Key finding

Nearly half of surveyed drivers indicated they would file a crash report electronically, with estimated benefits of $0.8 to $1.1 million over ten years primarily from labor savings.

Methodology

survey

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• incidence prevalence

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes
• Methodological Resource: dataset resource