SHORTCOMINGS IN ROAD ACCIDENT DATA IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, IDENTIFICATION AND CORRECTION: A CASE STUDY

This paper reports on some aspects of the findings of a recent piece of research into road traffic accidents in Yemen. The aim of the research was to provide a better understanding of road accident problems in Yemen by investigating its real dimensions. This includes the identification of the shortcomings in road accident data and to develop a method that can be adopted to adjust (correct) the official data.Two field surveys were employed to check the shortcomings in the official records. The main findings obtained are presented as follows: •The actual size of the road accident problem in Yemen is much greater than it appears in the official figures. In 1993, the registered accidents accounted for only about 13.3% of the estimated accidents and injuries accounted for only about 30% of the estimated injuries.•The registered fatalities account for only about 48% of the actual number of fatalities using the 30 days definition. The 30 days definition for road accident fatalities is not adopted in Yemen and the relevant agencies are not implementing this definition properly.•Methods for adjusting road accident data were adopted in this study. It is believed that this method can adjust the road accident data with an acceptable degree of satisfaction.It is hoped that the findings of this research will help both researchers in their future work and decision makers in the field of road safety to encourage suitable safety programmes to be adopted which are consistent with the actual size of the problem. Knowledge of the true picture of the road accident problem will be useful for the purpose of negotiating adequate funding for road safety activities.Estimating the actual percentage of unreported data in road accidents and casualties is very useful for any further research in road accidents and safety in Yemen. It will also help in dealing with official data and results from previous studies