Road traffic accidents can be classified into three main groups:
- Accidents that are minor and that do not need to be reported immediately or urgently (such as accidents that do not result in any injuries and where all drivers stop to exchange full details, or accidents that do not involve a mechanically propelled vehicle).
- Accidents that need to be reported because someone was injured or there was property damage, and the required details and/or documents were not provided at the time of the accident
- Accidents that need to be reported and investigated as a crime may have been committed (e.g. one or more drivers did not stop or did not provide details).
In the cases of 2) (accidents that result in a personal-injury) or 3) (accidents that require or may require further investigation), basic details could be captured online. These details could then be automatically provided to the relevant police staff for further action.
The incident reporting system can be described as being comprised of three phases: data collection, data analysis, and subsequent learning
