Definition: Community road accident database

Category: Regional statistics

The Community road accident database (CARE) is a Community database on road accidents resulting in death or injury. The purpose of CARE is to provide a powerful tool which would make it possible to identify and quantify road safety problems throughout the European roads, evaluate the effi ciency of road safety measures, determine the relevance of Community actions and facilitate the exchange of experience in this field.

Since 1984 a large number of measures to reduce road accidents have been taken at the Community level. Along with these measures, the Council decided on 30 November 1993 to create a Community database on road accidents (Council Decision 93/704/EC, OJ L 329, 30.12.1993, pp. 63–65). It was commonly agreed that such a database at the Community level would make it possible to identify and quantify road safety problems, evaluate the efficiency of road safety measures, determine the relevance of Community actions and facilitate the exchange of experience in this fi eld.

Instead of entering into a lengthy process of defining and adopting a new standardised structure and recognising that this would require considerable changes for the national administrations (such as the harmonisation of accident reports, definitions and collection methodologies) it has been decided that the national data sets should be integrated into the CARE database in their original national structure and definitions, with confidential data blanked out. 

Subsequently, the Commission provided a framework of transformation rules so that CARE provides compatible data. The process of improving "homogenisation" of accident data within CARE and the process of developing it are under way. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/coded_files/sustainable_europe_2005.pdf#page=184 Council Decision 93/704/EC on CAREFurther information on CARE (Web Page of EU Directorate-General "Transport")