The government has announced the development of a database to monitor national traffic accidents in a bid to tackle the alarming rise in road carnage countrywide.

This initiative is part of a broader safe system approach to road safety and will be led by several departments, including the National Police Service.

In a statement released on Wednesday, August 20, the Ministry of Interior revealed that the system would use big data and digital intelligence to modernise the recording and investigation of traffic accidents.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will support the project, which will also involve close collaboration between the Interior Ministry and the State Departments for Roads, Transport and Information.

On Wednesday, Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo held discussions with JICA’s Chief Representative Shinkawa Makoto and Deputy Chief Representative Mr Satoshi Hamano, with talks revolving around reviewing the progress of the initiative and explore ways to strengthen its implementation. 

One of the biggest goals of the project is to transform the country’s road safety management to a proactive model which is data-driven. 

In developing a database, the government can easily identify high-risk roads and understand the root cause of crashes before making guiding interventions. 

If data reveals that a particular road is prone to head-on collisions, authorities can prioritise the road for infrastructure improvements and stricter enforcements. 

The data-driven model has worked in several first-world countries, including Sweden, Japan and the United States. In Sweden, the data-based approach was central to the country’s Vision Zero road safety strategy and has helped the country achieve one of the lowest traffic fatality rates in the world.

Japan also uses sophisticated traffic data which informs real-time planning and targeted enforcement.

The month of August alone has seen several fatal accidents across the country, with 80 reported in the first three weeks of the month.

The spate of fatal accidents has since prompted the Ministry of Transport to dispatch a multi-agency team to scrutinise accident-prone areas.

As part of the probe, the officials will reconstruct accident scenes to establish the exact causes.