Lie Factor in Traffic Safety: Comparison of Police and Hospital Reporting of Seat Belt and Alcohol Use in Hawaii

Abstract

A linked database composed of police crash reports and hospital records was used to compare seat belt and alcohol use. For these linked cases, the police reported a belt use rate of 88.1 percent; hospital records, however, indicated a use rate of 59.9 percent. Although police overreported the seat belt use rate, they underreported the alcohol involvement rate. Hospital records indicated alcohol involvement in 25.5 percent of the cases; police reporting captured only a fraction of the alcohol cases (8.4 percent of total cases). In addition to reporting the general patterns of inconsistency between police and hospital reporting across driver, vehicle, and crash characteristics, it was shown that there are significant problems associated with reporting of seat belt and alcohol use. The analysis is based on comprehensive information from Hawaii of about 369 drivers with linked crash and hospital records in 1990. Some recommendations for improving the quality and accuracy of reporting are provided.

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