STRADA – Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition

STRADA is a national information system collecting data of injuries and accidents in the entire road transport system. STRADA is based on information from the police as well as the hospitals.

In October 1996 the Swedish Road Administration was commissioned by the Swedish government to initiate a new information system covering injuries and accidents in the entire road traffic system: STRADA. The governmental commission was accomplished in co-operation with the Swedish Police, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, the Swedish Institute for Transport and Communications Analysis, Statistics Sweden and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions.

From 2009 onwards the Swedish Transport Agency is the authority responsible for STRADA.

Information from the police as well as the hospitals

STRADA is based on information reported from two sources. As a mandatory assignment for all police districts since 2003, the Swedish Police report to STRADA on a national scale. STRADA also receives information from an increasing number of hospitals. The incorporation of hospital data makes this method very different from earlier methods of registration of injuries and accidents in the road transport system. 

Two sources of information provides a better picture of the accident

STRADA was created in close collaboration with all parties concerned. By bringing together data from two sources – the police and the hospitals – STRADA provides more detailed information, thus increasing the knowledge of road traffic injuries and accidents. When hospital data is included there is also a decrease in the number of unrecorded cases, since the police have limited knowledge about some road traffic accidents (mainly involving unprotected road users: pedestrians, cyclists and moped drivers). In addition, the hospitals’ reporting of diagnoses broadens the knowledge of the injuries and their degree of seriousness. 18 counties report to STRADA on a complete or partial basis. The remaining three counties are yet to join.

Data from STRADA

By accessing STRADA’s web-based system for extraction of data or by requesting information from the Swedish Transport Agency, municipalities, researchers etc. can make use of the information in STRADA.

Official statistics from police reports

Since 2003 the official statistics of road traffic injuries are based on data extracted from STRADA. Since a number of hospitals do not yet report to STRADA, the existing official statistics are based exclusively on accidents reported by the police. The information derived from the hospitals is shown in a supplement containing medical statistics.

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