389 Queensland’s Road Safety Data Bureau (RSDB): a novel co-located, Inter-agency collaboration

Background

The RSDB Road Safety Data Bureau (RSDB) was established in 2019 as an innovative cross-agency, co-located team in Queensland, Australia. It consists of four participating agencies, namely the Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC), Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), Queensland Police Service (QPS), and Queensland Health (QH).

Aims

The objectives are to facilitate data linkage between agencies, establish a linked database with road crash, hospital admission, police, ambulance, and insurance claim data to inform trauma health services and road safety. The RSDB also conducts strategic research projects using secondary data from a variety of sources.

Methods

The RSDB has gained approvals and established a process with QH-Statistical Analysis and Linkage Unit (SALU) for linkage to occur. Data sources to be linked include the Queensland Road Crash Data (QRCD), Queensland Hospitals Admitted Patient Data Collection (QHAPDC), Emergency Department Collection (EDC) and Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS). A linked database is being developed to enable better estimation of the true burden of serious road trauma.

Results/Findings

Data linkage across governmental agencies will allow better counting of serious injuries, particularly to cyclists and motorcyclists, which are currently under-reported in road crash data. It will also provide an in-depth understanding of injury types as well as confirm hospital admission, all of which will improve understanding of road-related trauma in Queensland.

Conclusion

Data-linkage undertaken by the RSDB will inform whole-of-government decision-making and approaches to road safety policy and injury prevention.