This page explains how the Victorian Road Harm Intelligence site turns public crash, signal-site and freight-corridor data into council reports, maps, rankings, graph packs and downloadable public-interest analysis outputs.
Short version: this is a screening and prioritisation system. It helps identify patterns and candidate locations for closer review. It is not an engineering safety audit, an official government priority list, or a legal finding about fault.
The crash records used in this project come from the Victorian Government's public Victoria Road Crash Data dataset.
The files published on this site are derived public-interest analysis outputs, rankings, maps and summaries built from that crash data and, where specified, SCATS signal-site and TIRTL freight-corridor exposure layers.
Readers who want the original official crash dataset should use the Victorian Government source link above.
| Layer | Purpose in this site | Important caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Victoria Road Crash Data | Provides the underlying crash records, severity fields, road-user information, location fields and crash attributes used to calculate harm, council totals, maps and rankings. | This site does not replace the official dataset. It is a derived analysis and presentation layer. |
| SCATS signal-site data | Used as a signalised-intersection and signal-site exposure/proximity layer where crash locations can be matched to nearby signal sites. | A SCATS match is not a causation claim. It means the crash record is close enough to a signal-site layer to support closer review. |
| TIRTL freight/traffic sensor data | Used as a freight-corridor and heavy-vehicle exposure/proximity layer where available. | TIRTL coverage is not uniform. Low TIRTL-matched harm can mean low coverage as well as low measured corridor conflict. |
| Council boundaries and local report metadata | Used to group records and outputs into council-level pages, maps, charts and ranking tables. | Council totals are not the same as council responsibility. Many roads and intersections are managed by state agencies. |
It turns large public datasets into readable council-by-council intelligence: crash harm summaries, maps, top locations, statewide comparisons, vulnerable-road-user analysis, freight-conflict indicators and signalised-intersection screening.
It does not assign legal fault, prove causation, replace site inspections, replace crash-diagram analysis, or make official funding recommendations.
Use it to identify candidate locations, patterns and questions for further review by councils, DTP, road-safety engineers, councillors, journalists and community advocates.
The site uses simple, transparent metrics so readers can understand what each table and graph is showing.
| Metric | Meaning | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
crash_records | Number of crash records in the selected grouping. | A volume measure. It does not distinguish minor from severe outcomes. |
fatalities | Number of recorded deaths. | The highest-severity component of harm. |
serious_injuries | Number of recorded serious injuries. | Major road-trauma burden. |
other_injuries | Recorded injury outcomes below serious injury. | Included in total harm, but weighted less heavily than fatal and serious injuries. |
fatal_serious_injuries | Fatalities plus serious injuries. | Useful for focusing on the outcomes that matter most for road-safety policy. |
harm_score | Weighted harm score. | Gives more weight to deaths and serious injuries than lower-severity injuries. |
vulnerable_road_user_crashes | Crash records involving pedestrians, bicycle riders or motorcyclists. | Highlights road users with less physical protection. |
heavy_vehicle_crashes | Crash records involving at least one heavy vehicle. | Shows where heavy vehicles appear in crash records. It does not mean the heavy vehicle was at fault. |
The site aggregates crash records and derived indicators into council-level outputs so each council can be viewed locally and compared statewide.
The combined council priority score is a triage ranking. It is designed to help readers identify councils with broad road-harm pressure across several dimensions.
| Component | Why it is included |
|---|---|
| Total weighted harm | Captures overall burden, weighted toward serious outcomes. |
| Fatal and serious injuries | Focuses on deaths and serious trauma. |
| Vulnerable road-user crashes | Highlights pedestrian, cyclist and motorcyclist exposure to harm. |
| Heavy-vehicle crashes | Highlights councils where heavy vehicles appear frequently in crash records. |
| SCATS-matched harm | Identifies signalised-intersection and signal-site-adjacent harm where SCATS matching is available. |
| TIRTL freight-conflict harm | Identifies freight-corridor harm where TIRTL matching is available. |
SCATS is Victoria’s traffic signal system. In this project, SCATS is used to help identify crash harm near signalised intersections and signal-adjacent locations.
| Measure | Meaning |
|---|---|
matched_crash_records | Crash records matched to a nearby SCATS site. |
harm_per_million_movements | Weighted harm divided by observed movement volume, scaled to one million movements. |
fatal_serious_per_million_movements | Fatal and serious injuries divided by observed movement volume, scaled to one million movements. |
exposure_confidence | Indicator of how usable the available exposure denominator appears for interpretation. |
TIRTL is used as a freight/traffic sensor layer. In this project it helps identify where heavy-vehicle crash harm overlaps with monitored freight corridors.
The dangerous-intersections layer uses SCATS-matched crash harm to identify signalised-intersection candidates for further review.
| Ranking dimension | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Total weighted harm | Shows the overall harm burden near the site. |
| Fatal and serious injuries | Prioritises serious trauma outcomes. |
| Matched crash records | Shows total crash volume near the site. |
| Vulnerable road-user crashes | Highlights pedestrian, cyclist and motorcyclist conflicts. |
| Heavy-vehicle crashes | Highlights locations where heavy vehicles appear in crash records. |
| Harm per million movements | Helps separate pure traffic volume from unusually high harm per movement where exposure data is usable. |
The Vulnerable Road User Atlas focuses on people outside cars or with less physical protection.
Pedestrians, bicycle riders and motorcycle riders are grouped as vulnerable road users for this public screening analysis.
Statewide VRU locations, council summaries, top VRU locations, pedestrian/cyclist/motorcyclist patterns and selected age-group indicators where available.
Use this layer for pedestrian safety, cycling safety, motorcycle safety, local street design, speed management, crossings, tram corridors and bike corridors.
The Freight Conflict Index is designed to identify places where heavy-vehicle crash harm, vulnerable-road-user overlap and freight-corridor exposure coincide.
The emerging-hotspots layer looks for places, councils and crash patterns where recent harm appears worse compared with the long-run baseline.
| Output type | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Council worsening | Identifies councils with worsening recent road-harm indicators. |
| Location worsening | Identifies specific locations where recent crash harm appears to be rising. |
| VRU worsening | Highlights vulnerable-road-user locations or patterns that appear to be worsening. |
| Heavy-vehicle worsening | Highlights heavy-vehicle crash-harm locations or patterns that appear to be worsening. |
| Mechanism/speed-zone worsening | Helps identify whether worsening is concentrated in particular crash types, speed environments or road contexts. |
The safety-diagnosis layer helps explain what kind of road-harm problem a council appears to have, rather than only ranking how much harm it has.
Uses available crash-type and DCA-style fields to highlight recurring crash mechanisms.
Compares fatal, serious and other injury patterns.
Highlights pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist, heavy-vehicle and other road-user patterns where available.
Uses available speed-zone, geometry, lighting and road-condition fields to support local diagnosis.
Maps are used to help readers move from abstract rankings to real places.
The public data downloads are provided so readers can inspect the generated outputs behind the site.
The data notes page provides featured CSV downloads, JSON/catalog files and topic ZIP packages.
The downloadable files are generated analysis products, not the raw official crash-data tables.
Readers seeking the original official crash dataset should use the Victorian Government source link on the data notes page and on this methodology page.
| Term | Meaning on this site |
|---|---|
| FSI | Fatal and serious injuries combined. |
| VRU | Vulnerable road users: pedestrians, bicycle riders and motorcycle riders. |
| Heavy vehicle | A crash record involving at least one heavy vehicle field/classification as represented in the underlying data outputs. |
| SCATS | Traffic signal system layer used here for signal-site and signalised-intersection proximity/exposure analysis. |
| TIRTL | Traffic/freight sensor layer used here for corridor-style freight and heavy-vehicle exposure analysis. |
| Harm score | Weighted score: fatality ×100, serious injury ×10, other injury ×1. |
| Priority score | A combined public-interest triage score based on multiple harm and exposure indicators. |
| Candidate location | A place that appears important enough for further review, not a final finding. |
This expanded methodology page documents the public-facing v0.2 Road Harm Intelligence workflow, including council reports, statewide graphs, dangerous-intersection briefings, SCATS exposure, TIRTL freight conflict, vulnerable-road-user analysis, emerging hotspots, safety diagnosis and downloadable data outputs.
Generated by TrafficAnalytics Road Harm Intelligence. Last methodology page expansion prepared: 2026-06-29 06:15.