In 2020, nearly 39,000 people died on U.S. roads. More than 2.2 million people were injured, and over 5.2 million nonfatal car crashes occurred, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
For short-staffed and overworked police agencies, responding to a high volume of vehicle crashes can be taxing. It’s not just showing up to clear a scene that takes time – completing long-form accident reports or assisting citizens who come to the station to obtain report copies adds to the overall staffing required to address each crash.
Officers at Longmont PD in Colorado felt the strain of responding to vehicle collisions for years. The exchange of information between citizens was completed on handwritten forms, sometimes using notes quickly scrawled at the scene that were difficult to decipher once back at the station. This made it hard to obtain accurate information and slowed down the process of clearing accident scenes.
The agency also wanted to ease the burden placed on its records department when providing copies of reports to citizens who showed up at the station. Their answer was to implement Driver Exchange and eCrash from the CARFAX for Police suite of tools.
ADOPTING NEW TOOLS
Technology changes typically come with a learning curve, but the Longmont PD found the transition to Driver Exchange and eCrash simple.
“Because of the online material and instructional information from CARFAX, officers were able to learn how to use CARFAX in a relatively quick and easy manner,” said Sgt. Eric Lewis.
Instead of filling out handwritten forms, officers started using Driver Exchange to collect accident information digitally. Using the CARFAX for Police mobile app, officers can scan drivers’ licenses, registration cards and vehicle identification numbers.
Form fields autopopulate and autosave with touch diagrams and drop-downs integrated throughout to improve the efficiency of data collection. Officers can clear a scene faster and significantly reduce the amount of time spent completing accident reports at the station.
Driver Exchange also allows multiple users to input data at once, providing quicker information gathering at multivehicle accident scenes.
“Working with CARFAX made sense to expedite the process of collecting driver and vehicle information and provide that to citizens in a timelier manner,” said Lewis.
Driver Exchange is designed primarily for non-reportable crashes, so Longmont PD decided to also implement eCrash, which is more suited for reportable crashes. Currently available in 12 states, CARFAX eCrash complies with each state’s reporting requirements and matches report fields to state fields for seamless completion.
UNIQUE FEATURES IN COLORADO
CARFAX for Police has piloted a complete crash solution for Colorado agencies with eCrash features which may be rolled out to select markets in the future. Officers in Longmont have found these additional benefits have helped to cut down on administrative hours for both records managers and officers.
“In Colorado, eCrash reports are electronically sent to the state by a click of a button, saving time from copying and mailing crash reports in bulk,” said Lewis.
Longmont PD also has the benefit of using the report export feature, allowing them to use both Driver Exchange and eCrash for the same collision. Officers can use Driver Exchange to quickly gather information and clear the crash scene and export the information directly to eCrash later on to complete the long-form state report.
Colorado agencies can also take advantage of eCrash Analytics using different filters to view accidents by officer and injury or alcohol-related incidents.
IMPROVING THE CITIZEN EXPERIENCE
While officers at Longmont PD value the time savings associated with Driver Exchange and eCrash, they also note the tools work to improve the citizen experience.
If an officer is not available to respond to a vehicle collision right away, dispatch can send links via text or email to involved parties so they can start the report while they wait. In addition to the remote-start reporting feature, citizens can also self-report when an officer is not available to come to the scene.
CARFAX for Police also makes it easier for citizens to get copies of crash reports, says Lewis, as they can access them online through Crashdocs.org. Reports are available to download or print, alleviating requests to the records department by minimizing in-person requests.
Longmont PD continuously strives for greater efficiency and finds the CARFAX for Police suite of tools helps them reach that goal.
“The officers really like the ease of the program,” said Lewis. “Since moving to CARFAX for Police eCrash and Driver Exchange, it has cut down on time lost due to admin duties – the time savings are measurable.”
Visit CARFAX for Police for more information.
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