Traffic crashes have a major impact to European society: in 2008 over 38 000 road users died and over 1.2 million were injured. The economic cost is immense and has been estimated at over €160 billion for the EU 15 alone. The European Commission and National Governments place a high priority on reducing casualty numbers and have a series introduced targets and objectives.

The experience of the best-performing countries is that the most effective policies are based on an evidence-based, scientific approach. Information about the magnitude, nature and context of the crashes is essential while detailed analyses of the role of infrastructure, vehicles and road users enables new policies to be developed.

This project addressed the needs for further improvement of the European Road Safety Observatory by enhancing, structuring and applying the data and information it contains. The DACOTA project aimed to continue the efforts made in previous projects by gathering, consolidating and standardising the available road safety data and information, through the exploitation of all available sources.