Alabama State Troopers begin entering electronic crash reports
Alabama State Troopers begin entering electronic crash reports
Posted by Ginny MacDonald — Birmingham News June 08, 2009 5:44 AM
Alabama state troopers have launched a new electronic crash report system that speeds up the turnaround time for getting a crash report.
The system, called eCrash shortens motorists’ wait times for copies of wreck reports from state troopers. In one instance, a motorist retrieved his wreck report in five hours, said Birmingham State Trooper Sgt. Steve Bryant.
That’s good news for motorists involved in crashes because insurance companies typically need the reports to process auto damage claims.
“It’s a better way to submit crash reports and to do it in a more timely manner,” said eCrash project manager Sgt. Chris Brown, who has spent the past two years setting up the system. He noted that the state had been criticized in the past by federal agencies for failing to release crash reports in a timely fashion.
State officials have complained for years that they could not file final crash reports from the year before with federal agencies until the following April or May because of missing data from cities and counties.
Federal transportation officials are trying to standardize wreck reports across the nation.
“Some cities and municipalities have electronic capabilities, but our system is designed to handle every crash report written in the entire state,” Brown said. Alabama’s wreck report form had not been updated since 1999.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/06/alabama_state_troopers_have_la.html