Injury analysis and data

Researcher profile

Dr Stuart Newstead
Associate Director, Injury Analysis and Data

"Collection of appropriate data, and knowing how to analyse and understand it, underpins much of the critical research in the safety sciences."

Leading researchers

Professor Max Cameron

Dr Michael Fitzharris

Laurie Budd

Belinda Clark

Angelo D'Elia

Kathy Diamantopoulou

Linda Watson

How safe is your car

The TAC's  "How safe is your car" website was developed to allow broad public access to our research findings.

Search our reports

Each year our staff produce reports on a broad range of topics across the spectrum of injury prevention.

The accurate collection, detailed analysis and insightful interpretation of data are critical to the safety sciences. Our injury analysis and data researchers have specialist training in the fields of numerical and behavioural sciences, and are skilled in the management, analysis and presentation of accident and injury data to produce real-world benefits.

Our work focuses primarily on road safety research where we have made a strong contribution to public safety through several major projects, including:

  • assessing relative vehicle safety performance from real world crash and injury data including the evaluation of new vehicle safety technologies
  • modelling vehicle fleet profiles and the effects of various safety and policy interventions
  • evaluating major traffic enforcement programs in the areas of speeding and drink driving such as speed cameras and random breath testing
  • evaluating road safety advertising campaigns
  • assessing driver licensing strategies
  • establishing road safety data systems including a countermeasure monitor system
  • evaluating road infrastructure and management programs such as accident black spot treatments and speed limit change programs.

Through more than 20 years of research, we have earned a strong reputation for analysis and evaluation of safety policy, strategy, regulation and programs. In combination with the provision of policy and strategy advice, this has led us to work with more than 30 leading public and private organisations across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Africa, Asia the USA and Europe.

Vehicle safety ratings

Our work in developing vehicle safety ratings began in the early 1990s and is now internationally recognised. This research has led to the Used Car Safety Ratings (UCSR), a comprehensive guide giving consumers real-world information on the safety of their current vehicle and any used vehicles they are considering buying. The unique feature of this ratings system is that all the information has been collected from real incidents, using police reports and injury compensation claims data collected and analysed over 20 years. This thorough methodology gives our researchers far greater insight than a simulation can provide into how a car performs and how the occupants are affected under real crash conditions.

The TAC's  "How safe is your car" website was developed to facilitate broad public access to the UCSR project results and attracts more than 200,000 individual users every year. In addition, over 100,000 copies of the UCSR brochure are produced annually and can be obtained free from the public outlets of all project partners and are heavily promoted on partner websites including RACV, VicRoads, Commonwealth Government Department of Transport, NRMA and AA New Zealand.