Official Reporting and Newspaper Coverage of Road Accidents: A Case Study

Abstract

This paper describes a case study in Flanders-Belgium on the reporting rate of road accidents. Accident data from three sources were compared: official accident data, data retrieved from an insurance company and newspaper articles. A sample of 140 injury accidents with motorcyclists from an insurance company was used as the reference category. The purpose was to explore factors that contribute to the likelihood of accidents (not) to be reported in official statistics and newspapers. Logistic regression analyses and chi-square tests were used to reveal differences in reporting rate according to some variables. About 80% of the accidents with severe injuries were reported in the official statistics whereas the reporting rate for accidents with slightly injured was about 55%. Newspapers covered about 50% of accidents with severe injuries. The reporting rate in both official statistics and newspapers increased with the severity of the accident. Effects of other variables were less clear. Accident causes are rarely provided in newspaper articles, but the presented factual information appears to be generally correct.