Instructions:

Indicate the areas where the motor vehicle was damaged due to the crash. These include the areas of the motor vehicle that received the initial impact and the area that was most damaged.

Definition:

This element is intended to record all areas of the vehicle that were damaged in the crash.

Rationale:

This element is Important for evaluating injury severity in relation to motor vehicle impact and crash severity.

Code Attribute Definition Example
0 None This attribute is used when the vehicle has harmful events but the events do not produce physical damage to the vehicle itself and thus there are not damaged areas to record.
1 Center Front Indicate damage to the center of the motor vehicle’s front end.
2 Right Front Indicate damage to the right portion of the motor vehicle’s front end. Note: if damage occurred on both the ‘right front’ and ‘right side’, indicate both Damaged Area Codes.
3 Right Side Indicate damage to the right side of the motor vehicle. Note: if damage occurred on both the ‘right side’ and ‘right front’, indicate both Damaged Area Codes.
4 Right Rear Indicate damage to the right portion of the motor vehicle’s rear end. Note: if damage occurred on both the ‘right rear’ and ‘right side’, indicate both Damaged Area Codes.
5 Center Rear Indicate damage to the center of the motor vehicle’s rear end.
6 Left Rear Indicate damage to the left portion of the motor vehicle’s rear end of the motor vehicle. Note: if damage occurred on both the ‘left rear’ and ‘left side’, indicate both Damaged Area Codes.
7 Left Side Indicate damage to the right side of the motor vehicle. Note: if damage occurred on both the ‘left side’ and ‘left front’, indicate both Damaged Area Codes.
8 Left Front Indicate damage to the left portion of motor vehicle’s front end. Note: if damage occurred on both the ‘left rear’ and ‘left side’, indicate both Damaged Area Codes.
9 Top and Window Indicate damage to the hood, windshield, roof, rear window, and/or truck deck.
10 Undercarriage Indicate damage to the tires/wheels, axles, exhaust system, etc.
11 Total (All Areas) This attribute is used to indicate a vehicle with damage to all planes/clock value areas on the vehicle (01-12, Top and Undercarriage). For example a vehicle that rolls and is then consumed by fire or involved in a severe crash with multiple impacts resulting in damage all over the vehicle.
97 Other This attribute is used for a variable that is not addressed by the previous attribute options.  If this attribute is used, an explanation in the narrative is recommended.
99 Unknown If this attribute is used, an explanation in the narrative is recommended.

Reminder!

If the motor vehicle does not have damaged areas to record, please record code 0 (None).

Accuracy Checks

  • If the value for Damaged Area Code is ‘none’, then Towed from Scene cannot be ‘yes, vehicle or trailer disabled’.

Data Quality Audit Results

Report Type Acceptable Inconsistent Invalid Empty
Local Police (electronic) 568 91.9% 8 1.3% – – 42 6.8%
Local Police (paper) 590 92.8% 27 4.2% – – 19 3.0%
State Police (electronic) 594 95.5% 19 3.1% – – 9 1.4%
Total 1752 93.4% 54 2.9% – – 70 3.7%

Damaged Area was the field in the vehicle section of the report that had the fourth highest frequency of unacceptable information. However, it was still deemed acceptable in 94 percent of reports reviewed. In cases where the field was not considered acceptable, most often it was due to being left empty. This was especially true for local police reporting electronically (6.8 percent of reports). The overall number of acceptable reports went down by 2 percent when compared to the 2008 audit. Law enforcement auditors indicated that the format for this field was easier on the older crash report, where officers marked the damage on a diagram of a vehicle, compared to now needing to visualize and lookup corresponding codes.