There are several databases from which road accident data can be collected. The first of these is the police road accident database. The second types are those maintained by car insurance companies. Others include those such as Death Cause Statistics and independently maintained hospital databases regarding persons admitted to the hospital.

The current national system used to collect road accident data is the TAMS (Traffic Accident Management System), which records details pertaining to those injury accidents that were reported to the police. However, these data do not account for all casualties of road accidents. Some accidents are not reported to the police because the accident is minor or because the damage is repaired by the persons involved. It is known that accident reporting is not complete; hence, the actual number of casualties cannot be calculated.

However, real insight into the number of fatalities, injuries, and accidents is needed in order to assess the actual magnitude of the road safety problem and to give it the correct national priority. Due to the importance of road accident data, the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea (BAI) coordinated with the Korea National Police Agency (KNPA) recommended that the latter take charge of managing all road accident information. The KNPA, in turn, entrusted The Korea Road Traffic Authority (KoROAD), an organization affiliated with the KNPA, to construct a Traffic Safety Information System under the Traffic Safety Act.

The Korea Road Traffic Authority (KoROAD), therefore, designed the Traffic Accident Analysis System (TAAS) to integrate the different road accident databases gathered and maintained by different organizations, such as the police, insurance companies and mutual aid associations. TAAS is used for policymakers to understand the actual number of fatalities, injuries and accidents from road accidents. Policymakers can then use this understanding in their efforts to improve road safety.

TAAS data that is obtained periodically from police, insurance companies and mutual aid associations is refined to eliminate duplicated data. It is then used for the various accident analyses. The TAAS data is organized into a standard format, containing 35 different coded data elements that characterize the crash, the vehicles, the people involved and other important factors under the Traffic Safety Act. By providing these vital statistics and comprehensive information, TAAS will support effective road safety action plans.

TAAS is composed of an Input Management System, a Statistical Analysis System, a Spatial Analysis System, and a Web-service System. The Input Management System aggregates and refines the traffic accident data that is collected from the different agencies. The Statistical Analysis System conducts multi-dimensional accident analyses using the R-OLAP tool (Relational Online Analytical Processing). The Spatial Analysis System analyzes the characteristics of accident locations using GIS (Geographic Information Systems). The Web-service System provides the aforementioned traffic accident information through the Internet in real time. KoROAD will manage road accident in-depth analysis systems and will provide road safety action plans for national, regional and local governments. KoROAD will continuously strive to ensure its function as the National Road Safety Information Hub.