From today, the police in North Rhine-Westphalia will be recording traffic accidents digitally via an app - initially as a pilot project in the four police authorities of Dortmund, Recklinghausen, Borken and Wesel, and from the summer onwards it is expected to cover the whole of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Minister of the Interior Herbert Reul: "An accident happens within seconds, it used to take a very long time afterwards. With the new app, we can record accidents more quickly and reduce bureaucracy. This shortens the time-consuming recording and processing of an accident - an enormous time saving for the police and citizens."
Every year, the police in North Rhine-Westphalia register more than 650,000 accidents - an average of 1,780 per day. In the past, an accident report consisted of several pages of paper; the first one was filled out by hand and as many carbon copies as necessary were handed out. In the case of more serious accidents, the data was then transferred to the computer again at the police station - a time-consuming multiple entry process.
In future, this will be possible with just a few clicks on the smartphone. The app called "mViVA Erfassung" processes the accident data immediately and on site. Further data queries, such as the ID card or license plate number, can be completed by scanning.
The accident report for citizens will also be digital: those involved in an accident will receive a link and a QR code to the North Rhine-Westphalian police's citizen portal on a flyer, where the accident report can then be downloaded as a PDF document. This allows the accident report to be forwarded directly to the insurance company of those involved. Those who prefer the analog paper method can have the accident report printed out at the nearest police station or pass the flyer on directly to the insurance company.
"The faster an accident is dealt with, the sooner traffic can flow again and the less paperwork the officers have to deal with, the more time they have for the essentials: being a police officer," says Herbert Reul. The app not only saves time for citizens; it also significantly reduces the processing time for the police.
The pilot phase will last several weeks. This will give officers in Dortmund, Recklinghausen, Borken and Wesel the opportunity to test the app in action. This will allow improvements to be taken into account before the app is launched in all police authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia in the summer.
Mobile accident recording is further progress towards a digital police force. The Ministry of the Interior recently purchased another 10,000 new smartphones. More than 22,000 smartphones are already in use. Since 2019, the official smartphone with numerous police apps has been part of the basic equipment of the North Rhine-Westphalian police force.
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