This is the eleventh time we have carried out an annual update of the data in MAST, and although the data was received much later in the year than previously, we are proud to have turned around the update in record time (12 days). The main MAST ‘instance’ has now been updated to include:
Collision records between 2006 – 2019 (as requested by the recent MAST User Group)
Experian MOSIAC population and socio-demographic classifications (matched at postcode level)
As a part of this year’s update we have carried out a full update of collision location matching, together with casualty and driver home. In the past our updates have been incremental (adding data on top of the previous year) but this time we have taken the opportunity to incorporate any corrections and adjustments made by the DfT in the intervening years.
Further updates will roll out over the rest of the month to include:
MAST Professional – This is the system used by approved organisations to review sensitive datasets including contributory factors, which will also receive an update back to 2006.
MAST DataMods and associated Severity Adjustment Dashboard – We introduced this last year and it has proved to be very popular with authorities wanting to explore the DfT / ONS methodology for adjusting serious and slight casualties in their area. This is essential for anyone who wants to understand the real trends in their areas and compare changes against national or regional averages.
MAST Scotland – We expect to receive this data very soon which allows us to update the Scottish dataset which does vary from the end-of-year totals published for Great Britain.
It is worth noting that although we have in the past matched collisions to the Highways England network, we adopted a new approach a few years ago to wait for the official figures from Highways England themselves. This often takes several months as individual collision locations are verified and we expect the matching of 2019 collisions to the SRN to be an update early in 2021. In the meantime you can of course use the road number data as a filter, and matching from previous years is still available.