TRL will bring together road-safety researchers, data scientists and healthcare professionals in London on 16 September 2025 to explore how linking anonymised health records with collision data can accelerate progress toward Vision Zero. The half-day event will showcase data-driven safety interventions, including demonstrations and a national collision investigation framework developed with the Department for Transport.
TRL is staging a landmark half‑day event in London that brings road safety researchers, data scientists and healthcare professionals together to explore how smarter use of data can move us closer to Vision Zero—the aim of eliminating deaths and serious injuries on our roads. The gathering, titled Towards Zero: Smart Data, Safer Roads, is set to unfold at the Smart Mobility Living Lab in London on 16 September 2025 and will showcase pioneering data‑led safety initiatives, including projects that marry health data with collision records and a national collision investigation framework delivered in partnership with the Department for Transport. Speakers from TRL, Imperial College London, University Hospital Southampton and other leading institutions will outline the latest thinking and trial new approaches to prevent crashes and injuries. According to the TRL release and its public communications, the event will also highlight the evolving PRANA network and data‑integration efforts that underpin safer post‑crash responses. The half‑day programme will be punctuated by demonstrations and live demonstrations of data‑driven safety interventions, with opportunities to network with academics, policymakers and industry peers. (According to the lead TRL‑described event communications, and as explained in the related data‑integration context provided by Imperial College London’s RTI‑AID work.)
The venue and facility underpinning the event are anchored in London’s Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL), TRL’s urban testbed that straddles public and private roads across Greenwich and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. SMLL exists to test and validate mobility technologies in real, live traffic, with a focus on safety, reliability and accessibility. It operates as a TRL company and collaborates with DG Cities and the London Legacy Development Corporation to provide practical technical support for testing, simulating and refining new transport concepts, enabling prototype deployment in an urban setting and accelerating data‑driven testing and collaboration. The event’s framing aligns with SMLL’s mission to accelerate safer, cleaner and more accessible transport through real‑world testing and cross‑sector collaboration. Data‑driven testing efforts linked to the event are further reinforced by TRL’s broader data initiatives, including the Data Sustains Life project, a world‑first programme that links anonymised health records with road‑crash data to illuminate how injuries unfold and how emergency care can be improved. (Information about SMLL from its London site; context on data‑driven safety initiatives from TRL’s Data Sustains Life announcement and PRANA network.)
In addition to the event’s immediate discussions, the day will be informed by ongoing research into how linked health and collision data can transform safety policy and practice. Imperial College London researchers, in collaboration with TRL, have demonstrated that crash dynamics—such as changes in speed, impact direction and helmet use—strongly influence brain injury severity, a finding drawn from analysis of large collision datasets including RAIDS and STATS19. The work highlights how automated identification of high‑risk crashes could trim response times and tailor care for traumatic brain injuries, a line of inquiry that underpins the event’s data‑driven safety agenda. The RAIDS programme, managed by TRL for the Department for Transport, provides in‑depth scene investigations and retrospective injury analyses to understand how crashes occur and how injuries develop, with data protection and privacy safeguards in place. Officials emphasise that the programme’s findings feed into vehicle safety design, road infrastructure improvements and post‑crash care improvements, while maintaining stringent data security and anonymisation. (Cited sources include Imperial College London’s ROAD TRAFFIC INJURY and RTI‑AID work, Imperial’s Brain Communications findings, and government details on RAIDS.)
Reference Map:
Source Panel (for reference only; not part of the main article text)
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- Towards Zero: Smart Data, Safer Roads – Highways News (lead article describing TRL’s event in London)
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- Smart Mobility Living Lab – TRL / Smart Mobility Living Lab (London real‑world urban testbed description)
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- Road accident data could help predict crash victims most at risk of brain injury – Imperial College London (Imperial News)
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- Road Traffic Injury – Analytics for Integrated Data (RTI‑AID) – Imperial College London (Centre for Health Policy)
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- World‑first data project to reduce road crash deaths – TRL (Data Sustains Life; includes PRANA context)
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- Road accident in-depth studies (RAIDS) – GOV.UK (Department for Transport)
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- The link between collision dynamics and brain injury in road traffic collisions – TRL (related TRL coverage of RAIDS/brain injury research)
Source: Noah Wire Services
- https://highways-news.com/towards-zero-smart-data-safer-roads-trl-to-host-groundbreaking-road-safety-event/ – Please view link – unable to able to access data
- https://smartmobility.london/ – Smart Mobility Living Lab (SMLL) is TRL’s London‑based, real‑world urban testbed located across the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It combines public and private roads to test and validate mobility technologies in live traffic, with safety at its core. SMLL operates as a TRL company and collaborates with DG Cities and the London Legacy Development Corporation to provide practical tech support for testing, simulating and innovating new transport concepts. The facility enables prototype deployment in a realistic urban setting, aiming to accelerate safer, cleaner and more accessible transport through data‑driven testing and collaboration.
- https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/233900/road-accident-data-could-help-predict/ – Imperial College London reports a collaboration with TRL to understand brain injury risk in road crashes. By analysing over two thousand collisions and using the UK RAIDS and STATS19 datasets, the researchers show that crash dynamics such as speed change, impact direction and helmet use strongly influence brain injury severity. The findings highlight the potential to automatically identify crashes likely to cause traumatic brain injury, aiding emergency responders and post‑crash care. The work exemplifies how linked collision and health data can improve triage, treatment and safety policy, strengthening cross‑institutional partnerships to enhance road safety outcomes.
- https://www.imperial.ac.uk/centre-for-health-policy/our-work/data-science-and-analytics/road-traffic-injury–analytics-for-integrated-data-rti-aid/ – Imperial College London’s RTI‑AID project explores novel data sources and analytics to integrate road traffic injury data with health information. The initiative considers crowdsourced data, social media, mobility apps and vehicle monitoring data to improve surveillance of road injuries. It builds on a February 2024 RAC Foundation report and aims to validate data linkage strategies in London and beyond, linking collision data from health and transport datasets to support healthcare planning, public health policy and emergency response. The project demonstrates a forward‑looking approach to data‑driven road safety in an urban setting.
- https://www.trl.co.uk/news/world-first-data-project-to-reduce-road-crash-deaths – TRL’s World‑first data project, Data Sustains Life, brings anonymised health records together with road crash data to yield a holistic view of crash causation and health outcomes. In partnership with University Hospital Southampton and funded by the Department for Transport and the Road Safety Trust, the two‑year initiative seeks to identify patterns and risk factors that can inform safer roads and improved emergency care. The project forms part of the PRANA network, uses secure NHS data environments, and aims to influence national road safety policy by translating data insights into practical interventions.
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-accident-investigation-road-accident-in-depth-studies/road-accident-in-depth-studies-raids – RAIDS (Road Accident In‑Depth Studies) is the UK Department for Transport’s in‑depth collision investigation programme, managed by TRL. It aggregates scene investigations with retrospective injury analyses to understand how crashes occur and how injuries develop, informing safer roads and safer vehicles. Data are anonymised and stored in a central database accessible to researchers under strict controls. RAIDS collects vehicle damage, highway features and injury data while excluding personal identifiers. The programme works with police forces, hospitals and other partners to support evidence‑based policy, design improvements and safety standards across the UK transport network.
- https://www.trl.co.uk/news/trl-awarded-delivery-contract-for-new-look-raids-programme – TRL reports it was awarded the delivery contract for a refreshed RAIDS programme to the UK Department for Transport. The contract expands data collection and analysis across road traffic collisions, enabling inclusion of additional modes such as bicycles, LGVs, ADAS‑equipped vehicles, EVs and e‑scooters. Investigations focus on how injuries occur rather than fault, conducted by a dedicated team who gather on‑scene evidence and integrate hospital and police data. RAIDS findings influence vehicle safety design, road infrastructure and post‑crash care, contributing to safer transport policy and informing standards at national and European levels.
Noah Fact Check Pro
The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first
emerged. We’ve since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed
below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may
warrant further investigation.
Freshness check
Score:
8
Notes:
The narrative is timely and tied to a forthcoming event (scheduled for 16 September 2025) and recent projects. 
Key related announcements — notably TRL’s ‘Data Sustains Life’ / PRANA project — were publicly published much earlier in 2025 (TRL announcement published 28 January 2025), so parts of the narrative are recycled from earlier communications. 
The Highways News write‑up closely follows TRL’s prior public communications and press material; this suggests the report is largely based on a press release rather than wholly original reporting. 
Because substantially similar material (Data Sustains Life / PRANA details and TRL quotes) appeared more than 7 days earlier (months earlier in Jan–Feb 2025), the narrative should be flagged as re‑use of earlier content. The event date and venue are forward‑looking (future to today, 22 August 2025), so the item retains topical freshness for an upcoming event despite recycled background material.
Quotes check
Score:
6
Notes:
Several direct quotes in the narrative (for example attributed to TRL figures discussing the ‘world‑first’ Data Sustains Life project and PRANA) appear verbatim or near‑verbatim in TRL’s own press communications published in January 2025 and in subsequent industry reporting. 
Earliest online matches for those quoted lines are TRL’s official announcement and downstream syndications (January–February 2025), indicating reuse of quoted material rather than exclusive or newly‑sourced quotes. If any quotes in the Highways News piece are slightly reworded, those variations are minor; no unique earlier sourcing for different wording was found. If the narrative includes any genuinely novel, unattributed direct quote not matching TRL/partner releases, that would raise originality — but searches show the prominent quotes are recycled.
Source reliability
Score:
8
Notes:
The entities named in the narrative (TRL, Imperial College London, University Hospital Southampton, Department for Transport, Smart Mobility Living Lab / SMLL, PRANA, RAIDS) are verifiable and reputable organisations with documented online presence. TRL’s own site and university/Department for Transport pages corroborate the major programme names (Data Sustains Life, PRANA, RAIDS) and the technical claims described. The lead narrative appears to originate from TRL’s public communications (a press release), which is credible but represents an interested party — readers should note this when assessing independence. No evidence was found that any key organisation or person named is fabricated or unverifiable.
Plausability check
Score:
8
Notes:
Claims about linking anonymised health records with collision data (Data Sustains Life / PRANA) are plausible and documented elsewhere; regulatory and technical safeguards (use of NHS Secure Data Environment) are referenced publicly. Technical claims citing RAIDS, STATS19 and Imperial College London research on crash dynamics and brain injury are consistent with published university and government material describing such studies. The narrative mixes promotional event copy (demonstrations, networking) with research summaries; the promotional tone and forward‑facing language are typical for event publicity, not investigative reporting. 
Surprising or high‑impact claims (e.g. ‘world‑first’) are supported by TRL/partner wording and independent NHS/industry write‑ups — plausible but should be read as project claims pending peer‑reviewed outputs. If the report lacks independent new data beyond press statements, treat as programme announcement rather than new scientific proof.
Overall assessment
Verdict (FAIL, OPEN, PASS): PASS
Confidence (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): HIGH
Summary:
The narrative is credible and largely verifiable: major claims, programme names and quotes trace back to verifiable organisations (TRL, Imperial, University Hospital Southampton, DfT) and earlier public announcements. However, the report largely re‑uses material from TRL’s earlier communications (TRL press release published 28 January 2025 and subsequent syndication), so it is not original reporting — flag as recycled press material. Major risks: reliance on a press release (promotional tone) and recycled quotes/wording (), though the originating organisations are reputable and the claims are plausible and corroborated elsewhere. Overall: PASS (report is trustworthy as an event/ programme announcement) with HIGH confidence, but editors should mark the piece as press‑driven/reused content and treat claims about future impact as provisional until primary research outputs are published.
