SWITRS-to-SQLite

Looking to get right to work with the data? Check out the cleaned dataset on Kaggle: California Traffic Collision Data from SWITRS

SWITRS-to-SQLite is a Python 3 script that converts the CSV files from the California Highway Patrol's Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) into an SQLite database.

Note: CHP shut down iSWITRS on January 8, 2025 and replaced it with the California Crash Reporting System (CCRS). This tool works with the legacy SWITRS CSV format (CollisionRecords.txt, PartyRecords.txt, VictimRecords.txt). CCRS uses a different file layout; support for it is planned for a future release.

Versioning

This repository follows SemVer. I will increment the MAJOR version if a change is backwards incompatible for either the Python command line or the structure of the output database.

Installation

The best way to install SWITRS-to-SQLite is with pip:

pip install switrs-to-sqlite

Or with UV:

uv tool install switrs-to-sqlite

This will give you access to the script simply by calling:

switrs_to_sqlite --help

Development Installation

For development, clone the repository and use UV to sync the environment (this handles the local package installation automatically):

git clone https://github.com/agude/SWITRS-to-SQLite.git
cd SWITRS-to-SQLite
uv sync --dev

SWITRS-to-SQLite requires Python 3.10+.

Usage

Using SWITRS-to-SQLite is simple; just point it to the unzipped files from SWITRS and it will run the conversion:

switrs_to_sqlite \
CollisionRecords.txt \
PartyRecords.txt \
VictimRecords.txt

The script also supports reading gziped records files:

switrs_to_sqlite \
CollisionRecords.txt.gz \
PartyRecords.txt.gz \
VictimRecords.txt.gz

The conversion takes about 10 minutes for a full-sized dump. The database is saved by default to a file named switrs.sqlite3. The output file can be changed as follows:

switrs_to_sqlite \
CollisionRecords.txt \
PartyRecords.txt \
VictimRecords.txt \
-o new_db_file.sqlite3

The program provides the following help menu when called with --help:

usage: switrs_to_sqlite [-h] [--version] [-p {strict,ignore,replace}]
                        [-o OUTPUT_FILE]
                        collision_record party_record victim_record

Convert SWITRS text files to a SQLite3 database

positional arguments:
  collision_record      the CollisionRecords.txt file or the same file gzipped
  party_record          the PartyRecords.txt file or the same file gzipped
  victim_record         the VictimRecords.txt file or the same file gzipped

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  -p {strict,ignore,replace}, --parse-error {strict,ignore,replace}
                        how to handle unicode decoding errors in input files:
                        'strict' raises an error (default), 'ignore' skips
                        invalid characters, 'replace' substitutes a
                        replacement character
  -o OUTPUT_FILE, --output-file OUTPUT_FILE
                        file to save the database to

Unit Tests

SWITRS-to-SQLite uses pytest to run unit tests (contained in the tests folder). To run the tests:

uv run pytest -vv

Or with just:

just test

Run just with no arguments to see all available commands.