switrs-to-sqlite 4.2.0

Script for converting SWITRS reports to SQLite.

SWITRS-to-SQLite

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

SWITRS-to-SQLite is a Python3 script that will convert the CSV files provided by the California Highway Patrol's Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) and convert them to an SQLite3 database.

Instructions to download the SWITRS data can be found here.

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 pip 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:

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 process will take about an hour to write the database, which by default is saved 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.sql

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

usage: switrs_to_sqlite [-h] [-o OUTPUT_FILE]
                             collision_record party_record victim_record

Convert SWITRS text files to a SQLite 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

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -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.