10.6 CONCLUSION

This chapter has described several methods of identification of road safety deficiencies, making a distinction between reactive and proactive approaches.

REACTIVE IDENTIFICATION

The main principles associated with the use of reactive (or crash-based) methods have been described in Section 10.3. Simple criteria and more sophisticated ones have been described. This should fit the needs and possibilities of every road authority.

As it has been described in Section 10.3, the reactive identification is based on the principle of potential for improvement that can be expected from modifications made to existing road or traffic conditions. Notwithstanding the advantages of this identification strategy, it should be recognized that there are also other ways to detect deviant sites. For instance, it is possible to search for the worst sites of a road network, without considering its reference population, or search for sites with recent road safety deteriorations.

Section 10.3 has also explained that a reactive identification may also be targeted at the detection of sites with an abnormal concentration of one or more crash types (with or without problems in terms of overall crash frequencies). This is, again, another way of looking at the identification task that may yield interesting results

Explanations related to the reactive identification and the example of Appendix 10.2 have been adapted to the case of high-risk location detection. As described in the introduction, the correction of those sites is generally the first safety action taken by a road authority due to its high cost-effectiveness. However, it should be clear that a comprehensive identification of road safety deficiencies should extend beyond the identification of those sites and include a search for larger entities that may consist of:

  • Parts of a road network (e.g. an administrative region, a city, etc.).
  • Roads or long road segments.
  • Groups of sites, rather than individual sites (highways, four-leg signalized intersections in urban areas, horizontal curves in rural areas, etc.).
  • Methods to identify such locations are quite varied; It could be:
    • A comparison of the safety performance of different areas of a network (e.g. detection of administrative regions having more safety problems).
    • A comparison of road categories or road entities, leading to the detection of unsafe types of entities (e.g. X-shaped intersections).
    • Crash pattern analyses conducted on large entities (e.g. high rate of pedestrian crashes in a municipality or high frequency of fixed-object crashes on rural roads).

Identification criteria that have been described in Section 10.3 may be used for these analyses. They will often lead to the development of specific safety programs aimed at the simultaneous correction of several sites having the same problem (mass action). Such programs will typically be included in a national road safety action plan (as would be a high-risk location correction program or a safety belt usage program). Examples could include a roadside improvement program in rural areas, or a program aimed at increasing the protection of pedestrian crossing manoeuvres in urban areas).

PROACTIVE IDENTIFICATION

Proactive identification methods, which are now largely cantered on the application of road safety audit procedures, and road safety assessment have been described in Section 10.4. These are activities that have expanded significantly since 1990’s and a continuing trend is to be expected in the coming years.

But efforts should also be devoted to the development of a more comprehensive approach to road safety improvement. Accordingly, Identification – A Broader Perspective has described a global decision-making process of a road administration and made some suggestions for a better integration of safety concerns in the current practices of road authorities. To become more efficient in making strides toward safer roads, it is believed that profound organizational changes are required. The identification task should not be limited to the detection of safety deficiencies of a road network - either using proactive or reactive methods - but should also include, in a more positive manner, the search for safety opportunities.