Key messages

• Assessment of risk should be undertaken for the entire road network for which the road agency is responsible. In many countries, a small percentage of roads account for a large percentage of deaths and serious injuries. At programme level, the task is to identify such routes and address these as a priority.
• There are established approaches for identifying high risk crash locations – but training of key staff is required.
• For existing road networks, where data is available, reactive approaches based on crash data assessment should be undertaken to identify high risk locations. To identify crash-based locations good crash data covering a period of at least 3 years is required.
• Proactive approaches should also be adopted – especially for major road corridors – including impact assessment, road safety audit, safety inspection, and road assessment programmes.
• Where crash data is not available, proactive approaches must be adopted while collection of crash data commences.
• Proactive approaches should be used in combination with reactive approaches when they are applicable. This combination of approaches provides a full assessment of road safety risk.