SAFETY RATING AND MANAGEMENT OF ROAD NETWORK BASED ON SAFETY INSPECTION (Presentation 774)

Low/medium incoming countries experience a lack of data (i.e crash, traffic, road features) to carry out reliable identification of site with high accident concentration. Moreover, even if road sections with a high accident concentration are correctly identified and remedial measures have been taken, safety inspections as a preventive measure should assume a more important role (EU Directive 2008/96/EC”)
Based on these considerations, a Safety Risk Index (RI) was defined and tested in several years of research and practical application as surrogate measure of safety for ranking of high risk sites and identification of related safety issues.
RI is formulated by combining three components of risk: exposure of road users to road hazards, probability of a vehicle being involved in an accident and the resulting consequences should an accident occur. 
Moreover, as the available budget is often not enough to undertake all the treatments that are necessary for addressing the safety deficiencies identified in the network screening, an optimization process is developed for selecting projects to be included in the budget for maximizing the safety benefits of the investments.
Low cost equipment and software tools have been developed for supporting the human task during on road inspections and in office reporting, as well.
For road agencies facing the problem of road safety data and budget constraints when selecting safety countermeasures, the proposed computed-aid procedure is very effective. It is able to cover the whole safety evaluation process from the identification of safety deficiencies, with a proactive approach, to the evaluation of the treatment alternatives providing the best benefit/cost ratio within the available budget.
The paper will present an overview of the whole process and examples of practical application in different countries highlighting the adaptability in different national contexts and standards.