Assessment of the Effectiveness of Road Safety Measures

Objective

The Joint Transport Research Centre of the OECD and the International Transport Forum is conducting a study on the effectiveness of road safety measures. The study will investigate the assessment and estimates of the effectiveness of road safety treatments and strategies (often referred to as crash reduction factors in the major OECD/ITF regions. This study will examine if studies and findings on crash modification functions (CMF) from one country be routinely applied in other countries. If so, what do the government agencies in OECD and ITF Member countries need to know and do to make assessments of road safety measures systematically transferable? The development of reliable estimates of crash modification functions is costly and time consuming, thus placing a burden on countries to develop full sets of measures independently of other countries. The proposed project would facilitate international collaboration to address this common need and to stimulate greater efficiency in the development of reliable safety effectiveness estimates and their dissemination. The objectives are to:

Evaluate opportunities for and obstacles to international collaboration, including the transferability of and access to the results of assessment of effectiveness. Develop a theoretical basis for assessing countermeasure effectiveness. Develop a framework for assessing the confidence that can be placed on crash reduction estimates (based on the quality of individual studies and the consistency of their conclusions). Develop methods for applying this theoretical basis to crash patterns or traffic behaviour patterns in different countries to facilitate transferability. Generate recommendations and an action plan to improve and harmonise research methods and reporting standards, and thereby increase the potential for transferability and mutually beneficial ongoing international collaboration. Examine the availability of cost-effectiveness assessment of road safety interventions, and review the quality and transferability of the estimates available.

Participating Countries

Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.

Time Schedule

The working group was launched in 2010. An International Workshop on Transferability of CMFs was organised on 23 January 2011 in Washington D.C. The final report will be published in Spring 2012. For more information, please contact:  Jari Kauppila