In 1988 a Danish Commission presented a plan for traffic safety with the objective of reducing accidents by 40-45 per cent. For the following eight years the reduction was only 28 per cent. The most favourable trend was for urban areas. However, during the period a growth of only 10 per cent in mileage occurred for urban areas while the increase in traffic was approximately 48 per cent for rural roads. The Commission recognised the differences and developed special plans in order to improve the traffic safety situation for rural roads. As a basis for decisions the study presented in this paper were conducted. Statistical analysis of characteristics such as light conditions, driver age, distribution over the year, week and day were carried out together with analysis of accident risks for various carriageway widths and average daily traffic, the width of areas adjoining the roads and the presence of bicycle facilities. Furthermore, accident analyses of fatal accidents on two lane 80 km/h rural roads were made. About half of these accidents were runoff accidents and the other half consisted of head on collisions.
Abstract