In 2006 the number of road deaths in the province of Zeeland suddenly increased when compared with the previous years. This increase was reason for the Regional Road Traffic Safety Authority of Zeeland to request SWOV to analyse the available data to find out how this could have happened, and to make policy recommendations based on these results. Two types of analysis were carried out. The first was an analysis of the police road crash registration BRON as processed by the Transport Research Centre of the Ministry of Transport. The second analysis was an in-depth analysis using the completed police registration forms and summonses for serious crashes in Zeeland in 2006. In the in-depth analysis 281 crashes were studied. First of all, a rough analysis was made to determine which crash types, with regard to origin and course, were the most frequent, and which road users were involved. We then analysed the course of the most important crash types: which factors contributed to the crashes coming about and why didn't the road users involved intervene? The two most common crash types in Zeeland were those in which a driver/rider lost control of the vehicle (30%) and those in which no access or priority was given to another road user (25%). The first type of crashes is the most serious: 18% of these were fatal. The policy recommendations are based on the in-depth analysis of the most common crash types, with regard to their origin and course. Effective measures that the province can take are mainly in the fields of infrastructure, local regulations, enforcement, and the road users themselves. Some of these measures have already been taken in Zeeland, or are already being tested.
Abstract