In 1993, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) provided $550,000 towards a Road Safety Engineering Program to invest in improvements to high-crah locations. At that time ICBC's investment objective was to achieve a benefit-cost ratio of 2:1 after two years. In 1996, a post-improvement evaluation was conducted to determine the road safety benefits of these improvements after one year. The two methods that were used to evaluate the program were a simple before-and-after technique, and an empirical-bayes approach developed by Hamilton Associates. Based on the results of the simple before-and-after evaluation, the road safety benefits to ICBC from this program were approximately $3,5M, for an overall program benefit-cost ratio of 7:1. Based on the results of the empirical-bayes approach, the road safety benefits to ICBC from this program were approximately $1,1M, for an overall program benefit-cost ratio of 2.2:1. The improvements funded by ICBC have therefore had a positive effect in reducing the frequency or severity of crashes at these locations. Furthermore, ICBC's Road Safety Engineering Program has been successful in achieving and exceeding its investment objectives. Based on the initial success of these first few projects, ICBC is expanding its committment to Road Safety Engineering by providing $8M for this program between 1995 and 1997. In the spring of 1997, we expect to complete a second annual evaluation of these investments. This paper has a dual purpose. It is intended to be a policy paper on the benefits to an insurance corporation for supporting Road Safety Engineering, rather than a technical presentation of the empirical-bayes approach. In addition, it is intended as a follow-up to the paper presented by these authors at the Canadian Multidisciplinary Road Safety Conference IX, in Montreal in 1995. (A)
Abstract