In recent years implementation of the Sustainable Safety Programme gained ground in the Netherlands. Aim of the programme is to reduce the number of injuries with 25% and the number of casualties with 30%, compared to the numbers in the year 1998. The implementation of the Sustainable Safety Programme includes a (hierarchical) categorisation of roads. In rural areas one of these categories consists of the minor rural roads, with mixed traffic and level crossings. Within the Sustainable Safety Programme speeds at these minor rural roads will be reduced from 80 km/h to 60 km/h. Many roads have to be adjusted to support safety and speed control. Measures for instance include construction of small roundabouts and traffic humps. Although many roads will be adjusted in rural areas there is little knowledgeuabout the effects. This knowledge however, is necessary to determine the effectiveness and the need for additional measures. Besides it can support an efficient implementation of measures in other areas. The aim of this paper is to present a method to determine the contribution of measures to road safety at minor rural roads and to evaluate their cost-effectiveness. This method considers number and seriousness of road accidents, traffic volumes, speeds, costs and both users' and authorities' experiences. The method is modular-based and can be used by road administrators themselves. For the covering abstract see ITRD E135448.
Abstract