The DHV Environment and Infrastructure's 1992 draft report 'Additional study for the benefit of the project note and the environment-effect reporting concerning the Dutch highway 57' compares the design of a highway with that of a "non-accessible to slow traffic road". This was carried out for the connection from the "Veerse dam" to the village of St. Laurens. As regards traffic safety, this report concludes: 'Considering the current level of safety, the extra safety of a highway in comparison with an optimally designed "non-accessible to slow traffic road" is small'. The Regional Administration of Rijkswaterstaat in the province of Zeeland requested the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research to judge the traffic safety section of the draft report. This section contains reasons behind this conclusion. This judgement has not directly produced contradictory conclusions. The following recommendations are made: (1) more general indicators should be used instead of local data about accidents in relation to road types; and (2) the method of indicators should be used for the calculation of effects of scenarios containing the elaboration of different variants of road sections and designs. The paper also shows how scenarios for the future situation around highway 57 can be described using the "sustainably safe road system" concept (See IRRD 848338).
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