The `Westland Road Safety Project' was launched in the year 1994. As part of this project, the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research drew up a road safety plan for the infrastructure in the Westland region. Other parts of the Haaglanden region were involved as well. The year 1993 was used as a starting point for this study. The aim of the study was to calculate the safety effects and costs for certain scenarios in the year 2010: a scenario without `sustainably safe' (DV) characteristics (a scenario which would follow the current trend); and three 'sustainably safe' scenarios known as `DV-max', `DV-min' and `DV-mix' (`DV-mix' using `DV-min' as a basis but adding three new road sections). When the reduction in the numbers of casualties was weighed against the costs accompanying the three `sustainably safe' scenarios, it appeared that the `DV-mix' scenario would be the most cost effective. It is recommended to opt for the `DV-max' scenario which applies `sustainably safe' principles as consistently as possible and therefore attains the greatest reduction in the numbers of casualties. If this scenario would be combined with the construction of the three new roads included in the `DV-mix' scenario, the results could be even more favourable.
Abstract