Indicators for traffic safety: A new yardstick for safety.

Road safety information is expressed in a wide variety of figures and is used for many different purposes. This contribution proposes a new yardstick for road safety, which allows highways departments to compare the number of accidents on their own road networks with national and international references. Average indicators could be given a normative significance if they were expanded to include distribution values per road type or junction type. The indicators presented here have a provisional value. A method of identifying dangerous traffic situations in the different types of road distinguished is being developed. As soon as it becomes operational, it will prove its worth in the process of road design.