To be able to optimise resources for winter road maintenance from a socioeconomic perspective, it is of vital importance to the road administrator to know how traffic safety is influenced by maintenance type and time of action. In recent years, the use of salt has changed. Pre-wetted salt and a saline solution are more frequent today. Anti-icing before the occurrence of slippery conditions is also more common. It is interesting to study the effect of different strategies and choice of material. The National Road Administration has improved the records of winter road maintenance actions by using a computerised system, thus increasing the possibility of follow-up. These data from the winters of 1988/89 and 1989/90 have been linked and matched with the traffic and accident data from the National Road Administration's road data base. The accident rate during the hours before and after the action was calculated for a number of factors, e.g. region, type of measure, type of road and speed limit. (A) For the Swedish version of this study see C 5509 b S (VTI 399).
Abstract