Each year, more than 75 000 people are killed on rural roads in OECD Member countries. These deaths are accompanied by economic costs on the order of USD 135 billion per year. The relative importance of rural road fatalities in relation to total road fatalities has climbed from less than 55% in 1980 to more than 60% in 1996. Because OECD countries have experienced a reduction in the total number of road crash fatalities, it is clear that motorway and urban road safety improvements have been more successful than those on rural roads. The OECD therefore created an Expert Group composed of representatives from 13 countries to examine the problems and propose strategies for improving the situation. The report shows that as much as 80% of all accidents on rural roads fall into three categories: single vehicle accidents, head-on collisions and collisions at intersections. A main conclusion from this information is that the rural road system itself has inherent characteristics that significantly contribute to the high number of accidents and the high risks. It is therefore recommended that every OECD Member country should develop a rural road safety improvement strategy. It is also recommended that each country should develop short-, short-/medium- and long-term programmes. Such plans must pay special attention to raising awareness about rural road safety both within the general public and within the organisations of all key actors. Various safety measures that can improve rural road safety are suggested throughout the report. Although a network-wide approach is required and recommended in the report, it is understood that individual low-cost measures can contribute to the safety of the rural road network. The report recommends that safety should receive explicit attention at every level of the process, from the decision to build or rebuild, through planning, design and construction and during operation and maintenance. As there is currently insufficient information available on rural road safety problems to adequately support appropriate policy and investment decisions, the report recommends more systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of countermeasures. In addition to this, further research into rural road safety strategies and various individual safety measures is required to rapidly advance safety improvements on rural roads.
Abstract