Opinions on and studies of traffic hazards are mainly based on data on traffic accidents and traffic victims. It has happened in the past that measures were taken, in the field of administration as well as in traffic safety, by which it was not possible afterwards to relate a change in traffic safety statistics to a particular measure. This was mainly caused by the lack of data by which the effect of the measure could be established. For an adequate policy it is necessary that all components of the process of traffic are watched over, so that the influence of each measure taken and/or disturbance can be identified. The knowledge gained in this way can contribute ultimately to the improvement of traffic safety. To study what can be described by existing data a review is given of the development of road traffic in the netherlands since 1964. To know what can be done in the future with more and better data, a description is given on the efficiency and necessity of the quantification of the results of traffic hazards. Some research methods for the establishment of the costs of traffic hazards are listed.
Abstract