While road safety policy is generally focused, rather narrowly, on accident countermeasures, i.e. on measures to reduce the risk of accident or injury as reckoned per unit of exposure, the set of factors influencing accident counts is very much wider than this. It may be argued that, at the very least, exposure should be recognised as a relevant target variable in the context of accident prevention. A broader view would incorporate factors determining exposure, such as income, prices, and road infrastructure together with other variables with a potential influence on accident rates such as general access to alcohol and drugs. Relying on an econometric modelling approach - the TRULS model for Norway - estimations are made of the partial relationships between all of these variables and accident rates. (A)
Abstract