Benchmarking municipal road safety put into practice : further elaboration and testing out of municipal requirements. Policy makers are faced with the question of how efficient and effective their policy is, if it can be done better and if so: how? Benchmarking can provide a method for this: comparing one’s own performance and/or processes with those of similar others, identifying learning points based on the findings, and then applying them in one’s own environment. Benchmarking as in the above definition turns out to be hardly applied yet in the field of road safety. Previously, Aarts & Bax (2014) identified a number of steps in benchmarking that can be applied to road safety policy of local and regional authorities in the Netherlands. The first of these steps are used in this report to further elaborate the method for municipalities. Three main questions are raised in this report: 1. To what extent do municipalities feel the need of a benchmark of road safety? 2. How can a road safety benchmark for municipalities actually be elaborated? 3. Can municipalities be found that want to get started with benchmarking of road safety? The elaboration was carried out on the basis of: - literature and general experiences in the area of benchmarking in municipalities in the Netherlands; - conversations with municipalities on benchmarking of road safety. It was found that the municipal general need for benchmarking is mainly inspired by the trade and industry and reflects the increase in business thinking within governments. Important motives are transparency on choices made and efficiency by bundling forces. In some policy areas, benchmarks are even anchored in appointments and institutionalized in municipal platforms. But also in areas in which benchmarking takes place on a voluntary basis, municipalities organize themselves in auxiliary platforms. With respect to road safety, benchmarking is still in its infancy. When road safety performance is compared between municipalities, these are mainly comparisons without involvement of the municipalities themselves. Municipalities are found to be interested in benchmarking of road safety, but are not all equally aware of the possibilities that this method can offer them. When asked for more details, they appear to be interested in: - the insights or savings it can bring them; - which indicators can offer more insight to adjust their policies; - how they can acquire insights into cost reduction. Important common factors for municipalities in a benchmark group are found to be: - municipality size and degree of urbanization; - commitment on the subject of the benchmark. Municipalities like to be involved in benchmarking, but both budget and time are limiting factors. The technical development of the steps for municipal benchmarking begins with determining which aspects of execution or performance of policy are to be benchmarked. Availability and quality of data is important here. In addition to benchmarking of general road safety, municipalities are also interested in more specific topics such as behaviour, road safety measures or road users groups. In this report we propose a number of indicators that can be used for a general municipal road safety benchmark. We also consider the availability of data, initiatives in the area of data collection which municipalities can join in with, and opportunities to collect data oneself. It is important to pay close attention to the comparability and quality of data. Additional indicators must have at least a theoretically founded relation with road safety, preferably a relation that has been scientifically established.
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