Measuring the forgivingness of a road in its environment. Measuring the forgivingness of a road and its environment is not so easy. Forgivingness is one of the pillars of Sustainable Safety and Vision Zero policy. First, the distinction has to be made between social and physical forgivingness. Where social forgivingness focuses on social interaction and interaction of road users themselves, the physical environment focuses on the infrastructure or measures, which help to prevent or limit serious injury to fallible and vulnerable road users who make unconscious or deliberate errors. Physical forgivingness can be understood as the safety provided by infrastructure. Vulnerable road users can be distinguished by accident severity, inequality and casualty. In this study, pedestrians and cyclists are identified as vulnerable road users because they are not protected by a vehicle and can cause no serious injury to a collision partner. In Europe, the forgivingness of a road can be measured with a Road Protection Score (EuroRAP RPS). In other parts of the world, similar measurement methods are used like the International Road Assessment Programme (IRAP). This Programme acts as an umbrella for various methods. In the IRAP Programme, crash characteristics for pedestrians and cyclists are included. It is required to adapt this model to be useful for the road characteristics in The Netherlands and perhaps in Europe. (Author/publisher)
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