Is the effect of quantified road safety targets sustainable?

S. C. Wong, Nang Ngai Sze

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that the setting of road safety targets is associated with a substantial reduction in road fatalities in the short-term. Although such targets may not themselves be responsible for the reduction in fatalities, they serve as a useful measure of the intention and commitment of road authorities to formulate timely road safety measures that lead to the achievement of the target. A quantified target is regarded as one of the key components of a road safety strategy. However, few studies have examined the degree of commitment and attention of road authorities to such targets in the long-term. In this study, we revisit the effectiveness of the quantified road safety targets set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, but with a different method, time scale, and group of comparison countries. We not only evaluate the associations between quantified targets and road fatality levels, but also measure the changes in the time-series trends in road fatalities over the long-term. The results indicate that all seven treatment countries analyzed experienced desirable changes in the time-series trend in road fatalities during the period under study, which implies an increase in road safety improvement over time.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1182-1188
Number of pages7
JournalSafety Science
Volume48
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Before-and-after evaluation
  • Long-term effect
  • Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
  • Quantified road safety target
  • Road fatality
  • Treatment-comparison group approach

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Safety Research

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