DEVELOPMENT OF TRAFFIC SAFETY INDICES FOR INDIA

Abstract

In India rapid development and expansion of the road network and the increase in number of motor vehicles have lead to a substantial rise in levels of both passenger and freight movement. Concomitantly safety related issues have emerged. The number of road accidents and fatalities has been growing in recent years. To manage them is of vital importance. For management, it is essential to develop comprehensive performance measure for safety on road. Safety indicator is a quantitative or a qualitative measure derived from a series of observed facts. Safety indices are tools to provide better understanding of current highway safety condition in an area or a country which will be useful for further improvement of safety by acting as a scale to read and understand instantly. Recognizing the complex character of the road safety phenomenon, today more and more indicators are intended to measure the factors contributing to accidents and to identify conditions which are associated with increased accident/injury risk. Using a single crash rate inevitably neglects the other aspects of safety on road. Hence in this study safety indices are developed from two perspectives, one is RSI i.e. Road Safety Index from road infrastructure deficiencies and another one is TSI i.e. Traffic Safety Indicators (from Linearity Condition) or Traffic Safety Index (from Human Development Index) using historical accident data. Road safety index is developed for four lane national highway (NH-58), which is a proactive approach. Traffic safety indicators by Linearity Condition and a composite Traffic Safety Index using HDI approach are developed at state level for Uttarakhand state. Traffic safety indicators using linearity condition can give complete and comprehensive safety situation hence a safety index combining different parameters like number of accidents, injuries, fatalities, and from different perspectives like road and person will represent the complete traffic safety picture of the Uttarakhand. iii Developing Road Safety Index enables to prevent road accidents by improving those infrastructure deficiencies where as development of Traffic Safety Index enables benchmarking road safety performances of different areas i.e. to know the relative safety positions with other states within a country or different countries. This can be used in developing national road safety policy in consultation with road safety experts, to provide clear directions for policymakers about what action is needed and which priorities should be set in order to improve a country's road safety level in the most efficient manner.