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Economic Appraisal of Road Safety Measures in Great Britain

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 3; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/15568310801915542

1556-8334

Andrew Evans,

Infrastructure Maintenance and Monitoring

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the development and use of the monetary valuation of road safety in Great Britain. The most important component of the benefit of improving road safety is the prevention of casualties. The valuation of the prevention of casualties is based on the "willingness-to-pay" approach, which was adopted for the prevention of fatalities in 1988 and for injuries in 1992. The major applications of monetary valuations of road safety are first in the general appraisal of new or improved roads, and second in the appraisal of specific road safety measures. Road casualty valuations are also sometimes used as benchmarks in other contexts, such as on other transport modes and in industrial safety. Accident savings are an important but minority component of the benefits of new or improved roads; however, specific local road accident remedial measures bring exceptionally high rates of return, typically paying for themselves in accident savings in less than a year. Key Words: accidentsappraisalcasualtiesroad safetyvaluation ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper was developed from a paper originally prepared for and presented at an ECMT Round Table in 2000. The author is grateful to Richard Allsop, Graham Amis, Michael Jones-Lee, Kate McMahon, David Padfield, and Chris Smith for comments on the original paper. However, none of these individuals has any responsibility for the content of this paper. Notes Sources: For 1952: Reynolds (1956). For 1963: Dawson (1967). Others assembled by author from Highway Economics Note No. 1 (DfT annual) and Road Casualties Great Britain and its predecessors (DfT, annual). Source: Department for Transport (annual, 2005 edition, Table 1). Components do not always sum exactly to totals due to rounding. Source: Department for Transport (annual, 2005 edition, Table 3). Components do not always sum exactly to totals due to rounding. Source: Department for Transport (annual, 2005 edition, Table 5). Components do not always sum exactly to totals due to rounding. ∗Assumes average life of schemes is 10 years. Sources: Transport for London: personal communication from Head of Road Safety Unit: 12 Apr. 2006. West Midlands: Transport Monitor 2004, page 45, Figure 21-9. Lancashire County Council: Local Transport Plan 2006, paragraph 10.3.6, pages 458–9. Cambridgeshire County Council: Local Transport Plan, Table 8.10 and text, page 109. Bristol City Council: Local Transport Plan, Chapter 7, page 170. Bracknell Forest District Council: Road Safety Plan 2005, page 7. Buckinghamshire County Council: Local Transport Plan, Safety section, page 24, paragraph 7.3.1. Nottingham City Council: Road Safety Plan 2006/7-2010/11, pages 30–32. North Nottinghamshire: Local Transport Plan 2006, Section 6.7, page 140. Hertfordshire County Council: Road Safety Plan 2006–2010, Section 5.1 and Appendix 1. Suffolk County Council: Local Transport Plan 2006–2011, Table 9, page 51. Leicestershire County Council: Local Transport Plan 2006–2011, paragraph 6.33, page 196. Lincolnshire County Council: Local Transport Plan 2006, paragraph 9.40 and Table 9, pages 63–4. Sources: West Midlands: Transport Monitor 2004, page 45, Figure 21-9. Cambridgeshire County Council: Road Safety Monitoring Report 2004, Table 4.1. Bracknell Forest District Council: Road Safety Plan 2005, page 8.