Road safety data: an essential tool for developing effective

road safety policy

Fred Wegman, Chairman of IRTAD 24 February 2009

International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group

►Permanent working group under the umbrella of OECD and ITF

►55 members from 30 countries►Cooperation with the World Bank

(GRSF)►Mission

■ World standard road safety database■ Networking for safety professionals■ Special reports

Road safety data: Why ?

► Comprehensive data collection and analysis are essential for:■ designing effective safety strategies■ setting achievable targets■ developing and determining intervention

priorities■ monitoring programme effectiveness

► Harmonized definitions and data collecting procedures for meaningful international comparisons

International benchmarking of mortality rates

Data quality and reliability

► Key issue, when developing road safety interventions. ■ Underreporting, data on injury accidents

(linking police reports and hospital records)

► Critical to assess social costs of road accidents and to build a solid case for road safety investments

Different types of road safety data

Social costs

Number killed and injured

Safety performance indicators

Safety measures and programmes

Structure and culture

Outcome

Policy performance

Policy context

Analysing the situation (example of Spain)

Comparing fatalities with exposure data

Comparing with other countries

Safety Performance Indicators to monitor progress

►Driving speeds and speeding■ by vehicle category, road type,

geographic area, etc.

►Vehicle safety ratings ►Blood alcohol level compliance►Seat belt and helmet wearing

rates►Etc.

Seat belt wearing rates

Linking interventions to performance (example of

Canada)

Accident costs(example of the Netherlands)

(2003 data)

Unit cost Number Total costs

Fatalitites 2.4 million EUR 1088 2.6 million EUR

Serious injuries 297 900 18660 5.6 million EUR

Slight injuries 1.12 million EUR

Damage only 3.9 milloin EUR

TOTAL 13.2 million = 2.5% of GD P

IRTAD Networking

►IRTAD: group of safety experts and statisticians

►Forum to exchange information on safety trends, data collection and analysis methodologies

►Forum to learn from each other►Expose your country’s

experience

IRTAD Special reports ►Underreporting of Road Traffic

Casualties (2007)

►The Availability of Hospitalised Road User Data in OECD Member Countries (2003)

►Linking Hospital and Police data (next Programme of Work)

►www.irtad.net

►Please, join us in our workshop ►This afternoon, 16:00 – 18:00►Melia Castilla Hotel