Portuguese mainland road network safety performance indicator

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the application of the methodology proposed in the SafetyNet project to determine the road network safety performance indicator (SPI) to the entire Portuguese road network. This SPI aims at evaluating if, at the network level, the connections between urban centres within a region are made by the adequate type of roads regarding generic safety criteria. To this end, the connections to be assessed were classified. into one of pre-defined generic five safety levels, based on the population of the connected urban centres. Then, the safety assessment of these connections was carried out according to the characteristics of the cross-section type and associated environment of the existing roads connecting the two urban centres. If the connection is ensured by a road of higher or equal class than the pre-defined class, the link is considered to be the appropriate one. For each connection, the results of its evaluation are expressed as a binary value: 0 when the class is not appropriate; and 1 when it is appropriate. The evaluation results are weighted by the road length and aggregated by connection class and throughout the whole road network. For the year 2012 and the entire national road network, the results show a satisfactory network configuration with an SPI of 94%, corresponding to the percentage of connections with class equal to or higher than the adequate for the type of connection between urban centres they established.