A Simulation Procedure For The Assessment Of Traffic Management Impacts On Urban Road Safety

Large welfare costs related to deaths and injuries in road accidents have led, in the last few years, to a great number of studies and research projects focusing on highway safety. Road accidents have been identified as the greatest cause of death in Europe. The paper presents a simulation procedure for the assessment of impacts of traffic management measures on urban road safety. The procedure consists of two main modules: one, aiming at the estimation of traffic flow on links and at junctions, and the other estimating by means of performance functions of urban road safety, the accident frequency on each element of the network given the average daily traffic flows. Presented are the specification and calibration results of road safety functions based on data gathered in the urban area of Rome, Italy; also discussed are preliminary applications of the procedure to the case study.