Preliminary canter of the accident rate in Italian and Lithuanian road networks

Abstract

One of the major tasks in developing transport systems is to decrease human losses caused by traffic accidents. The social consequences of accidents and the relating human losses were the main reason why the European Ministers of Transport decided to take measurements in 2002 and then in 2010 in order to decrease the number of traffic accident related deaths in Member States Italian and Lithuanian researchers have developed national statistical methods to answer to European directives in their own country. The aim of this research study is to investigate the safety conditions of Italian and Lithuania two-lane rural roads in order to figure out why accidents occur and by what means they can be avoided. Current safety situation needs to be known for selecting locations to be treated as well as for evaluating the effects. In fact the deaths of persons and serious economic loss caused by road crashes demand a continuous attention in accordance with the rapid population growth and increasing economic activities that have resulted in many European cities. A study period of 5 years of the accident database was investigated in order to estimate the hazard conditions for each road segment by comparing the number of crashes over a specific roadway segment over a specific time period with statistically thresholds. In this way, by knowing critical road segments, it makes to define a consistent combination of interventions according also to the difference between design and operating speed value reducing accident frequency, its severity and social cost for the more frequently expected and dangerous accident scenario. Further investigations on accident types in defined most hazardous road segments, i.e. where calculated severe crash rate, must be analyzed and selected road safety measures for improving safety situation at a site.