Road Safety Development Index (RSDI)

159 Pages·2007·1.28 MB·English

Linköping Studies in Science and Technology
Dissertation No. 1100

Road Safety Development Index (RSDI)

Theory, Philosophy and Practice

Ghazwan Al-Haji

Department of Science and Technology
Linköping University, SE-601 74, Norrköping, Sweden

Norrköping, Sweden 2007
© Ghazwan Al-Haji, 2007

Dissertation Number: 1100
ISBN: 978-91-85715-04-6
ISSN: 0345-7524

Printed by:
LiUTryck, Linköping, Sweden, 2007

Distributed by:
Linköping University
Department of Science and Technology (ITN)
Campus Norrköping
SE-601 74, Norrköping, Sweden
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
http://www.itn.liu.se

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ABSTRACT

This dissertation develops, presents and tests a new international tool, the so-called
Road Safety Development Index (RSDI), which indicates in a comprehensive and easy
way the severity of the road safety situation in a specific country and/or in comparison
with other countries. There are three pillars of outcomes involved in the framework of
RSDI. One pillar is the People focus (road user behaviour). The second is the System
focus (safer vehicles, safer roads, enforcement, management, etc). The third is the
Product focus in terms of accident death rates. This thesis analyses each of these pillars.
In addition, RSDI links the key national practices of road safety to each other and to the
end-results (accident death rates). The study suggests a master-list of performance
indicators to be implemented for assessing road safety level in a country and for RSDI
building. Based on the “master-list”, a short key list of performance indicators is chosen
and classified into two primary categories that correspond to two groups of countries:
LMCs “Less Motorised Countries” and HMCs “Highly Motorised Countries”. RSDI
aggregates the key performance indicators into one single quantitative value (composite
index). Four main objective and subjective approaches are used to calculate RSDI and
determine which one is the best. One approach uses equal weights for all indicators and
countries, whereas the other approaches give different weights depending on the
importance of indicators. Two empirical studies were carried out, in different parts of
the world, to determine the applicability of this tool in real world applications. The first
empirical study comes from eight European countries (HMCs). The second empirical
study comes from five Southeast Asian countries (LMCs). The RSDI results from this
study indicate a remarkable difference between the selected countries even at the same
level of motorisation and/or with close accident death rates. The unavailability of
comparable and useful data are problems for deeper analysis of RSDI, especially the
index should be as relevant as possible for different parts of the world. The empirical
and theoretical assessments prove that RSDI can give a broader picture of the whole
road safety situation in a country compared to the traditional models and can offer a
simple and easily understandable tool to national policy makers and public.

Key Words: Road safety, RSDI, international benchmarking, national development,
policy makers, ranking, composite indices, key performance indicators, macro- models.

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SAMMANFATTNING

Denna avhandling utvecklar, presenterar och testar ett nytt internationellt verktyg, det så
kallade Road Safety Development Index (RSDI), vilket på ett begripligt och
lättillgängligt sätt beskriver trafiksäkerhetsläget i ett visst land jämfört med andra
länder. Resultatet av RSDI utgörs av tre grundpelare. Den första pelaren är Fokus på
människor (vägtrafikbeteende). Den andra är Fokus på systemet (säkrare fordon, säkrare
vägar, beivrande, management, osv). Den tredje pelaren är Fokus på produkten med
avseende på antal döda per fordon och per invånare. Arbetet analyserar var och en av
dessa tre pelare. RSDI kopplar dessutom samman de viktigaste nationella praxisarna
och erfarenheterna med varandra och till slutresultaten (antal dödsfall). Studien föreslår
en lista med de viktigaste indikatorerna på hur olika länder vidtar åtgärder för
trafiksäkerheten. Grundat på denna “master-lista” kan en kort lista med de viktigaste
indikatorerna skapas och klassificeras i två huvudkategorier för två typer av länder:
LMC “länder med låg andel fordon” och HMC “länder med hög andel fordon”. RSDI
aggregerar de viktigaste performance-indikatorerna till ett enda kvantitativt mått (ett
sammansatt index). Fyra olika objektiva och subjektiva huvudangreppssätt används för
att beräkna RSDI och bestämma vilket av dem som är det bästa. En metod använder sig
av lika stora vikter för alla indikatorer och länder, medan en annan metod ger olika
vikter beroende på indikatorernas betydelse. Två empiriska studier genomfördes i olika
delar av världen för att bestämma tillämpligheten av detta verktyg i verkliga situationer.
Den första empiriska studien kommer från åtta länder i Europa (HMC-länder). Den
andra empiriska studien har gjorts i fem länder i Sydostasien (LMC-länder). Resultaten
från detta RSDI tyder på en anmärkningsvärd skillnad mellan de valda länderna, också
om andelen bilägare och/eller andra variabler för trafiksäkerhet hålls konstanta. Bristen
på jämförbara och användbara data medför problem vid en djupare analys av RSDI för
olika delar av världen. De empiriska och teoretiska skattningarna visar att RSDI kan ge
en bredare bild av hela trafiksäkerhetssituationen i ett land jämfört med traditionella
modeller och kan erbjuda ett enkelt och lättförståeligt verktyg för de nationella
beslutsfattarna liksom för allmänheten.

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Acknowledgments

The dissertation has now reached the end of a long and enjoyable journey. On this
occasion I would like to acknowledge many people for their help along the way.

First and foremost, my deepest gratitude is to my thesis advisor, Prof. Kenneth Asp, for
his constant support, encouragement and advice during my doctoral studies. It was a
privilege to work with you and benefit from your broad knowledge, management and
international experience. Next, I would like to express my special thanks to Prof. Jan
Lundgren who has reviewed my thesis and enriched it with his insightful comments and
valuable advices. Thank you also for facilitating everything to finish my thesis.

My sincere appreciation goes to my projects members and colleagues. To Per Lindskog,
Malin Eriksson, Ing-Marie Eriksson, Johanna Emilsson and Lars Ohlsson. We shared
offices, discussions, projects, papers, conferences and success. Thank you for a great
time and mutual experience! I am grateful to Prof. Kåre Rumar, for his inspiring ideas
and fruitful discussions, especially during the RetsNet project work. To Arne Karyd, my
office mate, and Somharutai Bootjan for our interesting discussions. To Di Yuan for
your review and comments on my dissertation during slutseminarium “Final seminar”.
To Åke Sivertun and Imad Ali from IDA department for our joint works within the
projects Spider and Globesafe. My acknowledgement goes also to Prof Christer Hydén
and Dr. Åse Svensson at Lund University for their feedback and constructive
suggestions on my thesis work. I would also like to thank the administrators and
directors of the ITN department for your great kind help in different matters.

This thesis has also profited from the collaboration with international institutions such
for instance ADB (Asian Development Bank) and GRSP (Global Road Safety
Partnership) during ASNet project. I would specifically like to mention the following
consultants: Charles M. Melhuish (ADB), Alan Ross (ADB), Michael Goodge (ADB),
David Silcock (GRSP) and Andrew Downing (GRSP). My thanks also go to several
people from overseas whom I met through the projects: RetsNet, ASNet, TechTrans and
Spider. Special thanks to Prof. Valentine Silyanov and Sr. Scientist Anatolyi Utkin at the
State Technical University (MADI) in Moscow, Russia; to Prof. Heru Sutomo and Dr.
Arif Wismadi at Gadja Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; and to Prof. Nguyen
Xuan Dao and Ms. Trinh Thuy Anh at the University of Communication and
Transportation, Hanoi, Viet Nam. Thank you for making our joint work and
applications interesting and valuable.

My deepest gratitude and love go to my parents in Syria, my brothers and sisters and
their families, for supporting me at all times. I express my sincere thanks to my older
sister Nadia for her frequent contact. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank
my beloved wife Mai for her encouragement and support, and our son Aghyad who has
enriched my Swedish vocabulary with his new words he learned from Kindergarten and
who often took my place in front of the computer.

Norrköping, Sweden, March 2007
Ghazwan Al-Haji
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List of Abbreviations

ADB Asian Development Bank
ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations
ASNet Regional Traffic Safety Network to Ten South East Asian Countries
EU European Union
GDP Gross Domestic Product
Globesafe Global Road Safety Database
GRSP Global Road Safety Partnership
HDI Human Development Index
HMCs Highly Motorised Countries
KPIs Key Performance Indicators
LMCs Less Motorised Countries
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
OECD Organisation For Economic Cooperation and Development
RSDI Road Safety Development Index
SIDA The Swedish International Development Agency
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
VRU Vulnerable Road Users
WB World Bank
WDI World Development Indicators, World Bank
WHO World Health Organisation

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