Practical Ways to Save Lives

Analysing crash types provides insight into the best ways to save lives. For example, good motorways separate lanes of opposing traffic with a median barrier, have wide shoulders, few intersections and barriers around roadside hazards, making the risk of a driver being killed much lower than on a single carriageway.

From a review of UK data by EuroRAP, the table below illustrates how specific improvements to road design can reduce the risk that a particular type of crash will occur or lead to injury. It shows estimated reductions in the four main accident types that have been reported from simple, affordable, and well-designed engineering and enforcement measures applied in the right place.

	Potential reductions (%) in various crash types*
Treatment	Head-on collisions	Collisions with unfenced roadside objects	Side impacts at junctions	Collisions involving pedestrians/cyclists
Anti-skid surfaces	30-65	30-65	30-65	30-65
Road markings	30-35	30-35	30-35	30-35
Signing	30-40	30-40	30-40	30-40
Lighting	10-30	10-30	10-30	10-30

Median separation	70		20

Roundabout schemes			40-75
Signal schemes			35-75	35-75
Sheltered turning lanes			50-80
Split-level junctions on dual carriageways			60

Pedestrian guard rails				40-50
Pedestrian crossings				40-50
Pedestrian refuges				30
Cycle schemes				60
Urban road alignment schemes				50-70

Red light cameras			10	10
Speed cameras	10	10	10	10

* Assumed dominant accident type. Variance in potential reductions reflects difference for schemes in urban and rural areas.

Source: Derived from Gorell and Tootill (2001). Monitoring Local Authority Road Safety Schemes using MOLASSES. TRL Limted, Crowthorne, UK; Lynam and Lawson (2005). Potential for risk reductions on British inter-urban major roads. Traffic Engineering and Control, November 2005, vol 46, No 10, pp358-361; Proctor et al. (2001). Practical Road Safety Auditing. Thomas Telford.