ACCIDENT REMEDIAL MEASURES AT LOCATIONS OTHER THAN BLACK SITES - THE RESULTS OF A BEFORE AND AFTER STUDY

Hertfordshire county council was one of the pioneers of traffic accident prevention by the application of low cost highway engineering solutions to locations where there was a proven accident record. The key is a high quality accident data system, first established in 1967, which enabled a start to be made on the well-documented black site remedial measures programme in 1971, using three years of recorded accidents. Since 1978 the county council has applied similar techniques to a broader attack on the traffic accident problem. This paper deals with these developments and presents the actual accident savings and economic rates of return which have been achieved in a reasonably sized sample using the mass action, route action and other priority sites techniques. It explains the objectives, the method used for studies and the apparent underestimating of accident savings, and compares the results of the study with the theoretical objectives which have been suggested for this work. It shows that benefits substantially higher than those expected can be achieved. (Author/TRRL)