The report shows how it is now possible to assess the safety rating of a stretch of road from its physical characteristics and compare that rating against an expected standard. This is an important advance over the long-standing tradition of concentrating on accident ‘black spots’ where tragedies have already occurred. It turns attention to the prevention of future tragedies by assessing a whole network and spotting those stretches which have a poor safety rating. We can estimate the cost of bringing a substandard stretch of road up to a minimum safety level, and estimate the expected benefits of doing so in terms of reducing the risk of death and injury.

This report was stimulated by OECD recommendations that countries should examine the institutional barriers that were preventing an economic focus on road crashes. It contains vital new evidence for senior policy makers in national and local government. Some of the highest returns from any public programme are available simply by generating and evaluating crash cost reduction programmes properly.