JUSTIFYING ROAD SAFETY INVESTMENTS FOR LOCATIONS WITHOUT COLLISIONS BY QUANTIFYING ROAD SAFETY RISK

摘要

Since creating a Road Improvement Program, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbiarn(ICBC) has invested over $110 million dollars towards road safety improvements in BritishrnColumbia, Canada. The Road Improvement Program partners with provincial road authorities tornidentify problem locations and implement interventions to improve road safety. The level ofrnICBC investment in a safety project has been based on the potential for collision reductionrnassociated with the proposed improvements. The goal has been to target collision prone locationsrnto reduce the frequency and severity of collisions, thereby reducing the auto insurance claimsrncosts to ICBC.rnAlthough entirely necessary and effective, the reactive nature of projects funded by the RoadrnImprovement Program did not allow for investments at locations that were deemed to be highrisk,rnbut did not have a significant history of collisions. Recognizing that some attention shouldrnbe given to these ‘high-risk / low crash’ locations as well, a new program was developed thatrncould provide funding to support road improvement projects that were not based on a history ofrncollisions. The new program, referred to as the Proactive Road Safety Program, complements thernreactive program by providing funding support for projects that can prevent collisions rather thanrnreduce collisions.rnThis paper describes the rationale and methodology that was developed for the Proactive RoadrnSafety Program to quantify road safety risk and assign an economic value to justify funding forrnproactive road safety projects.