Feasibility of developing a road safety index in Hong Kong

Abstract

The problem of road safety is not a new topic in Hong Kong. Every year there are more than ten thousands road traffic accidents of different severities involving more than ten thousands injuries. The trend of accident remains constant over the recent years. Yet serious injuries and deaths due to traffic accidents are still unavoidable. Therefore, more efforts have to be spent to reduce the impact from the road safety problem.

The road safety problem can be measured quantitatively by the numbers of accidents, injuries, and deaths, etc. The greater the values in these numbers, e.g. more deaths or injuries, the more serious the road safety problem is. The “ultimate” goal in solving the road safety problem is to “totally” eliminate the number of accidents and casualties, i.e. setting the target to “zero”. Though it is impossible to eliminate all traffic accidents, measures and policies implemented in improving the road safety conditions are still very important in achieving the “zero” accident target.

This study aims to find alternative means to express the road safety problems in addition to the conventional numbers as mentioned above. This alternative means is called the Road Safety Index. Although the Road Safety Index is not a new concept, it has never been generally applied in Hong Kong. Through reviewing the road safety related indices adopted outside Hong Kong, and studying the kinds of traffic accident data available in Hong Kong, the feasibility of developing a Road Safety Index in Hong Kong has been found.