Benchmarking of the road safety performance among the regions by using DEA

Abstract

Road Safety Management has important role in reducing the Number of Traffic Accident Casualties, but also to reduce other negative Consequences of Traffic. First step in Road Safety Management is to define current state of the Road Traffic Safety Level and this is often an issue for Decision Makers. Furthermore, evaluation and comparison of the Road Traffic Safety Level presents a major Challenge in Traffic Safety Researches, especially when there is a need for comparison between different regions, in order to better understand local safety situation, to set particular targets and formulate actions. Second important Issue is choosing an adequate method which will make comparison fair to all compared units (departments, municipalities, regions and countries). A lot of studies are focused on methods for the calculation of the level of traffic safety which uses a single numerical value for the assessment of the level of traffic safety (composite performance index). In other words, by using appropriate techniques, traffic safety indicators are combined into a single performance index, in order to represent a grade of the Road Traffic Safety Level. The purpose of this study was to estimate performance i.e. the relative efficiency of different regions by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Particular method is tested in Montenegro on 21 municipalities and put in context with similar Research from Serbia where 27 police departments were involved.