Evaluating traffic safety policies for developing countries based on equity considerations

Abstract

ABSTRACTTraffic safety policies are still conventionally ranked on financial and environmental criteria in developing countries, yet the equity concept can be advantageously used as an integral part of the process of traffic safety policy making. Equity in transportation is defined as how appropriately and equally the impacts of transportation are distributed among different types of users. The main contribution of this research is to introduce traffic safety equity in transportation policy making. The authors advocate for a modeling framework that considers traffic safety equity as a focal point. The analytical network process overcomes the drawbacks of data intensive models that are so difficult to implement reliably in developing countries and recognizes the existence of complex interdependencies among traffic safety factors. The approach is demonstrated on the case of Tehran, Iran. In this study, seventeen transportation elements are grouped into four clusters (driver characteristics, roadway characteristics, vehicle characteristics, and traffic control) to evaluate six policies. Public education and information is found to be the most effective policy to increase traffic safety, considering equity. The best equity-conscious policies are independent from physical infrastructures, household income level, and household location. The proposed framework is a sound approach to introduce traffic safety equity in the traffic safety policy making process of developing countries.