Abstract
In Portugal, urban areas still have a high number of fatalities as a result of road crashes. In 2016, 78% of road crashes with victims, 62% with serious injuries and 54% with fatalities occurred in urban areas. Knowing where crashes occur and what circumstances contributed to these occurrences is the key to finding solutions that minimize injuries and deaths. At the end of 2016, as a safety measure, speed control cameras from SINCRO (Sistema Nacional de Controlo de Velocidade, the national speed control system), began to be installed in different parts of the country. The first application was in 2006 at several spots in the urban area of Lisbon. Cameras were installed in 20 of these locations. This study, using the location of the speed control cameras (which were only effective in 19 spots) and the 2004–2011 crash databases, sought to assess the effectiveness of the measure. The results showed that there was a positive effect on crash rates soon after implementation, but it was also perceived that this effect was attenuated in subsequent years. It is assumed that the reasons for this are due to the familiarization with the system, together with inefficient sanctioning of the violators, and additionally due to malfunctioning equipment not being repaired in a timely manner, which was evident to the users.
Highlights
Despite great advances in road safety engineering, road crashes in developed urban metropolises continue to be among the main causes of death in Portugal and around the world
When analysing road crashes according to location (Figure 1, [2]), it can be verified that the greatest number of crashes with casualties happened in an urban environment
For one direction of traffic, the consideration of 150 m after the speed camera as well and not just before was important to register once the simple observation of driver behaviour in the vicinity of speed control cameras revealed the possible existence of what some studies [15] have defined as “kangaroo jumps”, where in the approach to the speed control camera, the driver abruptly reduces speed and after passing the camera accelerates back to their initial speed
Summary
Despite great advances in road safety engineering, road crashes in developed urban metropolises continue to be among the main causes of death in Portugal and around the world. In Europe, about 85,000 people die annually and about 2.40 million people are injured in road crashes. In this region, road crashes are the largest cause of death among the population aged 5 to 29 [1]. According to the National Authority for Road Safety [2] in Portugal, the number of fatalities in road crashes has been gradually declining, where it has fallen from 969 in 2006 to 563 in 2016. In 2016, 78% of road crashes with victims, 62% of road crashes with serious injuries and 54% of road crashes with fatalities occurred in urban areas
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