Study on a methodology for network-wide road assessment : executive summary

Objective of the present Study is to develop a methodology for a common network-wide road safety assessment and a common safety rating system for classification of the existing road network in categories, in accordance with the amendments to Directive 2008/96/EC on Road Infrastructure Safety Management (revised by Directive 2019/1936). The methodology comprises two components: the reactive approach, based on crash analysis, and the proactive approach, assessing the "in-built" safety of roads. The two components are both applied over the same network and the resulting assessment outcomes are combined via an integration methodology to provide the final road network rating and ranking. The present document is the Final Report of the Study (Deliverable D.6.3), in which the final results and outputs of the project are summarized. A summary of literature review results regarding existing methodologies for the assessment of the in-built safety of roads and the assessment based on crash occurrence is provided, along with an inventory of relevant existing practices and methodologies. Consultation activities performed within the Study are presented, namely a questionnaire survey, the results of various meetings and EGRIS consultation during the course of the project, as well as the final workshop performed by the European Commission to disseminate the methodology to Member States and road safety stakeholders. Available data sources for the implementation of the NWA methodology are also presented, followed by comparison and discussion on data collection methodologies. All components of the developed NWA methodology (proactive, reactive, integrated) are briefly presented and discussed, along with a synopsis of the procedure and results of the pilot deployment of the NWA methodology across the EU Member States. Finally, recommendations for future actions related to the network-wide road safety assessment in the European Union are suggested.