Road safety management system optimization methodology

Abstract In this study, a traffic safety management system (TSMS) for asphalt surfaced roads is developed to improve safety on different classes of roads in Bulgaria. TSMS is a strategic and systematic procedure to improve traffic safety when funding is limited and it is important to determine the most appropriate combinations of traffic safety improvement projects to provide maximum benefits to the population in terms of reducing traffic accidents. The factors included in the developed optimization methodology are the annual report on traffic accidents of the National Institute of Statistics, a study of the roads, a functional classification of the same, historically established, countermeasures to improve safety, costs and determinants of crash reduction in relation to measures to positively modify safety and average daily traffic (ADT). This study demonstrates how the proposed model can determine the best combination of activities to increase safety in order to maximize the benefits in terms of reducing overall crash frequency. The proposed methodology has been applied to highways in Bulgaria. It can be modified for application to roads in a particular city, region and district.