The Development of a Road Safety Classification System for South Africa

The importance of roads which serve as the literal link to access economic development necessitates the existence of an effective road classification system. While functional classification systems implicitly address road safety requirements, there is a need for a more focused road safety-based classification system for South Africa as a developing country. Leading international standards describe 20 possible road classification categories in comparison with South African standards which describes two context classes namely “urban” and “rural” offering 12 possible road classification categories. This study is based on the statistical analysis of 83 intersections in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality road network. The data analysis of accident reports, traffic counts and Geographic Information System data has produced results that show a strong correlation of crash risk with road classification. The results of the data analysis indicate that the implied hierarchal structure of functional, road classification systems does not correspond with the hierarchy of road safety risks. The research methodology incorporated correlation and regression analysis with an Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) model comparison. The development of a standalone or appended road safety classification system would empower road authorities with adequate tools to attract funding of road safety projects.