High quality data and reliable analytical methods are the foundation of data-driven decision-making. The Reliability of Safety Management Methods series includes five information guides demonstrating the value of more reliable methods and demonstrating the limitations of traditional (less reliable) methods throughout the Roadway Safety Management process.
The Reliability of Safety Management Methods in Safety Effectiveness Evaluation guide describes various methods and the latest tools to support safety effectiveness evaluation. The target audience includes data analysts and project managers involved in projects that impact highway safety. The objectives of this guide are to 1) raise awareness of more reliable methods, and 2) demonstrate through examples the value of more reliable methods in safety effectiveness evaluation. This guide compares more reliable evaluation methods to traditional methods that are more susceptible to bias and may result in less reliable estimates and less effective decisions. Readers will understand the value and be prepared to select more reliable methods in safety effectiveness evaluation.
The guide includes five sections and an appendix. The first section introduces the roadway safety management process and safety effectiveness evaluation. The second section provides an overview of various methods for conducting safety effectiveness evaluation, including a discussion of the associated strengths and limitations. The strengths and limitations focus on the ability (and inability) of the methods to account for issues in safety effectiveness evaluation that can lead to less reliable results. The third section demonstrates the value of applying methods that are more reliable in safety effectiveness evaluation. Simulated and empirical examples highlight the shortcomings of less reliable methods, which lead to less reliable results and conclusions. The fourth section summarizes the data requirements to employ the various methods. The final section describes available tools and resources to support safety effectiveness evaluation. The Appendix presents further details on the simulated and empirical examples used to demonstrate the value of applying more reliable evaluation methods.