Data envelopment analysis for investigating optimal road safety policies utilising global epidemiological, risk exposure and socio-economic statistics

Abstract

The raising number of motorisation and the associated number of road traffic fatalities is reasonably considered as an epidemic phenomenon and one of the most important issues in public policy. In order to understand the phenomenon of road traffic fatalities and to propose road safety measures and policies, it could be helpful the investigation of the phenomenon on a global scale. The current paper focuses on the analysis of the road traffic fatalities, taking into consideration global epidemiological data for a benchmark dataset of the year 2010. The objective is to evaluate-benchmark the countries on their road safety performance, utilising their socio-economic and demographic context. Finally, road safety measures and strategies of the best-performing countries are suggested to the under-performing countries in favour of their road safety enhancement. The analytical framework here is based on data envelopment analysis (DEA), which is considered a straightforward benchmarking technique.