From the analysis of European accident data to safety assessment for planning: the role of good vehicles in urban area

Abstract

Purpose: Within the field of goods vehicles mobility, the paper points out the road safety that has impacts on both social and economic sustainability spheres. The contribution of goods vehicles is investigated and the results obtained for the larger European countries are discussed. Methods: The used methodology is statistic-descriptive, extracting from a large available database successive and more in-depth information. Starting from aggregated (at national level) data for accidents involving goods vehicles in urban area, the paper evidences the urban junctions as the main critical situation for accidents. Results: One of the main findings is that urban goods vehicle accidents received little attention, but being an important segment of urban mobility, much remains to do for reaching the zero-accident EU goal by 2050 in this segment. Conclusions: The paper, in the context of European urban planning, finalises the analysis results, reviewing the main methods to assess road accidents, and linking mobility simulation and safety simulation models. The findings of this study can represent the base for developing successful city plan. In fact, paper provides some indications to researchers and city planners for identifying which are the main factors to be investigated and monitored for improving urban road safety.