Construction of road safety composite indicator using grey relational analysis

Abstract

Aggregation of different variables into one road safety performance index is a popular concept in evaluating road safety and comparing the performance of territo-ries/entities. This paper presents the development of a novel and innovative weighting methodology using grey relational analysis. Based on the proposed model, ten hierarchical road safety indicators were selected in terms of a two-layered model with three categories related to behaviour, safety and system. Grey weights are assigned to the categorized indicators in each layer, and the grey road safety composite indicator for each entity (21 selected territories) is calculated by the weighted sum approach. With relatively high weights, this systematic methodology can serve the policy makers in targeting the risk domains where improvements are needed. The results clearly illustrate effectiveness in addressing a large number of indicators with hierarchical structures.