In a nutshell

The emergence of a consensus on the safety benefits of road design and management, as materialised by a draft Directive currently under examination by the European Parliament, should not overshadow the fact that all too often, it is still road injuries and deaths that trigger reactive measures by network managers.
Abundant empirical evidence suggests that many accident types tend to happen in clusters, especially if there is a road infrastructure element in the problem. It is a well-known phenomenon that certain roads induce driver drowsiness or, worse, mislead the user into inappropriate driving choices. It is less obvious however that physical road properties also constitute an important input into the improvement of on-board active safety technology, such as Antilock Braking Systems and Electronic Stability Programmes.

Thanks to RANKERS, an ongoing project co-funded by the European Commission, new knowledge is being gained to meet the needs of road operators by offering a set of practical recommendations to avoid the constitution of accident cluster zones through preventive identification mechanisms and remedial measures ranked according to cost-effectiveness criteria.

The project distinguishes itself from previous research work insofar as RANKERS addresses the “infrastructure safety pillar” in its interrelation with driver behaviour and vehicle design, ultimately providing a vital insight how road characteristics affect situation awareness and accident risk. Additionally RANKERS factors economic constraints and supposes a best use of limited resources reducing the return time for road safety improvements and investments.