Tools needed for enhancing transferability of cost-effective road safety measures

Although numerous road safety evaluations are carried out worldwide, many of them are of inferior quality and are limited to certain conditions, hampering the effective transfer of safety knowledge. Proper safety evaluation tools are urgently needed if existing international - and reliable - safety knowledge is to be used well. Such tools should be simple to use and easy to update and understand. At the same time, they should be versatile and, in particular, scientifically well founded. We introduce the basis and principles of two evaluation tools and report on the experience of using them internationally. The first tool is based on the Empirical Bayesian method and is designed to evaluate the current safety situation and safety effects of road improvements. The second tool helps define the specific characteristics of accidents and compare them between countries