Abstract
Keywords - Traffic Accident, Risk Factor, Road Traffic Safety, Traffic Accident Consequence, Road Traffic Risk and Safety Evaluation
Abstract - Traffic accidents are undoubtedly one of the negative accompanying features of the progress and development of society and motorization, and their number and impacts have increased noticeably in recent years. Traffic accidents are connected with irretrievable losses of lives and injuries as well as considerable economic costs and environmental damage, etc., and that is why they are in the center of interest. The measurement of success of drivers is the measure of traffic safety, but particularly, it is the balance of consequences on lives, health and property damage. Therefore, the traffic accidents are systematically monitored, evaluated and affected. The Czech Republic maintains large-scale statistical records related to the traffic accident rate. The statistical surveys are based on data from reports on investigation of the traffic accidents made by the Czech Police. However, the serious impacts of traffic accidents cannot be derived only from their numbers. To assess the actual heavy impact of the traffic accident, it is necessary to take into account the consequences attributable to the traffic accident, and to find out an appropriate objective measure of evaluation. The risk can be such an objective measure related to the traffic accident.
The Czech Republic Police data include relatively detailed statistics of the traffic accident rate, e.g. annual surveys indicating the numbers, usually in absolute values, or in %, when absolute or relative numbers of traffic accidents are given depending on their relationship to various causes and factors that influence them, e.g., localities or many other data. A certain weakness of this system is the fact that it employs absolute numbers that prevent comparison between the individual periods of month/day/year, causes, etc., and inaccuracy due to changes under individual data conditions. Substantial disadvantage of this system is the non-existence of a measure of severity, or acceptability of impacts of the traffic accident. That is why it is not possible to determine whether the traffic accident is or is not socially acceptable, or, it is at least satisfactory. The proposed institute of risk can resolve the absence of exact assessment.
This article analyses the traffic accident rate on roads and highways and possibilities of risk evaluation related to traffic accident occurrence based on factors that were the causes of accidents. A new term risk of traffic accident occurrence is a product of probability of accident occurrence and its impacts. The results are presented by way of example that uses selected statistical data of the Czech Republic traffic accident rate between 1993 - 2002. The article provides a brief methodological procedure of evaluation of the traffic accident rate using the risk of traffic accident occurrence.