Effects of Economic Recession on Road Safety Indexes

Abstract

[EN] During the last years, the investment in both construction and conservation of transportinfrastructures has been considerably reduced in several countries, as Spain. After anumber of years in which economic circumstances have forced Governments to reducebudgets earmarked for the maintenance and creation of new ways, it is interesting toanalyze whether this has taken a toll on accident rates.The paper evaluates if there are significant changes in the road safety through these yearsin Spain, comparing the annual statistics concerning investment in infrastructure andaccidents. Thus, the classical risk, mortality and severity indexes have been analyzed tounderstand their real trends. Finally, through linear regression techniques, it is shown howthese trends are related to the budgets invested each year, in order to draw interestingconclusions about the effect of their reduction.