UK traffic technology company Clearview Intelligence has developed two first-of-their-kind, free-to-use return on investment (ROI) calculators to assist road safety and network managers in quantifying the benefits of road safety schemes.
Faced with ongoing budget constraints and uncertainty around funding, Clearview recognized that highways professionals and road authorities were struggling to show the benefit of improving safety on their road network. This was considered to be especially worrying given that road fatalities in the UK have increased recently, following five years of stagnation at around 1,700 deaths per year.
The tools, one for the company’s SolarLite Active Road Stud installations, and one for combination road safety systems, use the official costs of accidents from the Department for Transport (DfT) associated with the value of preventing road casualties. These are offset against the installation of a Clearview safety scheme and its anticipated impact in reducing accidents. The company has a history of assisting local authorities and road agencies in the UK with designing, implementing and maintaining effective award-winning initiatives that improve road safety.
The two ROI tools consider:
• Key cost factors, including the road type and killed or seriously injured (KSI) reduction targets;
• The basic cost components of the scheme;
• A few details about the individual using the tool.
• The total ROI broken down into monetary savings and lives saved per annum.
The tools demonstrate how an effective road safety scheme will pay for itself over and over during its lifetime. It also quantifies the potential number of lives saved and injuries prevented, and the ensuing social benefits gained by preventing unnecessary tragedy and disruption to local communities.
“We are committed to improving the safety of all road users as part of our ambition to make journeys work. Our 40 years’ experience of working with network managers has given us a keen understanding of the complexity of managing the road network. Justifying investment in road safety measures in these times has become ever more challenging,” commented Wayne Stant, marketing director at Clearview Intelligence.
“With the help of these free, user friendly tools, road safety managers can quickly build a compelling case for road safety investment. Our product managers are experts in helping to create innovative solutions to these challenges, and are on hand to develop these business case propositions.”
