Benchmarking road safety of U.S. states: a DEA-based Malmquist productivity index approach

In this study, a DEA based Malmquist index model was developed to assess the relative efficiency and productivity of U.S. states in decreasing the number of road fatalities. Even though the national trend in fatal crashes has reached to the lowest level since 1949 (Traffic Safety Annual Assessment Highlights, 2010), a state-by-state analysis and comparison has not been studied considering other characteristics of the holistic national road safety assessment problem in any work in the literature or organizational reports. In this study, a DEA based Malmquist index model was developed to assess the relative efficiency and productivity of 50 U.S. states in reducing the number of fatal crashes. The single output, fatal crashes, and five inputs were aggregated into single road safety score and utilized in the DEA-based Malmquist index mathematical model. The period of 2002-2008 was considered due to data availability for the inputs and the output considered. According to the results, there is a slight negative productivity (an average of -0.2 percent productivity) observed in the U.S. on minimizing the number of fatal crashes along with an average of 2.1 percent efficiency decline and 1.8 percent technological improvement. The productivity in reducing the fatal crashes can only be attributed to the technological growth since there is a negative efficiency growth is occurred. It can be concluded that even though there is a declining trend observed in the fatality rates, the efficiency of states in utilizing societal and economical resources towards the goal of zero fatality is not still efficient. More effective policy making towards increasing safety belt usage and better utilization of safety expenditures to improve road condition are derived as the key areas to focus on for state highway safety agencies from the scope of current research.