Exploring the association between quantified road safety target attributes and their success: An empirical analysis...

Setting quantified road safety targets has been recognized as a best practice to eliminate road fatalities by international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Previous studies have examined the relationship between setting quantified road safety targets and road fatality reduction. However, little attention has been paid to the association between the targets' characteristics and their successes under certain socioeconomic conditions.

This study aims to fill this gap by identifying the quantified road safety targets that are the most achievable. Specifically, using panel data on the OECD countries' quantified road safety targets, this study develops a fixed effects model to determine the specific characteristics (i.e., target duration and level of ambition) of an optimal target to make it as achievable as possible for OECD countries.

The study finds that a significant association exists between target duration, level of ambition, and target achievement, with targets that have lower levels of ambition having higher achievements. Moreover, different groups of OECD countries carry different characteristics (e.g., target duration) that concern their most achievable targets.

The findings suggest that, in terms of duration and level of ambition, OECD countries' target setting should establish their own socioeconomic development conditions. This provides government officials, policymakers, and practitioners with useful references for the future quantified road safety target settings that are the most likely to be achieved.