Effectiveness of road-winter-service (VSS1999/246)
Overview
Background & policy context:
The winter road clearance services are an essential task to ensure road safety and the efficiency of the public road network. Without this service the number of accidents would increase sharply during critical winter days and road traffic would grind to a halt. The maintenance of an efficient and safe road network even in winter weather conditions is a fundamental prerequisite for the functioning of the economy and the community.
But the road winter service not only brings benefits, it also causes cost. In addition to the financial burden of the public sector arise also environmental costs. Here hung those costs among others of the applied cavities and spreading technology and the time of use from.
To date quantifying the economic advantages and disadvantages of road winter maintenance has never been tried in Switzerland.
Objectives:
The research study involved a quantification of the economic advantages and disadvantages of winter road maintenance. It was the first time such the quantification has been carried out in Switzerland. Where it was possible to do, the study also included a quantitative assessment of the changes in environmental costs which result from the use of winter road maintenance. The study also looked into driver behaviour on slippery road surfaces in winter.
Methodology:
Basis of the methodology is the combination of detailed accident data, weather records (driving-surface conditions, type of smoothness, type and intensity of precipitation, etc.), use reports of road-winter maintenance and traffic data (traffic counts and speed measurements).
The automatic traffic surveys (Vehicle, traffic volumes, velocities) occur in winter to winter and not wintry days, the latter are primarily used for comparing the driving behavior before and after the winter service. These data are complemented by simultaneous measurements in place by the specially trained test personnel, as well as through the use of reports of winter service, by the data of the ice plant, of SWIS data and accident data of the police stations.
The driving behavior is then subjected to a risk analysis. Finally, the number of accidents before and comprehensively analysed after the use of winter service.
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