The Prolonged Unsafety of Main Regional Roads - Safety Study

Investigation start date : 01-07-2001 Publish date report : 30-06-2005

In the summer of 2001, a series of fatal accidents on the N-48 /N-348 between Hoogeveen and Raalte led to a preliminary investigation by the Board. It soon appeared that the problems were similar to the problems previously encountered by the Board on the N-31: a road whose design conflicted with its function (for example, level junctions combined with a through-traffic function) and where the risk was structurally higher than on the average road with similar characteristics. Here again, the problem had existed for quite some time without decisions having been made. The Board was faced with two choices: either initiating an investigation of one or more accidents on one road (now the N-48) or making a thematic study of the causes underlying the fact that dangerous roads have continued to exist for a number of years. The Board chose the latter.

This investigation focused on finding the (manageable) circumstances and backgrounds that enable the unsafety of the roads in question to continue to exist. The ultimate goal of the investigation is to formulate recommendations that will contribute to improving the conditions under which road administrators have to create safer roads.