Rating road safety performance of Czech regions using composite indicators

Road safety performance may be rated using socio-economic losses from traffic accidents. However, each relative indicator has its advantages and challenges, which complicates their choice and use. In order to obtain overall ranking of each region of country in terms of road safety performance and learn from the others, it is beneficial to compare them by using objective methods, based on composite indicators, i.e. combinations of several individual indicators. In this context, four approaches to obtain weights for subsequent determining of composite indicators were developed, based on statistical models and compilations of individual indicators, using data on 2014 socio-economic losses in 13 regions of Czech Republic. Composite indicators were developed using principal component analysis, factor analysis, rank-sum ratio method and data envelopment analysis, as used for example in economy or social sciences. The final results were determined as a combination of rankings based on the composite indicators. For additional interpretation comparative examples of regional ranking using selected social and behavioural indicators (unemployment, crime rate, using mobile phones while driving) were also listed. In the end, the study enabled ranking Czech regions according to their safety performance. The final regional comparison may be used for objective assessment of road safety impacts and countermeasure proposals.