Comparative analysis of methodologies for In-built Network-wide Road Safety Assessments
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55329/ktxy3871Keywords:
comparative analysis, in-built systems, network-wide analysis, road safety assessmentAbstract
In-built Network-wide Road Safety Assessment (IRSA) procedures involve the visual inspection of road design characteristics, and assigning scores to sections of the road network based on the availability and condition of the road characteristics. The main objective of the study was to evaluate two IRSA methodologies developed for rural highways, that is the Simplified methodology, and the Networkwide Proactive methodology (NWA Proactive). Both methodologies are applied on a 10.41 km, two-lane undivided rural road section in Latina Province, Italy. The assessment focused on comparing the reliability and predictive performance of these methods. The results revealed that the level of agreement of the rankings from both methods is moderate, while, they both showed poor correlation with crash history. This indicates that there is a need for continuous testing and development of IRSA methodologies since existing ones have a great variation in terms of the choice of parameters such as; risk factors, segmentation approach, risk formulation, and ranking categories. The insights derived from this study are very relevant to road technicians and practitioners involved in road safety assessment procedures.
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Author Biographies
Elvis Chia Ngwah, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Elvis Chia Ngwah is a PhD Candidate at the Research Centre of Transport and Logistics, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. He obtained his MSc in Road Engineering and Management, at the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom. He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching and has been teaching in several civil engineering schools in Cameroon for over 5 years. His research interests include road safety assessments, safety performance functions, and the development of crash modification factors.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Writing—original draft.
Stephen Kome Fondzenyuya, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Stephen Kome Fondzenyuy recently defended his PhD at the Research Centre of Transport and Logistics, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. He specializes in speed management for LMICs. With five years of experience in transport and road safety, including work at the World Bank Sapienza University, he collaborates on several innovative transport-related tasks and speed management initiatives. He lectures on road safety to master students at NASPW and Sapienza University and supports local-to-international road safety research.
CRediT contribution: Data curation, Methodology.
Steffel Ludivin Feudjio Tezong, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Steffel Ludivin Feudjio Tezong is a Transport specialist currently consulting at CTLup, where he is actively involved in developing innovative and sustainable transport and road safety solutions to various regions of the world, especially low- and middle-income countries. He holds two master’s degrees in civil engineering from the National Advanced School of Public Works in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and from the university of Padova in Italy and is currently pursuing a PhD in Infrastructure and Transport at La Sapienza University of Rome.
CRediT contribution: Data curation, Formal analysis, Visualization.
Brayan González-Hernández, University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Brayan González-Hernández is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher on Transport at the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (DICEA), University of Naples Federico II. During his professional and research career, he has been involved in several research projects, consulting services and scientific committees on transport and road safety of the European Commission and other international organisations (World Bank, GRSF, OECD, ITF, IRTAD, ECTRI, FERSI, TRB, UNECA, INTALInC-LAC).
CRediT contribution: Methodology, Writing—review & editing.
Davide Shingo Usami, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Davide Shingo Usami is a senior researcher at the Research Center for Transport and Logistics with more than 15 years of experience in the field of road safety and sustainable mobility (road accident investigation, road safety assessment, and planning). He earned an MSc in Environmental engineering and a PhD in Transport Engineering from the Sapienza University in Rome.
CRediT contribution: Supervision, Writing—review & editing.
Luca Persia, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Luca Persia is a senior transport specialist, Professor of Transport Policies, Sustainability Science, and Road Safety at Civil, Constructional, and Environmental Engineering Department (DICEA), Sapienza, University of Rome and the Chairman of the Sapienza University Start-up Company CTL-up. He has been studying transport systems for 25 years, with a specific focus on urban transport systems and road safety.
CRediT contribution: Supervision, Writing—review & editing.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Elvis Chia Ngwah, Stephen Kome Fondzenyuya, Steffel Ludivin Feudjio Tezong, Brayan González-Hernández, Davide Shingo Usami, Luca Persia
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
