Research Note Road Safety Performance Evaluation, Benchmarking and Target Setting by Data Envelopment Analysis

In this paper, analysis outputs are illustrated in two distinct stages as follows: The DEA outputs consisting of the indices that declare road safety condition in a region under study (an inverse criterion of the risk indices), and the single relative efficiency indicator in each region which best indicates the performance revenue attributed to the implemented measures. The analysis outputs (road fatality risks) are stated regarding implementation of road safety countermeasures that their great magnitude is expected to result in less road crashes and casualties. The efficiency index depends on the level of the road safety measures applied. Estimating the relative inefficiency values among the different provinces is performed applying the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. In this research, an inefficiency index is used as a criterion to evaluate the previous performances of road safety agencies. Using a dual model of the main DEA model for each DMU, a target setting task can be conducted by identifying the benchmarks as the leading entities. Two restricting subjects and relevant solutions have been proposed. The first is the concern about efficient units or benchmarks who have not found any unit to follow as a better performing one. Somehow, the benchmarks can also find a better situation in a special analytical context. The second issue relates to the two-year data comparison in a same province and the related debates.