Læknablaðið - 15.02.2012, Page 36

RANNSÓKN
ENGLISH SUMMARY
Accidents on lceland's most dangerous roads
Bjarnason Th, Arnarsson S
Objective: The objective of this paper was to identify the most dan-
gerous segments of the lcelandic road system in terms of the number of
accidents pr km and the rate of accidents pr million km travelled. First
to identify the segments where the number of accidents is highest and
where the risk of the individual traveller is the greatest. Second to eva-
luate if the association between the number and the rate of accidents is
positive or negative. Third to identify the road segments that are the most
dangerous in the sense of many accidents and great risk to individual
travellers.
Material and methods: Main roads outside urban centers were divided
into 45 segments that wer e on average 78 km in length. Infrequently
travelled roads and roads within urban centers were omitted. Information
on the length of roads, traffic density and number of accidents was used
to calculate the number of accidents per km and the rate of accidents
per million km travelled. The correlation between the number and rate of
accidents was calculated and the most dangerous road segments were
identified by the average rank order on both dimensions.
Results: Most accidents pr km occurred on the main roads to and from
the capital region, but also east towards Hvolsvöllur, north towards
Akureyri and in the Mideast region of the country. The rate of accidents
pr million km travelled was highest in the northeast region, in northern
Snæfellsnes and in the Westfjords. The most dangerous roads on both
dimensions were in Mideast, northern Westfjords, in the north between
Blönduós and Akureyri and in northern Snæfellsnes.
Conclusion: Most accidents pr km occurred on roads with a low
accident rate pr million km travelled. It is therefore possible to reduce
accidents the most by increasing road safety where it is already the grea-
test but that would however increase inequalities in road safety. Policy
development in transportation is therefore in part a question of priorities
in healthcare. Individual equality in safety and health are not always fully
compatible with economic concerns and the interests of the majority.
Key words: Traffic accidents, rural, urban, public policy.
Correspondence: Þóroddur Bjarnason, thoroddur@unak.is
Faculty of sociology, University of Akureyri
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