Road safety within the urban fabric is a condition dynamically influenced by many parameters. The most critical factor is the driving education of all road users—whether they are drivers of private vehicles and motorcycles, cyclists, or pedestrians. However, the quality of the available road infrastructure should never be underestimated, as it must ensure an adequate level of passive safety.
The main initiatives for implementing interventions are undertaken by Municipalities and are usually part of broader road section redevelopments and urban regeneration projects. They are not typically the result of a comprehensive planning process.
Therefore, the question arises as to whether there is a methodical and rational plan for road safety within a Municipality’s area.
The typical process followed by a Municipality to improve road safety is usually driven by an opportunity within the context of an urban redevelopment project. Specifically, during a traffic study or traffic impact assessment accompanying a redevelopment, a **Road Safety Audit** is conducted to evaluate and select safety upgrade interventions at the examined location. On the other hand, for a municipality to take targeted action solely to upgrade infrastructure for road safety purposes, the issue usually must be linked to a recent or frequent incident involving serious injury or death from a traffic accident.
Thus, there appears to be a need—both at the municipal and regional levels—for a regular and systematic identification of violations and overall needs related to road safety in a given area. This is essential in order to identify and address dangerous spots within a city’s road network preventively. These processes can be carried out through a strategic study, which should be developed and regularly updated (every 1–2 years), defining the necessary interventions for upgrading road safety conditions, always taking into account the annual accident statistics across the entire network. These plans could incorporate not only infrastructure interventions but also awareness and information programs in public spaces and schools, initiated by the Municipality.
It should be noted that beyond the spatial analysis of accidents, it is also important to investigate the type of vehicles involved and the severity of the incidents, so that the proposed interventions can effectively reduce or prevent such occurrences.
**”Lever Development Consultants S.A.”**, a member of the **”Samaras & Partners Group”**, has implemented such analyses as part of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans in cities with different characteristics and has contributed to highlighting their importance for urban safety.
