It has been common practice for some time in the UK to place money values on casualties and accidents of differing severity, and to include these within a cost/benefit analysis. These values include the direct costs of accidents, such as loss of output, hospital, police and insurance costs, and damage to property and, more controversially, an allowance for the pain, grief and suffering incurred. However, in some cases there is concern with the direct safety performance of the system, it is therefore helpful to estimate accident numbers directly as well. This aspect of safety is reflected in the Accidents Sub-Objective.
The safety objective is also concerned with improving the personal security of travellers and their property. The security of public transport passengers increases with the provision of surveillance, design features which reduce the opportunities for attackers to surprise travellers and facilities for making emergency calls. The security of car users increases when the instances when they are required to stop or travel very slowly are reduced, vehicles can be parked in safety and facilities for making emergency calls are increased. These considerations are reflected in the Security Sub-Objective.
The Safety Objective has 2 sub-objectives:
- to reduce accidents
- to improve security