Assessments // Star ratings
Star Ratings are an objective measure of the likelihood of a crash occurring and its severity. They draw on road safety inspection data and the extensive real-world relationships between road attributes and crash rates.
Research shows that a person’s risk of death or serious injury is highest on a one-star road and lowest on a five-star road.
By measuring the risk associated with road attributes, Star Ratings can provide a better indicator of the influence of road attributes on risk than crash numbers alone. The focus of Star Ratings is on attributes that influence the most common and severe types of crashes for vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, pedestrians and bicyclists.
The charts below help to explain why low-income and middle-income countries experience such high rates of death and serious injury. In total, some 50,000km of roads in low-income and middle income countries have been Star Rated. Significant proportions of the roads are rated just one-star or two-stars.
The road safety inspections and Star Ratings provide countries and international finance institutions with a set of highly objective indicators that can be used in setting ambitious road safety targets. National targets have been shown to play an important role in altering the community’s view of the inevitability of road trauma and driving action to save lives. The Netherlands, for example, has committed to bring all one-star and two-star roads up to at least three-stars, while New Zealand is ensuring that all Roads of National Significance will be at least four-stars.
The assessments of some 50,000km of roads in low-income and middle-income countries found that many of the roads assessed to date lack the most basic engineering safety features such as footpaths, safety barriers, paved shoulders and safe intersection design. The risk factors on this page play a significant role in the Star Rating results and provide a basis for planning life-saving treatments.
