Activities in road safety research began in 1967 within the Road Safety Research Center, which was subsequently integrated with the Transportation Research Institute. The Road Safety Research Center was re-established in 2007 following a joint initiative of Or Yarok and the Technion. Dr. Victoria Gitelman, TRI’s Deputy Head, leads the center.
The center aims to conduct scientific research to support the development of knowledge-based safety programs and interventions, produce empirical knowledge in the field appropriate for Israeli local circumstances, develop tools to support practitioners and decision makers and promote future research in road safety. The center’s research topics include:
- Road safety policy and management in the transportation system
- Road safety monitoring
- Road accident analysis
- Road users’ behavior analysis and model development
- Evaluation of the safety implications of changes in the transportation system
- Safety performance measures
- Controlled field experiments
- Safe infrastructure
- Self-explaining roads
- Electronic safety system (e-safety)
- Vulnerable road users – pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, children, elderly
- Public transport safety
- Safety evaluation of alternative vehicle modes
The research within the center is funded by the Ministry of Transportation, Netivey Israel, the National Road Safety Authority, the Ran Naor Foundation and other local agencies. The center is also involved in road safety activities in Europe. It is the Israeli representative in the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) that conducts comparative safety assessments of European countries. Implementation of research outcomes from the center include establishment of a national road safety behavioral survey system, preparation of a guide for infrastructure solutions to improve pedestrians’ safety in cities, and development of models and decision-support tools within Netivey Israel safety management system.