6.7 Performance Indicators

After setting targets, developing action and investment plans and the implementation of interventions it is of utmost importance to review the performance. Intermediate outcomes (performance indicators) (OECD, 2008) are valuable in predicting final outcomes (see also The Road Safety Management System and Effective Management and Use of Safety Data).

A number of possible intermediate outcome measures are specified in those chapters, for example, seatbelt wearing rates or speed monitoring.  For LMICs e.g. truck rear lighting operational rates, wrong-way vehicle travel rates, proportion of length of high pedestrian areas with footpaths, rate of provision of raised speed reduction devices with highly visible advanced signage at pedestrian crossings on arterial roads in urban areas, and more can be mentioned.

One option (Austroads, 2013) to link these measures to adopted targets is to develop an ‘outcome management’ framework which directly links the outputs from the strategy (i.e. what will be done) with outcomes (i.e. what is to be achieved). This is a useful approach which focuses attention on key outcomes, encourages modelling of effectiveness of outputs on final and intermediate outcomes achieved, and assists in the monitoring process.