Evaluation of the Crash Effects of Strip Shopping Centre Treatments in Victoria

This report presents results of an evaluation of the Strip Shopping Centre Program that commenced in 2003. It involved the treatment of eighteen strip shopping centres that were identified based on their poor crash history. The purpose of the study was to establish the effectiveness of the program in terms reductions in all types of casualty crashes and casualty crashes involving pedestrians that could be attributed to treatments. Economic savings due to reducing the number of casualty crashes at treated sites were also estimated. Poisson regression was used to compare the difference in before-treatment and after-treatment crash counts at treated sites with those at suitably chosen controls. The evaluation estimated that the Strip Shopping Centre Program reduced casualty crashes of all types at treated sites by 8.1%, however this estimate of effectiveness was not statistically significant (p=.200). The evaluation also found that reduction in casualty crashes involving a pedestrian was estimated to be 16.9%, but this estimate was also not statistically significant (p=0.167). The economic savings associated with an 8.1% reduction in all casualty crashes over the life of the program would result in a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 7.4. This suggests that the benefits of applying an effective treatment at locations with poor crash histories can be maximised by applying them at locations that receive large volumes of traffic. Further economic assessment of the program revealed that the Strip Shopping Centre program would only need to result in a 1% reduction in casualty crashes of all types, or around 2.5 casualty crashes per annum in total across all 18 treated sites to return positive economic benefits to the community. This is a reflection of the relatively low cost of implementing each Strip Shopping Centre treatment. On this basis, cautious further implementation of similar treatment types seems warranted from the results obtained here along with further evaluation of the current and any expanded program. This report is disseminated in the interest of information exchange. The views expressed here are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of Monash University Reproduction of this page is authorised.