The highway functional hierarchy – an important element for road safety

Abstract

How do we reconcile the needs of mobility and accessibility for all road and street users with planning, design, and maintenance rules geared only towards motorized transport and administrative needs? How many people die annually in road accidents due to problems related to the functional class of the road infrastructure and the non-correlation with the technical classification, and as a consequence - the drastic reduction of the aspect of mobility and speed vis-à-vis access from the point of view of the type of road users? These are just some of the essential and existential questions, first of all for sustainable and resilient road infrastructure, to ensure and manage the traffic of vehicles and people in conditions of comfort, efficient mobility, and maximum safety, fully homogeneous with the needs of users. This paper proposes an analysis of this subject through the lens of good practices established at the international level, which are the basis of the Safe System Approach and the reporting of these practices to the road network in the Republic of Moldova.