Current indicators for measuring traffic safety such as fatalities and severe injuries are lagging indicators, meaning that an accident first needs to happen before it can be measured. With the rise of automation in vehicles, the opportunity may arise to measure leading indicators. These can proactively measure traffic safety by measuring traffic conflicts, interactions that are dangerous but do not necessarily result in an accident.
This research uses the knowledge of experts on traffic safety and/or vehicle sensor data to evaluate the suitability of five types of indicators to measure traffic safety based on vehicle sensor data. It also evaluates ten potential barriers for using vehicle sensor data in practice. While limited differences are found between the types of indicators, none of the potential barriers is rated as unsurmountable by the experts. In doing so, this research proofs that it would be possible to measure traffic safety with vehicle sensor data and provides a starting point for further research