This research studies how populations depend on road networks for access to health care during crises or natural disasters. So far, most researchers rather studied the accessibility of the whole network or the cost of network disruptions in general, rather than as a function of the accessibility of specific priority destinations like hospitals. Even short delays in accessing healthcare can have significant adverse consequences. We carry out a comprehensive stress test of the entire Austrian road network from this perspective. We simplify the whole network into one consisting of what we call accessibility corridors, deleting single corridors to evaluate the change in accessibility of populations to healthcare. The data created by our stress test was used to generate an importance ranking of the corridors. The findings suggest that certain road segments and corridors are orders of magnitude more important in terms of access to hospitals than the typical one. Our method also highlights vulnerable municipalities and hospitals who may experience demand surges as populations are cut off from their usual nearest hospitals. Even though the skewed importance of some corridors highlights vulnerabilities, they provide policymakers with a clear agenda.

中文翻译：

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对道路网络和医疗服务进行压力测试

这项研究研究了人们在危机或自然灾害期间如何依赖道路网络获得医疗保健。到目前为止，大多数研究人员宁愿研究整个网络的可访问性或一般网络中断的成本，而不是作为医院等特定优先目的地的可访问性的函数。即使在获得医疗保健方面出现短暂的延误也会产生严重的不良后果。我们从这个角度对整个奥地利路网进行全面的压力测试。我们将整个网络简化为由所谓的无障碍走廊组成的网络，删除单个走廊以评估人群获得医疗保健的可达性的变化。我们的压力测试创建的数据用于生成走廊的重要性排名。研究结果表明，某些路段和走廊在进入医院方面比典型路段和走廊重要几个数量级。我们的方法还强调了脆弱的城市和医院，由于人们无法与通常就近的医院联系，这些城市和医院可能会经历需求激增。尽管一些走廊的重要性凸显了脆弱性，但它们为政策制定者提供了明确的议程。