In view of the records of failures in rating agencies’ assessments for sorting countries’ quality of credit in degrees of default risk, this paper proposes a multicriteria sorting model using reference alternatives so as to allocate sovereign credit securities into three categories of risk. From a numerical application, what was observed from the results was a strong adherence of the model in relation to those of the agencies: Standard & Poor's and Moody's. Since the procedure used by the agencies is extremely subjective and often questioned, the contribution of this paper is to put forward the use of an objective and transparent methodology to sort these securities. Given the agencies’ conditions for undertaking the assessment, a complete similarity between the results obtained and the assignments of the agencies was not expected. Therefore, this difference arises from subjective factors that the agencies consider but the proposed model does not. Such subjective and questionable aspects have been partly responsible for the credibility of these credit agencies being diminished, especially after the 2007-2008 crisis.

Three of the most important objectives of the Federal Road Police (Patrol) when managing the traffic on federal roads in Brazil are to ensure that there is an efficient movement of traffic under stable conditions and minimal traffic congestion problems that the federal highways are safe and that accidents do not occur. Therefore, multiple matters are relevant for road safety and user security, such as prompt maintenance of these highways, regular monitoring of their state of conservation and their characteristics; controlling the traffic; and preventing and combatting criminal activities on the highways. However, considering the vast network and different conditions of roads, the different types of traffic accidents and their consequences, and different levels of violence on federal roads, it is essential that these roads undergo regular maintenance and regular inspections, are constantly patrolled, and are subject to continuous improvements. Therefore, defining the prioritization and criticality of roads takes on the characteristics of a multicriteria decision, given the multidimensional aspects of the risks inherent in them. Thus, this paper presents a multicriteria decision model for prioritizing road sections, based on their criticality and the risks that users face. The model was applied using the FITradeoff method, due to its flexibility and due to it requiring less cognitive effort from the decision-maker with regard to providing information regarding his/her preferences. A case study was undertaken on a set of the federal roads of the state of Pernambuco (Brazil), covering 22 different sections with different characteristics. As a result, it was possible to rank and identify the most critical sections of a highway. The use of FITradeoff gave support to decision-making on ordering the sections and also let a general analysis of the data be undertaken.