The University of Zagreb Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences (FPZ) and the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) have signed a Centre of Excellence agreement today, which will support the development of road infrastructure safety in Croatia and internationally.

Speaking from the virtual signing event, Head of the Department of the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, Assistant Professor Dr. Marko Sevrovic said we are delighted to join with iRAP’s ten Centres of Excellence world-wide to provide technical leadership in road infrastructure safety.

“As a Centre of Excellence, University of Zagreb will focus on building local capacity for high quality risk mapping, star rating and safer road investment planning assessments across Croatia and Europe.

“This partnership with iRAP will build on FPZ’s experience in assessing and improving European infrastructure safety, and building local capacity, through the current RADAR Project (across 12 countries in the Danube region) and SLAIN Project (targeting vulnerable road users on the TEN-T core road network in 4 countries), as well as the 2012-2014 SENSOR Project (in 14 European countries).

“The links with iRAP’s partner network across more than 100 countries worldwide will ensure we can accelerate progress toward the achievement of the UN Targets and eliminate high-risk roads across Croatia and beyond,” Assistant Professor Dr. Sevrovic said.

iRAP CEO Rob McInerney said, “We are delighted to add University of Zagreb FPZ as an iRAP Centre of Excellence. The Faculty has a near-40 year history and is well placed to be a Centre of Excellence having demonstrated distinction in traffic and transport sciences and research for the public good.

“FPZ has not only improved road infrastructure safety in Croatia and Europe, but has supported iRAP assessments internationally including in Lebanon, Senegal, Ghana and Ethiopia.  Importantly, the University is a leader in innovation, new technology and evidence-based research that will ensure iRAP partners worldwide benefit from their world-leading work.  FPZ’s knowledge on improving European road infrastructure safety will ensure iRAP’s models continue to reflect the best and latest practice in life-saving treatments for the benefit all of iRAP partners around the world,” Mr McInerney said.

Other iRAP Centres of Excellence include ARRB in Australia, Chulalongkorn University in Thailand,  Instituto Mexicano del Transporte (IMT), Labtrans in Brazil, the Korea Transport Institute (KOTI), Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), MRIGlobal based in the USA, Research Institute of Highway in China (RIOH), TRL in the United Kingdom, and SWOV in the Netherlands.

EuroRAP Secretary General Lina Konstantinopoulou said addressing the level of death and injury on roads in Croatia and the European TEN-T and primary road network is a priority of EuroRAP and the European Commission (EC).

“The Commission’s recently released 2019 Road Safety Statistics highlighted Croatia as recording its lowest ever road fatality rates, though European progress has slowed.

“FPZ’s work will be important to supporting the EC Directive 2008/96/EC and life-saving gains. Achieving the UN Global Road Safety Performance Targets in Croatia stands to save over 25,000 lives over 20 years at an economic benefit of $7 for every $1 spent,” she said.

For further information on the current situation of Croatia’s and Europe’s roads, the road attributes that matter to mitigate risk, and the business case for safer roads, visit iRAP’s Vaccines for Roads Big Data Tool.

Click here to download the full media release.

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Images above (L-R): Left – Mr Rob McInerney, iRAP CEO signing the agreement and Right – Asst. Prof. Marko Šoštarić, PhD, Vice Dean for Science and External Cooperation, Prof. Tomislav Josip Mlinarić, PhD, Dean and Asst. Prof. Marko Ševrović, PhD., Head of Department of Transport Planning

About FPZ

Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences of University of Zagreb was founded in 1984 and today is the leading high education, scientific and research institution in the field of transport and traffic engineering in Croatia (https://www.fpz.unizg.hr/web/naslovna/novosti). Besides education of the new generation of transport experts, which is the main focus of the Faculty, Faculty has a strong alignment with national, regional, and international scientific, research and development projects funded by a wide variety of institutions, from local stakeholders to EU bodies. One of the main focal points of the FPZ project- and research-related activities for a number of years has been road safety with aptitude for road infrastructure safety and network-wide road safety assessment with demonstrated excellence in road safety engineering and focusing on activities for the public good.

The Department of Transport Planning, established as an independent department within the Faculty, has developed several advanced methods for road infrastructure surveys and analysis through its Laboratory for Georeferenced Video. In 12 years of existence, the Department has successfully implemented over 200 scientific and research projects mainly in the field of road safety, road infrastructure safety, sustainable urban mobility planning and transport

So far, FPZ has performed road infrastructure safety assessment utilizing iRAP protocols extended by the specific requirements of road authorities on approximately 31.500 km of roads in various countries across the world, including England, Qatar, Lebanon, Senegal, Ethiopia, Ghana, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina etc. This aspect of road safety has been the basis of the Faculty’s involvement in EU funded projects SENSoR (South-East Europe TCP), RADAR (Danube Transnational Programme) and SLAIN (Connecting Europe Facility).

About EuroRAP

The European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP) is an international not for profit association set up in 1999 and registered in Belgium that is dedicated to saving lives through safer roads. The programme aims to reduce death and serious injury through a programme of systematic assessment of risk, identifying the major shortcomings that can be addressed by practical road improvement measures. It forges partnerships between those responsible for a safe road system – civil society, motoring organisations, vehicle manufacturers and road authorities – and aims to ensure that assessment of risk lies at the heart of strategic decisions on route improvements, crash protection and standards of route management.

https://www.eurorap.org

Media enquiries to:

Judy Williams
Global Programme Manager, iRAP
(based Australia)
email judy.williams@irap.org, mob +61 400 782 20

Assistant Professor Dr. Marko Sevrovic
Head of the Department of the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, University of Zagreb
(based Croatia)
email msevrovic@fpz.unizg.hr, mob +385 99 258 4601