The results of our latest global programme metrics draw are in and as always it’s an exciting and inspirational process to be part of.

Appreciating that ‘what you can’t measure, you can’t manage’, twice a year (in June and December), we analyse our global systems and consult with partners to prepare a comprehensive analysis of iRAP partner activity across the globe to eliminate high-risk roads.

Road authority, city administration and development bank partners have now enhanced the safety of over US$100 billion of road investments with their iRAP assessments. The upgrades are saving lives and preventing serious injuries every single day and helping countries reach the UN targets to halve road deaths and injuries by 2030. This includes the recent £47.5 million boost to the Department for Transport’s Safer Roads Fund for investment to prevent deaths and serious injuries on England’s local road network.

Thanks to the support of our major donor the FIA Foundation; programme supporters Global Road Safety Facility, 3M, Prudence Foundation, European Investment Bank and FedEx; and incredible work of our 29,000 partners, the results as at 30 June, are awe-inspiring:

iRAP assessments have been completed 128 countries, and infrastructure safety is being influenced in 174 countries through investment, training and ViDA usage – that’s a footprint in 90% of countries of the world!

New countries added with iRAP assessments in the last six months include Malta, Congo, United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe, Armenia, Iran, Lithuania, Namibia, Afghanistan, American Samoa, Saint Kitts and Sudan. Very large assessments have recently been completed or are underway in Saudi Arabia (72,000km), Brazil (54,500km), Colombia (22,000km) and Australia (>50,000km of assessments including the world’s largest AiRAP assessment in Western Australia).

1.8 million kilometres of risk mapping has been completed (predominantly in Europe, but added to this period by Italy, Spain, Kazakhstan and Australia). Did you know Spain, Catalonia and Great Britain have undertaken annual risk mapping for more than 20 years?

1.5 million km of Star Ratings have now been undertaken worldwide with 28 countries undertaking new assessments in the last 6 months. The major countries undertaking Star Ratings since January were India, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania and Chile. Assessments occurred for the first time in Malta and Congo. In total, 6.6 million km of analysis and investment scenarios have been undertaken in iRAP’s free software platform ViDA.

The Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) programme continues to go from strength to strength, with 1,229 schools now assessed across 67 countries, impacting the safety of an estimated 390,593 students. SR4S assessments have recently been completed for the first time in Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus, France, Honduras and Japan. Did you know Vietnam leads the world with 214 schools assessed, followed by The Philippines (109) and India (103)? It’s been a busy and exciting period for SR4S with: enhancements launched to the SR4S model integrating the latest research and user experience for improved results; updates to the SR4S mobile app with availability now on Google Play and the Apple Store; and the launch and integration of the Youth Engagement App (YEA) as part of the Botnar Ai&Me project to capture supplementary youth perceptions of risk.

63,351 people have been trained since 2005 (adding more than 4,000 in the last six months) with our training programme now reaching 160 countries. Courses have been delivered in 19 languages, with a recent addition of Persian. In the last six months, we’ve launched a #RAPKnowledgeLIVE programme of free monthly webinars to boost capacity in the use of our tools and resources. Check out our training programme at https://irap.org/training/, with many courses available in online, self-paced format.

iRAP’s Accreditation Programme is reaching 49 countries. 241 practitioners and 18 systems have been iRAP Accredited, helping to ensure iRAP specification services are delivered to the same consistent global standard no matter where you are in the world. The last six months has seen the first accreditation of practitioners in Armenia, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Namibia and Thailand. 100% of the feedback forms returned on our iRAP Accredited Practitioners rated their performance as excellent or very good. Three organisations are now Accredited AiRAP data suppliers capable of producing data for particular attributes and regions in accordance with the iRAP Coding Manual.

iRAP’s Innovation Framework is supporting 111 partners in projects and initiatives to create the global and local tools to meet local needs and ensure continuous improvement of the iRAP offering. ViDA has recently been enhanced with an extra set of urban countermeasures thanks to a project by the Road Safety Foundation, funded by The Road Safety Trust. The iRAP Safety Insights Explorer was launched including new iRAP Star Rating and key performance metrics, new estimates of the types of road crash injuries that occur in each country that can be split by age group and sex, and new regional filters, including for UNICEF and Road Safety Observatory regions. Lots of activity has also occurred in the area of safe cycling and light mobility. Four trusted suppliers are now in place to support CycleRAP projects and the CycleRAP Demonstrator tool was launched in May to support the quick assessment of cycling infrastructure safety.  A pilot project has commenced with Fundacion Mapfre, the Union Cyclist Internationale and PTV to design safer streets and networks for cycling and light mobility in the five cities of Barcelona, Bogotá, Fayetteville, Madrid and São Paulo.

An additional four countries published national strategies or action plans with iRAP targets for safer road infrastructure since January bringing the total policy sum to 70. Recent additions include Australia, Lao, Pakistan and Georgia. See the global showcase at https://irap.org/policies-into-practice/.

The last six months have been very busy in the projects space. 53 Strategic Project partnerships have been supported in the last 12 months including 31 new projects (a doubling of supported new projects this period). Partnership projects are underway in Tanzania, Colombia, Mozambique, Ecuador, Vietnam, Belize, Fiji, Mexico, Brazil, Morocco, India, Chile, Australia, South Africa, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Malawi and Mongolia.  Some notable multi-national collaborations include: the long-term support programme partnership underway between iRAP and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) from 2022-2026 to stimulate safer roads progress in low- and middle-income countries; the EU-funded project PHOEBE which aims to develop an integrated, dynamic, human-centred, predictive safety assessment framework for vulnerable road users in urban areas in three pilot cities/counties of Athens, Valencia and West Midlands; the recently launched ELABORATOR project for designing sustainable urban mobility towards climate neutral cities’ in Europe; and the GRSF and iRAP’s Target 3 Project to evaluate countries’ progress in achieving UN Target 3 for all new roads to achieve a 3-star rating or better by 2030.

As well as supporting our established ‘x’RAP programmes, interest for new RAPs is being supported in Korea, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Malawi and Vietnam. The recent appointments of Nathalie Chiavassa, Safer Journeys Lead for Africa, and Samar Abouraad, Safer Journeys Specialist for Europe, to join Edgar Zamora as Safer Journeys Lead for the Americas, is aiding regional partner support.

iRAP CEO Rob McInerney said, “We can create a world free of high-risk roads together. The life-saving impact of our partners around the world in the last 6 months alone is inspirational and shows what is possible. In total our Partnerships for 2030 Impact have now reached 128 countries directly with $100 billion of road investment made safer.  Those upgrades are saving lives by the thousands, and we can all be proud of that life-saving success.”

Collating the global programme metrics is a large undertaking that’s not just valuable for iRAP, it provides vital information to support national advocacy and inform all national partners who are not always aware of the full gamut of work underway.

Managing the global programme is made so much easier thanks to our much-appreciated Partner Management System iRAP Connect, made possible thanks to the generous sponsorship of FedEx, FIA Foundation and NTT. Insights are shared with partners via the iRAP Partner Portal. For enquiries on access, please email judy.williams@irap.org

For an update on metrics for your country, visit https://irap.org/about-us/where-we-work/.

For an overview of iRAP news in the last 6 months, visit https://irap.org/latest-news/.

Download the above iRAP Metrics Infographic in English, Portuguese or Spanish.

Missed iRAP’s 2022 Annual Report? Take our digital graphic-rich trip around the world here.

Image credit: Pexels Malte Luke