Last week in Dakar, Senegal, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Land and Air Transport (MITTA) through the General Directorate of Road Infrastructure (DGIRD) and the National Committee for PIARC/AGEPAR Senegal, in collaboration with the World Road Association (PIARC)...
UN Global Road Safety Week, observed from 12-18 May 2025, focuses on the theme "Streets for Life: #MakeWalkingSafe and #MakeCyclingSafe". iRAP is proud to join this global effort to raise awareness and promote advocacy and action for safer road infrastructure for...
China’s use of advanced technologies and AI for traffic safety was on show in Wuhan last week supported by iRAP’s shared innovation and collaboration for safer roads worldwide. iRAP Acting CEO Greg Smith was a keynote speaker at the 2025 China Road Traffic Safety...
The UN Sustainable Development Goal 3.6 aims to halve road deaths and injuries by 2030. More than one third of that goal will be achieved by ensuring that 75% of travel for each road user is on 3-star or better roads by the end of the Decade (iRAP Safety Insights...
In urban environments worldwide, cycling is a critical mode of transport, offering sustainability, affordability, and health benefits. Despite its importance, traditional mobility models have largely focused on motorised transport, leaving a gap in understanding where...
Anditi and Agilysis have announced their collaboration on a major road safety initiative for the Department of Transport and Main Roads Queensland (TMR) to conduct an AiRAP Star Rating assessment across nearly 6,000 km of the state's National Land Transport Network...
Pictured above (L-R): Mohammad Shahid (PhD student); Monica Olyslagers (iRAP's Global Innovation Manager and Cities Specialist); James Bradford (iRAP's Global Technical Director); and Júlia Alves Porto (PhD Student) We are delighted to welcome PhD students Júlia Alves...
In an innovative approach to combat urban heat, Blacktown City Council in Australia has leveraged AiRAP artificial intelligence to strategically identify the maximum number of locations for new shade-producing roadside tree plantings without detrimentally impacting...
At its first ever Impact Summit, Google.org has announced plans to accelerate its impact on the world’s largest problems with AI. iRAP is proud to be a partner addressing road traffic crashes that are the leading cause of death among children and young people...
iRAP Global Technical Director James Bradford will be at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) 103rd Annual Meeting next week in Washington DC, sharing iRAP insights and partner activity, and collaborating with leading US and international agencies for safer roads...
The IVORY network has opened 15 fully funded PhD positions covering all aspects of AI in road safety - engineering, human factors, computer science, ethics of technology, and more - with applications due by 30 January. Would you like to make an impact in the reduction...
IndiaRAP Technical Manager Jigesh Bhavsar shared the life-saving potential of AiRAP at the iRASTE NXT Conference last week. The event is India’s premier technology-for-road-safety conference demonstrating the proven effectiveness of AI-based systems. Launched in 2021,...
Following previous successful pilot projects for Main Roads Western Australia, Anditi is delighted to announce that it has been awarded the contract for the provision of point cloud feature extraction services across 19,164km of Main Roads Western Australia’s road...
Article and image credit: iMOVE The now completed Australian iMOVE project Accelerated and intelligent RAP data collection was a world-leading piece of work in the area of capturing road feature data for road safety star ratings, and a final report on the project,...
Inspirational life-saving success was shared yesterday by the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning, Main Roads Western Australia and iRAP at an Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE-ANZ) webinar on iRAP Practical Investments Saving Lives. Guest...
Main Roads Western Australia (MRWA) and Anditi have revolutionised road safety assessments with an approach that automatically detects road infrastructure data applied on 2,000km of roads in their goal of Star Rating 80% of the State’s most travelled network, An...
Image credit (above and below): Chris Fossey Phtotography An innovative project, harnessing satellite imagery to understand road network safety has been recognised by the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards. With funding from the World Bank’s Global Road...
The 2023 iRAP Innovation Workshop will be held 5-6 October 2023 at the Prague Congress Centre, Czech Republic. It is being held in association with the XXVIITH World Road Congress from 2-6 October being organised by PIARC (World Road Association) and the Czech Road...
Fleet manager and insurance company interest in using Star Rating data to improve organisational health and safety was explored at this week’s NETS Conference in Miami. iRAP CEO Rob McInerney presented at the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) Annual...
We are delighted to announce that the UK firm Agilysis has received AiRAP attribute accreditation for its methods to produce operating speed and vehicle flow (AADT) data from Earth Observation (satellite) imagery in accordance with iRAP specifications. The new source...
The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is a Registered Charity with UN ECOSOC Consultative Status.
iRAP is registered in England and Wales under company number 05476000
Charity number 1140357
Registered office: 60 Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DS
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Using specially equipped vehicles, software and trained personnel, iRAP Inspections involve detailed road surveys and data collection. These focus on more than 50 different road attributes that are known to influence the likelihood of a crash and its severity.
These attributes include intersection design, the number of lanes and markings, roadside hazards, footpaths and bicycle facilities. The road inspection data underpins iRAP Star Ratings and Safer Road Investment Plans.
The risk reduction design improvements proposed in a Safer Road Investment Plan can be adjusted by local experts to improve the Star Ratings for different user groups. iRAP recommends that all new roads should be built to a 3-star or better rating and all existing roads upgraded to that level.
The 3-star or better minimum can be achieved through a combination of infrastructure improvements and speed management initiatives to ensure a minimum level of safety for all road users at the location. On high volume roads, 4 and 5-star targets are often justified for specific road user groups (e.g. 5-star for pedestrians in CBD areas; 4-star or better motorways for vehicle occupants).
Do you manage, design, build or maintain roads?
iRAP is an international leader in providing policy, investment and performance tracking tools for road executives, managers, engineers, designers and construction teams to build and maintain safer roads. We work worldwide with road management professionals to deliver safer roads for today and for the future.
Roads that build-in safety. Roads that deliver safer journeys for all users. Safer roads that save money! A win-win-win for all.
Safer roads are becoming the new policy norm for investors and development agencies worldwide. This creates exciting opportunities for roads professionals and the road safety community to work together to save lives.
Building all new roads to a 3-star or better standard for all road users saves lives and makes great business sense. Upgrading existing roads to maximise travel on 3-star or better roads is also practical, cost-effective and starts saving lives right away. iRAP provides the business case for investment and the tools to maximise lives saved.
Let’s work together to create a safer, better world!
We need a strong policy framework and ambitious global targets if we are to deliver safer roads that save people’s lives.
iRAP and its partners are working with international bodies, national governments and highways agencies to build a global policy consensus for safer roads.
In 2015, the United Nations included halving road deaths and serious injuries as a Sustainable Development Goal (3.6). This game-changing move put road deaths centre stage – where they belong – as a global development issue, alongside poverty reduction targets and the right to clean water.
Now, the challenge is to build on this momentum. The UN Secretary General has recommended all new roads should be built to a 3-star or better standard and existing roads upgraded. The establishment of a Safer Roads Fund to maximise travel on 3-star or better roads can provide international finance institutions, health organisations, treasury officials, road executives and road builders with the social and economic basis for safer, sustainable roads.
Let’s work together to create a world free of high-risk roads and save lives!
Road deaths and serious injuries are an international public health crisis. Every year, around 1.2 million people are killed on the world’s roads and around 30-50,000,000 people are injured.
Road crashes are the leading cause of death for young people aged between 15-29 years. Road crashes cost an estimated 2-5% of GDP in each and every country worldwide. Like other global health problems the Vaccines for Roads exist and it is just a question of the scale of our response.
iRAP is working to support the scaling up of action worldwide and reduce this tragic toll by enabling low-cost infrastructure solutions that make our roads safer.
Safer roads also make sound business sense. Dollar for dollar, safer roads provide one of the highest possible, job-creating public investments a country can make in health and infrastructure policy.
We want safer roads for all road users: pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and vehicle occupants.
Safe roads are a social justice, health and economic issue. In poorer communities, in particular, road traffic crashes can have catastrophic effects that tip families into poverty and destitution.
The road improvement programmes we enable make your roads safer. Because every road environment – and the community it serves – is unique, each life-saving plan we develop is unique too!
iRAP is at the cutting edge of bespoke solutions for safer mobility worldwide, regardless of how you move from A to B. Our work is making roads safer for you and your families, your community and your company.
The Star Rating of a Road Design can be completed as a stand-alone activity. The process is being used by road agencies, development banks and design consultants to objecitvely specify and measure the safety of a road design for all road users.
The process offers an opportunity for road owners to set a performance based star rating target for all road users (e.g. the new road must be minimum 4-star standard for pedestrians and cyclists and minimum 3-star standard for motorcyclists and vehicle occupants). It has been successfully used in conjunction with existing mechanisms such as Road Safety Audits and compliance with road design standards.
The impact on risk of various design iterations can also be explored to help harness the potential of designers to find creative solutions to challenging safety problems.
Here is a visual representation of some of the key road infrastructure features that are assessed during a typical roads inspection. The inspection identifies levels of risk for all road users. By adding key infrastructure elements such as footpaths and street lighting or improving existing elements to reduce risk we can make roads safer for all road users.
The raw data is processed in ViDA to create data reports about a road’s design and the level of risk for each road user group. ViDA is capable of performing risk and economic calculations for millions of kilometres of road.
All data is securely stored and project teams can determine who has access to results.
Processed road inspection data is used to develop Star Rating maps. The five-colour maps provide a simple and objective measure of the level of safety which is built-in to the road. Five-star roads are the safest while one-star roads are the least safe.
The internationally recognised colour coding system ensures a better understanding and awareness of why some roads are safer than others.
A Safer Road Investment Plan is produced that makes the business case for investing in road infrastructure safety. The plans list a range of life-saving measures that could be used to improve a road’s Star Rating and reduce fatalities and serious injuries.
The International Road Federation has developed a series of Road Safety Seminars (Safer Roads by Design™) to provide road authorities with best practices and latest technologies that can be implemented to meet a country’s commitment to the Decade of Action.
Safer Roads by Design™ is an all-inclusive approach to road safety and includes seminars on the fundamentals of Road Safety, Roadside Safety, Work Zone Safety, Intersection/Roundabout Safety and Vulnerable User Safer.
The University of Birmingham (UK) iRAP course in Road Safety introduces people to the iRAP technology for evaluating the safety impact of road infrastructure.
By the end of the course, the participants are expected to have acquired an understanding of the following key items:
The course includes practical exercises, discussions and exposure to the iRAP software. The course is delivered in the state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities of the University of Birmingham.
RAPcapacity online courses help people learn how to undertake iRAP-specification road assessments.
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