First meetings are underway in Kyrgystan this week as part of a transformative project to improve road design standards across the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) countries - a new United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the...
In a bid to enhance road safety nationally, Australia's states and territories will commence publishing updated AusRAP star ratings in 2024, with a commitment to publish star ratings for all major arterial roads by 2025. The recent release of a new AusRAP Strategy and...
An Asian Development Bank (ADB) report reveals that a major road safety project in Shaanxi, China, reduced deaths by 33% and injuries by 53% on 850km of roads. This translates to 32 lives and 868 injuries saved annually. This impressive outcome coincided with a 22%...
Our latest global programme metrics demonstrate the incredible power of iRAP partnerships for safer roads – impact in 178 countries, 3.6 million km of road safety assessments, 69,000 people trained and USD$101 billion of infrastructure investment made safer … plus...
Congratulations to Tianjin for its achievement of the 2024 Sustainable Transport Award (STA) recognising the city’s efforts to expand non-motorized transport and improve infrastructure for walking, cycling and public transport connections. The city’s improvement...
iRAP's free CycleRAP Demonstrator Tool which enables the quick assessment of crash risk and safety issues on streets or cycling facilities, is now available in five languages of Dutch, English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. The Demonstrator Tool allows users to...
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) and SaveLIFE Foundation, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), have released a Road Safety Good Practices in India Report to explore and document replicable best practice...
iRAP was proud to be a part of the Asia Pacific Regional Road Safety Seminar last week in Manila, hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and Asia Pacific Regional Road Safety Observatory (APRSO). Each day, it is estimated...
Image credits (above and below): iRAP and AIP Foundation A delegation from Vietnam's Ministry of Transportation (MOT) and the AIP Foundation visited Melbourne from 7 to 11 November 2023 to study road safety measures. 15 delegates attended the study mission from...
Image credit and original article - AIP Foundation AIP Foundation, FIA Foundation, and iRAP are proud to announce a new collaboration to build capacity for all FIA Region II Clubs. Funded by the FIA Foundation, the first phase of the program will focus on the Star...
Mrs Meredith Liddle; Torill Pape, Director (Structures Design, Review and Standards), TMR; and Miquel Nadal, iRAP Board Chairman The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) has proudly announced the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) in...
Mrs Meredith Liddle; Prof Kasem Choocharukul collecting the trophy on behalf of BMA; and Miquel Nadal, iRAP Board Chairman The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) has proudly announced Thailand’s Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) as a Finalist for...
Australia’s states and territories will publish AusRAP star ratings on all arterial roads by 2025, as part of a commitment to accelerate the use of AusRAP. The Austroads members approved a new AusRAP Strategy and Business Plan that commits to 12 targets that will...
ThaiRAP partners have ambitious plans to Star Rate the country’s entire road network this year, including first assessments of Thai Motorways and 500 km in Bangkok with associated capacity building. Of Thailand’s 52,000km national network managed by the Department of...
The Western Australian Local Government Association (WALGA) RoadWise has partnered with the Western Australian Centre for Road Safety Research (WACRSR) at the University of Western Australia (UWA) to develop a tailor-made Safety Ratings Tool for the state’s Local...
Left to Right: iRAP Global Projects Director Julio Urzua, Secretary of State Mr Phneng Sovicheano, iRAP Global Operations Manager Luke Rogers and RoadKorea Branch Manager Jaebum Seo An “Improving Road Safety in Cambodia” project has kicked off this week supported by...
iRAP and AusRAP were delighted to welcome Korean partners to Australia this week to showcase learnings to aid the development of KoRAP. Nine delegates from Seoul National University (SNU), Naeil Engineering and Consultants, Road Korea, Mim Lab and Korea Research...
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,...
The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) is benchmarking progress of the country’s National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030 and utilising data, or the lack thereof, to advocate for greater action. Quarterly published benchmarking reports, a public data dashboard and...
iRAP congratulates the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and National Road Safety Committee of the Lao People's Democratic Republic on their combined 2021-2030 National Road Safety Strategy and 2021-2025 Action Plan which includes 3-star or better targets for...
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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