Image credit: Road Safety GB Awards Last week, Road Safety GB announced the winners of its 2024 awards, with the Road Safety Foundation’s Dr Suzy Charman receiving the Achievement Award Road Safety GB is a national road safety organisation made up of representatives...
The UK’s Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) has offered guidance for the environmental impact assessment of traffic and movement for over 30 years, and a 2023 Guideline update recommends using iRAP Star Ratings or similar for Safe System...
Automóvel Club de Portugal (ACP), supported by Lane Patrol and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), has commenced a project to assess the road safety of 40 km of Lisbon's cycling network applying the CycleRAP methodology. Over the past few years,...
Forty iRAP Partners from across Europe came together last week, from 4-5 September in Brussels, with a focus on “Half way to 2030: Gearing up for Safer Mobility in Urban and Rural Environments”. The event brought together iRAP partners, road authorities, the European...
Mark your diaries and join us at the upcoming IRF Europe and Central Asia Regional Congress and XVIIth Bulgarian National Transport Infrastructure Conference in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from 24-27 September. Samar Abouraad, iRAP Safer Journeys Specialist and Marko Sevrovic,...
The PHOEBE Project has reached a significant milestone with the completion of its deliverable report ‘New and Enhanced Models/Simulation Environments and User Support Materials (Beta ed.)‘. Development has highlighted vulnerable road users as the cornerstone of safe...
The PHOEBE Consortium met in Brussels last week to advance project plans and update the European Commission during a two-day exchange of 11 sector-leading partners. The EU-funded ‘Predictive Approaches for Safer Urban Environment’ (PHOEBE) Project aims to increase the...
ELABORATOR partners gather for Consortium Meeting in Copenhagan in June In recent weeks, the ELABORATOR Project has been very busy with its latest Consortium Meeting in Copenhagan, and presentations across Europe at Velo-city 2024, Eurocities Mobility Forum, 2nd...
A one-day iRAP training course was conducted in Tallinn in May for Estonian and Latvian Road Authorities helping to build capacity in the countries, and Baltics region, for safer roads. The results of Estonia’s first Star Rating pilot project were shared, providing...
The 2024 ITF Summit on Greening Transport: Keeping Focus in Times of Crisis took place last month in Leipzig, Germany. It was the annual Summit of the International Transport Forum, serving as the world's largest gathering of transport ministers and a premier global...
The 2024 ITF Summit on Greening Transport: Keeping Focus in Times of Crisis is on this week in Leipzig, Germany. The annual Summit of the International Transport Forum is the world’s largest gathering of transport ministers and the premier global transport policy...
Article and image credit: Marcel Sala, PhD Transportation Engineer, Aimsun Our PHOEBE Project partner Aimsun shares this update on project progress and how safety assessments are being addressed in Aimsun simulation solutions. More than 20,000 road fatalities...
ELABORATOR, a leading initiative in the realm of sustainable urban mobility, has released its highly anticipated Inclusion Plan, signalling a pivotal step forward in the quest for inclusive and climate-neutral cities. This comprehensive document outlines strategies to...
The RACC Mobility Club and Real Automóvil Club de España (RACE) have presented their 20th edition of annual Crash Risk Mapping of the Spanish road network. For the first time in six years, the sections of the State Highway Network with a "high risk" of serious or...
£38.3 million government investment to improve road safety on 17 of the country’s most high risk roads from Devon to Durham, road users across England will now benefit from safety improvements on 99 roads part of the £185.8 million investment to prevent over 2,600...
Dr Suzy Charman, Executive Director of United Kingdom RAP Lead RSF presents the awards on 7 March Last week, the 2023 National Highways Industry Awards recognised two projects that have used the iRAP approach to model and improve the safety case. The two projects...
Visiting the Autonomy Mobility World Expo this year? Hear about our partners' work and meet our team in Paris from 20-21 March! Autonomy is the world’s largest platform bringing innovators and policymakers together to change the way we move in cities and we’re proud...
And that's a wrap ... ELABORATOR's 1st Plenary in its Lighthouse city of Issy-les-Moulineaux! Our consortium of 38 partners came together on 31 January and 1 February for two days packed with fun co-creation activities and insightful discussions. The event was filled...
iRAP is proud to once again be an Institutional Partner of the Autonomy Mobility World Expo to be held 20-21 March in Paris - the world's largest platform bringing innovators and policymakers together to change the way we move in cities. Join us, along with our...
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...
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
GET IN TOUCH │ Europe │ Africa │ Asia Pacific │ Latin America and Caribbean │ North America
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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