ChinaRAP, a collaboration between iRAP and the Research Institute of Highway (RIOH), is developing rapidly. 

The current phase of the project is being undertaken in partnership with Anhui Province, where some 700km of roads were recently surveyed. Many of these roads are slated for major upgrade with finance from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). 

The Building ChinaRAP project is funded by the Bloomberg RS10 Project via the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) and is part of broader Road Safety Engagement Strategy being planned by the Government of China and the World Bank.

A new project for South East Europe called South East Europe Neighbourhood Safe Routes (SENSOR) has been proposed by 14 countries – Albania, Boznia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, FYROM, Montenegro Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. 

The SENSOR proposal builds on outstanding cooperation between authorities, automobile clubs and universities in the region in measuring and mapping the safety of roads. So far, with EU and development bank support, safety rating results have been developed by half the countries involved, mostly on trans-European E-routes. 

Two countries, Serbia and Moldova, have already applied iRAP techniques and are implementing results in bank funded projects. The SENSOR project now proposes taking safety rating to the next level across the region.  SENSOR proposes inspection of up to 20,000kms of priority routes including at least 50% of E-routes in participating countries.  It proposes preparing “bank ready” investment plans that can save the most lives for the money available and strong public engagement. The SENSOR is the largest inspection programme outside Mexico 

Huge support for SENSOR has been pledged by 16 organisations representing 14 SEE countries including charities and Universities, Ministries and Roads Agencies who can help implement recommendations.  A response to the proposal to the EU submitted by Make Roads Safe Hellas on behalf of all the partners is expected in the first half of 2012.

Improving safety for pedestrians – who account for about half of all people killed on roads in the Philippines – by building footpaths and safe crossing points is one of the priorities identified by the iRAP Philippines project.

The iRAP Philippines Steering Committee is now reviewing preliminary assessment results of more than 3,000km of national roads and options to implement safety countermeasures. Although these roads represent 12% of all national roads, they carry approximately 30% of traffic.

Based on the success of the GRSF-supported project, a second phase financed by AusAID is now underway. This includes assessment of an expanded road network, including roads that are targeted for upgrade with Asian Development Bank (ADB) finance, and assistance in the creation of Safe Road Demonstration Corridors on high-risk tourist and urban roads.

Road safety programs in Europe are paying dividends with EuroRAP results showing reductions in risk. 

In Spain for example, the RACC found that the number of high accident risk stretches or very high accident risk stretches has decreased from 36% (period 1999-2001) to 7.3% (period 2008-2010). 

In Poland, researchers at the Technical Institute of Gdansk, together with experts from the motoring club PZM and the Foundation for Civil Engineering have shown that although 42% of total national roads were rated as high risk for the period 2008-2010, this is 19% (3,000km) less than in 2005-2007. Interactive maps are at http://eurorap.targeo.pl.

In the Czech Republic, UAMK and City Plan have published risk rate on national roads (i.e. motorways and class I roads) from 2003 to 2010. The number of lower-risk sections is increasing, while the share of the most risky ones is getting lower.

Full results are available at www.eurorap.org.

iRAP and the AfDB, ADB, EBRD, EIB, CAF, CDB, GRSF, IDB, IsDB and MCC – who are among the world’s largest investors in roads – are working to accelerate road safety activities in developing countries, where 9 out of 10 of the world’s road deaths occur.

At a recent meeting the group pursued the establishment of consistent performance measures that will lead to investments in safer roads and major scaling-up of safety assessments by increasing the number of companies and organizations capable of surveying and rating roads and developing plans for engineering safety improvements.

As part of the meeting, iRAP Chairman, John Dawson, and Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) L. Enrique Garcia, Executive Chairman, signed an agreement that will see iRAP road assessments undertaken in the Banks’ shareholder countries.