World Bank-financed upgrades that will significantly improve road safety Star Ratings are now underway in the Indian States of Gujarat and Kerala.

Alongside more traditional measures, such as wider lanes and paved shoulders, the designs include sidewalks with safety fences, ‘raised’ pedestrian crossings, bus stops, solar powered street lights and traffic calming.

The designs also introduce “green tunnels” that preserve roadside trees – which are a safety hazard – by using safety barriers. Presentations about the upgrades are available for download.

At the same time, new road safety inspections of approximately 4,000km of roads are also now underway in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

More than 300 people from across the region gathered at ADB headquarters in the Philippines for Asia Pacific Road Safety 2014.

With a theme of “Improving Safety for Our Children”, the event comprised four parts: the GRSP Asia Seminar, iRAP Asia Pacific Workshop, ADB/ASEAN Train the Trainer Programme and GNCAP Workshop.

Participants in the iRAP Workshop had the opportunity to hear about road safety improvements that will lift Star Ratings in China, India and the Philippines. Presentations from the workshop are available for download.

Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Edmond Haxhinasto called for safe road infrastructure to be the new priority as he joined 30 professional and technical guests for consultation on the first EuroRAP results for Albania.

The Minister said Albania’s recent massive investment in new road infrastructure had led to safety problems which must be addressed before more new roads could be built. The SENSoR project has now Star Rated the first 500 km of Albania’s roads showing countermeasures which can target the safety problems and the huge economic benefits from investing in safety. 

Presentations from Olivera Djordjevic (Make Roads Safe Hellas – SENSoR lead partner) and Dr Steve Lawson (Road Safety Foundation) were welcomed by the government and by Niko Leka, President of the Automobile Club of Albania, the project partner in Albania.

Numerous training courses are now available for those who want to learn to Star Rate roads for safety and design safer roads.

With RAPcapacity online courses, you learn how to undertake iRAP-specification road assessments, at your own pace. Simply log-onto http://capacity.irap.org/training/rap-courses and select a course that suits you.

The week-long University of Birmingham (UK) iRAP course in Road Safety introduces the iRAP technology for evaluating the safety impact of road infrastructure first hand. Enrolments are now open for the September 2014 course.

iRAP partner, the IRF, 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. IRF regional conferences also offer opportunities for professional development.

In cooperation with the Catalan Roads Agency, RACC has assessed 5,000 km of roads and produced a EUR 42.8 million investment plan that would save 1,400 fatalities and serious injuries over the next 20 years.

The main types of crashes that would be addressed are head-on crashes (which account for 30% of crashes) and junction crashes (20%).

The proposed countermeasures would complement work already being undertaken (see picture right) and include: median barriers on single-lane undivided roads, central hatching, intersection delineation and street lighting.

RACC and the Catalan Roads Agency (Direcció General d’infrastructures de transport terrestre) have agreed to continue working together to extend iRAP assessments to other networks, and to take the present recommendations into action through road maintenance contracts.

An AusRAP assessment by RACQ shows that the improvements made to a 12km section of the Bruce Highway in Queensland, Australia have lifted it from just 2-stars to 4- and 5-stars for safety.

Previously, the section of road had a speed limit of 90km/h, was undivided and had hazardous roadsides and ‘at-grade’ intersections. The new section has two lanes in each direction which are separated by median safety barriers that reduce the risk of head-on crashes. Roadside safety barriers, which are specially designed to protect motorcyclists, help to reduce the risk of injury in run-off road crashes. A ‘grade-separated’ interchange significantly reduces the risk of intersection crashes.

As a result of the engineering improvements, the speed limit was able to be lifted to 110km/h yet the risk of death and serious injury has more than halved.

The improvements were an initiative of the Australian and Queensland Governments.

The Research Institute of Highway (RIOH), Ministry of Transport, China, has received the iRAP Asia Pacific Star Performer award for their leadership of ChinaRAP.

The China Road Assessment Program (ChinaRAP), which Star Rates roads for crash risk and develops safety countermeasure plans, is now being used in 14 city and highway projects across China, helping to shape development bank projects worth more than CNY 9 billion (USD 1.5 billion).

A few examples of ChinaRAP projects are:

• In Yunnan, the team assessed city roads and made recommendations for safety improvements, such as footpaths, speed limit reclassification and bicycle lanes, in the World Bank financed Yunnan Honghe Prefecture Urban Transport Project.
• In Shaanxi, the team is working closely with designers to lift safety star ratings on almost 1,000km of roads as part of the Asian Development Bank financed Shaanxi Mountains Road Safety Demonstration Project.
• In Anhui, the team worked closely with designers of the G316 to lift star ratings of a new class 1 road. These upgrades are funded by the Wuhu Local Government.

The last rites are being held today for Gopinath Munde, India’s Rural Development Minister who was tragically killed this week in a car crash.  Although a very high profile case which has seen much coverage in the Indian press and further afield, he is by no means the only road victim this week in a country struggling to cope with the burden of road crashes. With around 380 reported road deaths each and every day on India’s roads the country is at crisis point and figures show that many of the victims will be the from lower-income rural families, the lives of whom Mr Munde worked so hard to improve, that are the hardest hit.

Fortunately there are positive efforts being made, among them the work being led by Public Works Departments and the World Bank in States such as Kerala, Gujarat, Assam and Karnataka. In major road upgrade projects, ambitious targets to lift road safety star ratings have been set. It’s the first time that this approach, which is lifting designs above basic standards, has been adopted in a developing country on a large scale. Importantly, the targets are aimed at making roads safer for everyone: vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, pedestrians and bicyclists. 

The road safety challenge in India is large; but many of the solutions are already well known. Building features such as footpaths, safe crossings, safety barriers and roundabouts around the country will save lives. The death of Gopinath Munde is truly upsetting; we must ensure that thousands more deaths like his are avoided.

The International Road Federation (IRF) will hold a series of regional congresses, in Africa, Latin America and Asia this year.

Attendees at the conferences will have the opportunity to dialogue with government officials, developmental partners, contractors, consultants and other stakeholders who share a common interest in improving people’s lives through a sound, resilient and safe transportation system

To support road policy development and analysis, the IRF World Road Statistics is also available. To mark the 50th anniversary of the publication, includes 12 years of updated data, providing a comprehensive statistical picture of international road and inland transport from the start of the millennium.