ChinaRAP assessments are helping to guide planning for a ¥2.2 billion (US$373 million) investment in rural roads in the Qinba Mountains area of Shaanxi Province.

The ChinaRAP team examined more than 1,000km of roads targeted for improvement by the Government of China and the Asian Development Bank.

The assessments found that much of the road safety risk on the single-lane, undivided road network stems from the fact that more than two thirds of the roads are curved and many of the roadsides have hazards such as cliffs, steep drains and aggressive vertical faces.

An initial safety plan for around 200km of the main trunk roads identified opportunities to save more than 1,000 fatalities and serious injuries over 20 years, representing a reduction of almost 40% compared to current rates.

The ChinaRAP assessments were supported by the Global Road Safety Facility and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

KiwiRAP has been awarded the International Road Federation Global Road Achievement Award for Road Safety.

Ernst Zollner, Director Road Safety at the New Zealand Transport Agency said “The KiwiRAP team has done an excellent job in helping us better understand risk on our roads so we can target efforts to the highest risks first and make the greatest gains in reducing deaths and serious injuries.”

AA Motoring Affairs General Manager Mike Noon said KiwiRAP has been an important factor in the significant fall road deaths. “KiwiRAP is setting the standard globally for road assessment programmes. A huge number of crashes have been prevented and lives saved because of this work.” 

The latest KiwiRAP report showed that targeting high collective risk routes by the NZ Police and the Transport Agency achieved a 30% reduction in fatal and serious injury crashes on those lengths of highway.

KiwiRAP was developed in partnership by the NZ Transport Agency, NZ Automobile Association, Ministry of Transport, NZ Police and ACC.

You can watch a short video on the program at: http://www.irfnews.org/current-winners/.

The Genesee County Road Commission (GRSC) has received a National Roadway Safety Award for its proactive Safety Improvement Plan for County Roads in Michigan, US.

The Genesee project was one of 12 exemplary highway projects and programs from across the US recognised by the Roadway Safety Foundation (RSF) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

GCRC developed the safety improvement plan based on a comprehensive usRAP review. The plan includes shoulder paving, pedestrian crossings, sidewalk provision, delineation improvements, lane widening, intersection signalization, left-turn lane provision, roadside barriers, road surface improvements, and rail crossing upgrades.

More information about the award winning projects is available in the National Road Safety Awards 2013 Noteworthy Practices Guide.

A series of new fact sheets that describe the iRAP methodology is now available for download. The fact sheets answer many of the questions people have about the iRAP approach, covering topics such as crash types, Star Rating Score equations, model...

New cars today do more to protect life than vehicles just 10 years ago, and by 2025, half of the cars on the road in Europe will be capable of “reading” signs and markings.

However, Roads that cars can read, a report published by EuroRAP and Euro NCAP, finds that inadequate maintenance and differences in road markings and traffic signs are now a major obstacle to the effective use of technology in vehicles, such as lane departure warning and traffic sign recognition.

John Dawson (EuroRAP, Chairman) said “Lane markings are now the ‘rails’ for self-steering vehicles.” Michiel van Ratingen added “We set demanding standards for 5-star cars.  We must now move towards 5-star roads where the quality of road markings and signs are assured to work with modern vehicles.”

The latest report from the Road Safety Foundation shows that single carriageway roads are now 7 times more risky than motorways.

As the flowers by the roadside attest, the main crash type causing death is running off the road. The main crash type causing serious injury are brutal junction impacts.

The report measures and maps the risk of death and serious injury road uses face on the British network where the majority of lives are lost – on motorways and ‘A’ roads outside cities. It shows road travel is getting measurably safer, particularly because of improving vehicle safety.

The report comes at a time when the government has recognised Britain is falling behind other countries and announced the “biggest ever upgrade of our existing roads worth up to £50bn over the next generation”.

iRAP has been fortunate to benefit from the support of a number of volunteers who have graciously shared their time, expertise and enthusiasm for road safety.

We’ve recently been recognising their valuable contributions to our efforts to save lives with the ‘5-star volunteer’ award. The volunteers recognised are:

• Emily McLean, who volunteered in Vietnam.
• Nana Soetantri, who volunteered in Indonesia.
• Morgan Fletcher, who volunteered in Mexico.
• Adam Ritzinger, who volunteered in the Philippines.
• Gina Waibl, who volunteered in Bangladesh.
• Nicole Borkowsky, who volunteered to help build our quality systems.

We also appreciate that volunteers’ home organisations were supportive of the initiative.

Delegates from motoring clubs, road authorities, development banks, universities and companies gathered in Mexico recently for the second iRAP Latin America and Caribbean Workshop.

To date, iRAP has been used by 15 countries in the region to assess more than 80,000km of roads. This rich set of data not only provides a strong foundation for investment in safety in each country, but also holds enormous potential for regional benchmarking.

The workshop discussed numerous exiting developments. Paraguay, for example, is committed to eliminating 1- and 2-star roads, while in Belize, iRAP is being integrated into the nation’s road maintenance planning and the capital works programme.

Click here to see more photos from the workshop.

Leading experts are collaborating to provide an ‘International Handbook of Road Safety’ to support the implementation of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.

The Handbook, coordinated by Monash University, the Commission for Global Road Safety and the University of Michigan, is being written by leading road safety, public health and regulatory scholars, along with leading figures from non-governmental organisations and industries, into a single volume. 

This book will serve as an important reference point for the Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety which is due to be held in 2015, at the mid-point of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. It will highlight the importance of including road traffic injury prevention within the post-2015 development agenda, as an issue impacting on wider goals for health, poverty reduction, reducing carbon emissions and promoting social justice. 

The book is expected to be released in May 2014 to coincide with the third anniversary of the launch of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.

AusRAP has assessed risk on almost 22,000km of national highways in Australia and identified opportunities to dramatically cut road trauma.

The report, produced by the AAA, finds that almost 40% of the national network is rated 1- or 2-star.  More than 60% per cent of the network surveyed falls within the 3- to 4-star ranges.

The AusRAP report also shows that an investment of just over $4.7 billion has the potential to more than halve the number of roads rated 1- and 2-stars  and prevent over 36,000 fatalities and serious injuries during a 20-year period. 

The Safer Roads Investment Plan, which would save $3.50 in crash costs for each $1 invested, includes countermeasures such as: safety barriers, skid resistance and protected turning lanes at intersections.

The AusRAP report was produced with financial assistance from the Australian Government and with support from the State and Territory road and transport authorities.