The European Commission, in cooperation with the Greek EU Presidency, hosted European Road Safety Day in Athens on 9 May 2014. 

Vice-President Siim Kallas, Commissioner for transport, said: “The EU has an outstanding road safety record in global comparison. But as long as there are fatal accidents on our roads, we cannot afford to be complacent. This year, it is time to look at the roads and the infrastructure. There is great potential in making EU roads both safer and smarter.”

Make Roads Safe Hellas participated in the event, illustrating recent progress made on SENSOR, which brings together 14 countries to assess roads and identify life-saving engineering improvements. 

SENSOR builds on an EU success story, the adoption of basic safety principles for management of the trans-European road transport network: safety inspections, mapping of the most dangerous road stretches and safety impact assessments before the building of new roads. 

The Prince Michael Award recognises iRAP’s efforts to scale-up action on road infrastructure safety and tackle the global epidemic of road traffic injuries.

More than 70 countries have made use of iRAP tools to assess their roads and in developing countries alone, the tools are being used in projects worth more than $7 billion.

The award was presented during the Decade of Action Policy and Donor Forum in Melbourne, Australia. During the Forum Global Road Safety Ambassador, Michelle Yeoh, appealed for the inclusion of road safety in new global development goals, encouraging everyone to vote for ‘better roads and transport’ in the UN’s global My World survey.

A trip to the beautiful ‘City of Pines’ is about to become safer thanks to road safety improvements being planned by DPWH.

The road that climbs up to the mountain-top city is among the nation’s most scenic, yet it is also the scene of numerous serious road crashes.  In July 2010 for example, police reported that at least 12 people died and 39 others were hurt after the bus they were travelling in slammed into a tree on a curve.

Planned improvements include school speed zones, paved shoulders, safety barriers, footpaths, pedestrian crossings and new linemarking and signs.

The demonstration project is a tangible outcome of iRAP assessments that were undertaken with support from the World Bank and Australian Aid.

The National Roads Authority of the Cayman Islands has begun a program of iRAP assessments that will lead to road safety improvements.

The NRA plan sets out details for assessments of existing roads, assessments of designs for a planned airport connector road, implementation of road safety countermeasures, training, policy development and advocacy.

Speaking at an official launch of the initiative, the minister responsible for roads, Kurt Tibbetts, said that the assessments were needed out of concern for fatal crashes that have occurred. In 2011, the Cayman Islands had a road death rate of 16.5 deaths per 100,000 people, almost twice the average of high-income countries.

New iRAP assessments are due to begin shortly in the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh, linked with the World Bank-financed road upgrades.

Uttar Pradesh is home to the famed Taj Mahal, but among the States of India Uttar Pradesh also suffers the second highest level of road trauma, with a reported 16,149 deaths occurring in 2012. 

The assessments of some 2,000km of roads will build on the extensive work already undertaken in India, which includes assessments of 6,200km of existing roads and 1,800km of designs for major road upgrades.

iRAP’s participation in the project is supported by the GRSF and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

More than 100 road engineers from across Mexico are currently participating in safety training courses.

The training program, organized by SCT and delivered by iRAP, focuses on road engineering safety principles and techniques, the iRAP methodology and use of the iRAP software and data. 

The courses complement the extensive iRAP assessments in Mexico, covering some 45,000km of national roads and 20,000km of secondary roads, and are part of efforts to systematically reduce risk across the network.

SEMIC, an accredited iRAP supplier, is assisting in delivery of the national training program.

Upgrades to lift road safety Star Ratings on the road between Belize City and Belmopan are underway.

The improvements include paved shoulders, regulatory and warning signs, bus laybys, safety barriers, linemarking and reflectorized road studs, pedestrian crossings and high-visibility chevron signs at curves.

The project is led by the Ministry of Public Works (MOW) with financial support from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and is helping to build a culture of road safety in Belize. The road upgrades are accompanied by institutional support, strategy development, training and police enforcement, and will include monitoring of Star Ratings and safety outcomes.  

In addition, safety improvements on a second stretch of road are now being designed. Those works include a new roundabout, traffic calming, and bike lanes and sidewalks in Belmopan.

The next iRAP Asia Pacific Workshop will be held on 25 June, 2014 in Manila, Philippines.

The workshop is part of “Asia Pacific Road Safety 2014”, an event being organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) and Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP).

This comprehensive seminar, workshop and training programme will be conducted at the ADB headquarters in Manila, Philippines from 23 June to 4 July 2014. There will be four key events: 

• GRSP Asia Seminar (23-24 June)
• iRAP Asia Pacific Workshop (25 June)
• ADB/ASEAN Train the Trainer Programme (invitation only)
• GNCAP Workshop (invitation only).

Registration for these events is now open. 

The work is expected to result in the length rated 4- or 5-stars for pedestrians increasing from 9% to 84%, and a more than doubling of the length rated 3-stars or better for vehicle occupants.

Improvements to M2, which connects the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine for private, passenger and commercial traffic, are being undertaken by the Government and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The safety features include safety barriers, intersection layout changes, and pedestrian footpaths and crossings. 

The Star Ratings were performed by EuroRAP as an independent check that the investment will be coupled with an improvement in road safety performance.

iRAP and International Road Federation jointly held a Safer Roads by Design for Sao Paulo seminar in Brazil, during the TranspoQuip conference.

The course covered topics such as:

• How to design a 3-star or better road in Brazil.
• An introduction to Safer Road by Design: The role of engineering measures.
• Details on designs for safer roadsides, including longitudinal barriers, terminals and transitions.

The seminar coincides with iRAP road assessments that are being undertaken in Brazil, supported by the Global Road Safety Facility and Bloomberg Philanthropies.