iRAP partner impact in Europe

The Road Assessment Programme (RAP) was founded by the leading European automobile clubs and safety charities working in partnership with their governments in the UK, Netherlands and Sweden. Since 2002, application of the iRAP methodology and tools has helped to eliminate high-risk roads across the region.*

Latest news from Europe

Event Summary: RAP in Europe 2024

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...

Join us at the IRF Europe and Central Asia Regional Congress

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,...

PHOEBE advances models and simulation for safer urban environments

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...

PHOEBE Brussels Meeting shares progress with EU Commission

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 powers on in Europe

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...

Building capacity for safer roads in Estonia and Latvia

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...

Event Summary: 2024 ITF Summit in Leipzig

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...

Join us at the 2024 ITF Summit in Leipzig!

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...

Road safety for all: How the PHOEBE project is enhancing traffic simulation to forecast infrastructure safety

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 publishes Inclusion Plan to drive inclusive urban mobility solutions

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...

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Strategic projects driving road safety data and innovation

Large-scale transnational projects have helped to inform the safety of Europe’s road network, fostered collaborative partnerships and helped to drive innovation in the iRAP model and tools for regional and global benefit.

Logo	Description	More information
	CycleRAP is an easy, affordable and fast method of evaluating road and bicycling infrastructure for safety. It aims to reduce crashes and improve safety for bicyclists and other light mobility users by identifying high risk locations without the need for crash data.	Click here for more information
	The EU-funded ‘Predictive Approaches for Safer Urban Environment’ (PHOEBE) project aims to increase the road safety of vulnerable road users, especially those who use active mobility and e-scooters through the inter-disciplinary power of traffic simulation and road safety assessment.	Click here for more information
	The "European Living Lab on Designing Sustainable Urban Mobility Towards Climate Neutral Cities’ (ELABORATOR) uses a holistic approach for planning, designing, implementing and deploying specific innovations and interventions towards safe, inclusive and sustainable urban mobility. The interventions will be demonstrated in 12 European cities.	Click here for more information
	IVORY is an industrial doctorates network aiming to develop a new framework for optimal integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in road safety research. With academic and industry partners from engineering, data science and ethics of technology disciplines, the project will train 13 researchers on new responsible AI applications for road user assistance and infrastructure safety management.	Click here for more information
	The European Commission’s Project SLAIN (Saving Lives Assessing and Improving TEN-T Road Network Safety) extended the skills and knowledge of partners performing network-wide road assessment in Croatia, Greece, Italy and Spain.	Click here for more information
	The SABRINA Danube Project tackled cycling infrastructure safety issues on existing, planned and missing cycling corridors crossing Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.	Click here for more information
	The EuroS@P (European Road Safety Partnership) Project aimed to raise competences and skills in the Road Infrastructure Safety Management system (RISM). With participating partners from Poland, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia and Germany, the project developed an e-learning platform, teaching and training materials for universities and staff involved in RISM, and created a foundation for Road Safety Professional Certification (RSP).	Click here for more information
	RADAR (Risk Assessment on Danube Area Roads) project identified risk on road networks and produced plans to systematically improve road infrastructure safety, supporting environmentally-friendly and safe transport systems which balance accessibility of urban and rural areas.	Click here for more information
	The SENSoR Project was the world’s largest transnational road infrastructure safety project. Co-financed by the South East Europe (SEE) Transnational Cooperation Programme, and building on the outstanding cooperation between automobile clubs, universities and road authorities, the project assessed the safety 19,315 km of roads across 14 European countries	Click here for more information
	The free RAP methodology tools and resources are evidence-based and designed to be integrated within agency road operations and investment planning, and support the implementation of the European Road Infrastructure Safety Management Directive (RISM).	Click here for more information

Where we work

Download a summary of iRAP partner activity in every Europe country here

Policies into practice

Many countries are prioritising the safety of their road infrastructure by embedding 3-star or better safety targets in policy, aligned to UN Global Road Safety Performance Targets 3 and 4. A number of European countries have National Road Safety Strategies and Action Plans that include 3-star or better targets for safe road infrastructure.

Croatia: 2021-2030 Croatia National Road Safety Plan All new roads and existing roads carrying 75% of traffic to meet 3-star rating for all road users.
Greece: 2021-2030 Greek National Road Safety Plan 65% of TEN-T network to be greater than or equal to 3 stars by 2025 and 80% by 2030.
United Kingdom: 2022 National Highways Strategic Road Network Star Rating Report 96% of travel on National Highway’s network was on roads rated 3-stars or better in 2020, exceeding targets.
Georgia: 2022-2025 Georgia National Road Safety Strategy The systematic compilation of the Risk Mapping and Safety Rating of roads, and proactive assessment and more traditional reactive analysis of high concentration areas (black spots), are effective mechanisms for assessing the quality of road safety and related investments.
Slovenia: 2013-2022 Slovenia National Road Safety Strategy In accordance with European Directive 2008/96/ EC, a systematic verification process of road infrastructure security should be applied. As one of the suitable tools, RAP should be implemented.

To view these policies, other global examples and sample infrastructure targets for inclusion, visit irap.org/policies-into-practice

How safe are Europe’s roads and the Business Case for Safer Roads

The iRAP Safety Insights Explorer shines a light on the true scale of road crashes, the safety of the world’s roads, and the positive impact that can be made with investment.

Europe Team

Olivera Rozi

iRAP Safer Journeys Lead for Europe
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Samar Abouraad

iRAP Safer Journeys Specialist for Europe
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European Institute of Road Assessment
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Marko Sevrovic

Senior Road Safety Expert,
European Institute of Road Assessment
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Alenka Volk

Project Financial Support Manager,
European Institute of Road Assessment
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Looking for someone?

Click here and meet the whole iRAP team across the world

Europe trends – challenges and opportunities

Between 2001 and 2010, the number of road deaths in the EU decreased by 43%, and between 2010 and 2018 by a further 21%. Recent data for 2019-2020 shows a 17% decrease in road deaths. However, in 2020, there were still 42 road deaths per million inhabitants of the EU (Source: ETSC). This is an unacceptable and unnecessary human and social price to pay for mobility. The yearly cost of road crashes in the EU has been estimated in a new study to be around EUR 280 billion, equivalent to about 2% of GDP5. Almost half of road victims are vulnerable road users, 25 % were on two-wheels (14 % motorcyclists, 8 % cyclists and 3 % moped riders) and 21 % were pedestrians. The breakdown of fatalities also shows that 8 % occurred on motorways, 37 % in urban areas and 55 % on rural roads. Road deaths and injuries are predictable and preventable. Head-on fatalities occur on undivided roads. Run-off road fatalities occur where the roadsides are unforgiving. Pedestrian fatalities occur where sidewalks are missing, safe crossing facilities don’t exist or speeds are inappropriate.

EU and Global Alignment

In May 2018, within the context of the third and last ‘mobility package’, the Commission presented a common framework for road safety for the 2021-2030 period, recalling the EU’s long-term goal of moving as close as possible to zero fatalities in road transport by 2050 (‘Vision Zero’).

As part of the third ‘Europe on the Move’ package, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a directive amending Directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management, whose general objective is to reduce both fatalities and serious injuries by improving the safety performance of road infrastructure.

UN Member States have agreed on 12 Global Road Safety Performance Targets to drive action across the world.

The history of RAP in Europe

On November 7, the EuroRAP General Assembly took an historic step and unanimously voted for the dissolution of the EuroRAP entity. After 21 years of existence, the RAP programme in Europe is now being integrated into iRAP, the International Road Assessment Programme.

EuroRAP members have been instrumental in laying the foundation and inspiration for the Global Programme, which is now active in nearly 130 countries.

Today, with this integration, RAP partners across Europe will benefit from having a streamlined administration and a more productive use of donor and partner resources.

The integration does not affect how you can make use of the iRAP tools, methodology, and resources which are already in extensive use across the region. These will remain freely available, as they currently are worldwide, for the benefit of all in road safety. Most importantly, the integration leverages iRAP’s well-established organizational structure, shaped around innovation and development, programme support, and delivery of strategic projects.

Read full update on the future of RAP in Europe here