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Star Rating for Designs (SR4D) is a process and evidence-based programme of applications informed by the iRAP Methodology which enable the objective measure, and improvement, of the level of road safety ‘built in’ to a road design for vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, pedestrians and cyclists, before the commencement of civil works.

SR4D enables road engineers and designers, municipalities and road authorities, funding agencies and governments to make roads safer.

Ensuring the safety of a road design before it clears the design phase directly equates to lives and serious injuries saved on the street. Despite knowledge and free tools to improve design safety, unsafe 1- and 2-star roads are still being built.

SR4D strengthens the road safety audit process, complementing it with an objective and repeatable qualification of road user risk (without the need for a high level of experience), and supports the wider potential of Star Ratings as a safety performance metric and maximised safety in road infrastructure investment.

SR4D will be essential to supporting countries to achieve the United Nations Global Road Safety Performance Targets, especially Target 3 to ensure all new roads are built to a 3-star or better standard for all road users.

New Enhancements announced

Innovative enhancements to iRAP’s Star Rating for Designs (SR4D) web app, allowing the safety of road designs to measured before the commencement of civil works, have been unveiled at the IRF World Congress in Istanbul (October 2024).

The safety of nearly 58,000 kilometres of road designs in 63 countries have already been assessed and improved with the use of SR4D, and the latest enhancements  make usability even better for road designers worldwide.

The new enhancement further improve the integrity of road safety assessments in meeting the 3-star or better global standard and UN Target 3 for new roads by:

  • – providing a more powerful toolset for creating and editing road geometry,
  • – streamlining the design process;
  • – new capability to import images and mapping files for precise geo-location;
  • – improved dataset management;
  • – and capability to submit datasets for quality assurance.

Download the SR4D Enhancements flyer here

Using the tool, road engineers and designers can define a road’s geometry and code its features to obtain a globally recognised iRAP safety Star Rating, along with fatal and serious injury estimations, and safety investment plans to optimise safety.

iRAP advocates for pedestrian and cyclist safety in support of UNGRSW

UN Global Road Safety Week, observed from 12-18 May 2025, focuses on the theme "Streets for Life: #MakeWalkingSafe and #MakeCyclingSafe". iRAP is proud to join this global effort to raise awareness and promote advocacy and action for safer road infrastructure for...
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Aleatica signs #SaferRoadsPledge and achieves iRAP Certification for 8 of its concessions in Europe and Latin America

iRAP has certified 8 of Aleatica's road infrastructure concessions in 4 countries (Mexico, Chile, Spain and Italy) that meet the global infrastructure safety standard of 3 stars or more. Aleatica becomes the first company to achieve iRAP Certification for multiple...
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Stakeholders review local road design standards for safer and more inclusive roads in Central Asia

On 14 November 2024, Ministry of Transport representatives and other stakeholders from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan met in Tashkent as part of the collaboration between UNESCAP, iRAP, EASST and the International Road Federation (IRF) to review and improve...
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iRAP for Environmental Impact Assessment and the Rickman’s Green Village Case Study

The UK’s Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) has offered guidance for the environmental impact assessment of traffic and movement for over 30 years, and a 2023 Guideline update recommends using iRAP Star Ratings or similar for Safe System...
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#RAPKnowledge Live Session 11: Star Rating for Designs – A key to safer roads – Recording available

Participants from 54 countries tuned in last week for the 11th #RAPKnowledgeLive session – A key to safer roads. In this session, participants learned how to use the Star Rating for Designs (SR4D) tool to assess and improve road safety by evaluating road designs and...
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High-level Roundtable brings lead agencies together to advance road design safety

At the IRF World Congress is Instanbul yesterday, iRAP and the International Road Federation (IRF) hosted a first-ever High-level Roundtable: Shaping the Future of Road Designs for Safe and Sustainable Mobility. The pivotal dialogue was moderated by Jamie Leather,...
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New Enhanced Tool for Safer Road Design Unveiled

Innovative enhancements to iRAP’s Star Rating for Designs (SR4D) web app, allowing the safety of road designs to measured before the commencement of civil works, will be unveiled today at the IRF World Congress in Istanbul. The safety of nearly 58,000 kilometres of...
Read more

#RAPKnowledge Live Session 11: Star Rating for Designs – A key to safer roads

Join us for our #RAPKnowledge Live Session 11: Star Rating for Designs - A key to safer roads. In this session, you can learn how to use the Star Rating for Designs (SR4D) tool to assess and improve road safety by evaluating road designs and identifying high-risk...
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IRF World Congress: See you in Istanbul next week!

Safe designs, the Ten Step Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure, securing commitments to transform the safety of roads by 2030, and celebrating partner success will be critical iRAP focusses at the IRF World Congress next week from 14-18 October in Istanbul. With the...
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Tanzania’s new 3-year Road Safety Plan launched with iRAP for safer roads

Vice-President Hon. Dr. Philip Mpango launched Tanzania’s new 3-year Road Safety Plan on Monday including the iRAP Methodology and integration of improved road design and inspection systems with iRAP Certification to improve the safety of the country’s roads. The...
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Watch the SR4D short video below and share with your network of road designers
(available in English, Portuguese, Spanish and French) 

English

Spanish

Portuguese

French

Road Designers Consultation Group

A Star Rating for Designs Road Designers Consultation Group was established in May 2022 to provide a road designer’s perspective on the development of the SR4D program and tools. See the Group’s Terms of Reference here. Advice and feedback may span all aspects of SR4D, for example:

– The road design process and how software is used
– The effectiveness of SR4D tools and development needs
– Training and accreditation
– Communications.

The Group comprises 18 experts with extensive experience in road design and SR4D, drawn from the private sector, public sector and NGOs, from each region of the world.  Their guidance will help inform the development of the Star Rating for Designs tool and global advocacy and action to achieve iRAP’s vision for every road design to have a Star Rating.

Group members, all of whom have generously volunteered their time and effort, include:

 

NameOrganisationCountry
Ahmed KsentiniFaculty of Sciences of Sfax (Faculté des sciences de Sfax)Tunisia
Chris FurneauxArupUnited Kingdom
Gustavo ArbizaIntendencia de MontevideoUruguay
Ilse MalagambaSafe System Solutions Pty LtdAustralia
Julian KwongChaussees LimitedChina
Kefalo GetahunAddis Ababa City Administration Road Traffic Management AgencyEthiopia
Matthew ChamberlainMatt Chamberlain Associates LtdUnited Kingdom
Marko SevrovicEuropean Institute of Road AssessmentCroatia
Milly LumumbaWorld Bank GroupKenya
Patricia Garces del CastilloUniversidad de CartagenaColombia
Regnald MassaweTanzania National Roads AgencyTanzania, United Republic of
Reg TingCity Transport Development and Management Office of PasigPhilippines
Srinivasa JampanaLouis Berger International - WSPIndia
Stelios EfstathiadisTransportation SolutionsGreece
Syed Yaseen AfshadNEOM-Corporate SafetySaudi Arabia
Vincent NguyenMott MacDonaldAustralia

Find out more information on SR4D and how to use it below

Watch a short SR4D demonstration

  • Watch a Star Rating for Designs demo

How does SR4D work?

  • How SR4D works

Access SR4S Web Tool

  • Designs

Building Organisational Capacity

  • How to build organisational capacity for safer road design

SR4D Training

  • Access Star Rating for Designs Training

Including SR4D in the tender process

  • Including Star Rating Targets in the Tender Process

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Download SR4D Frequently Asked Questions

Join the SR4D Interest Group

  • Click here to join the SR4D Interest Group

Arup shares SR4D benefits for Outcome Led Design

Global engineering firm Arup has been using Star Rating for Designs (SR4D) to improve the safety of their road designs and their corporate strategy for Outcome Led Design to save lives. Arup has 16,000 designers and staff working across 35 countries and was looking to...
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Partners

Star Rating for Designs has been made possible through the financial support of the Global Road Safety Facility.

iRAP 

Global Road Safety Facility

PIP

For more information:

For more information on Star Rating for Designs, please contact Greg Smith, Global Programme Director on email greg.smith@irap.org.

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The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is a Registered Charity with UN ECOSOC Consultative Status.
iRAP is registered in England and Wales under company number 05476000
Charity number 1140357

Registered office: 60 Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DS
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WrapUp, our free bi-monthly digital newsletter is just what you need.  It’s packed with inspirational stories about the life-saving work  of our partners around the world.

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Road Survey

Road Survey

Using specially equipped vehicles, software and trained personnel, iRAP Inspections involve detailed road surveys and data collection. These focus on more than 50 different road attributes that are known to influence the likelihood of a crash and its severity.

These attributes include intersection design, the number of lanes and markings, roadside hazards, footpaths and bicycle facilities. The road inspection data underpins iRAP Star Ratings and Safer Road Investment Plans.

What we see when we look at a road

Take a look
Design Refined

Design Refined

The risk reduction design improvements proposed in a Safer Road Investment Plan can be adjusted by local experts to improve the Star Ratings for different user groups. iRAP recommends that all new roads should be built to a 3-star or better rating and all existing roads upgraded to that level.

The 3-star or better minimum can be achieved through a combination of infrastructure improvements and speed management initiatives to ensure a minimum level of safety for all road users at the location.  On high volume roads, 4 and 5-star targets are often justified for specific road user groups (e.g. 5-star for pedestrians in CBD areas; 4-star or better motorways for vehicle occupants).

 

Case Study 3star

Case Study

Designers managed to boost significantly the length of road rated 3-stars or better during the building of the US$323 million World Bank-financed Second Gujarat State Highway. They used a range of safety countermeasures including traffic calming, pedestrian footpaths and crossings and street lighting to ensure that the characteristic ‘green tunnels’ of old roadside trees could be retained while mitigating their safety risk.

 

Working with roads professionals

Working with roads professionals

Do you manage, design, build or maintain roads?

iRAP is an international leader in providing policy, investment and performance tracking tools for road executives, managers, engineers, designers and construction teams to build and maintain safer roads. We work worldwide with road management professionals to deliver safer roads for today and for the future.

Roads that build-in safety. Roads that deliver safer journeys for all users. Safer roads that save money! A win-win-win for all.

Safer roads are becoming the new policy norm for investors and development agencies worldwide. This creates exciting opportunities for roads professionals and the road safety community to work together to save lives.

Building all new roads to a 3-star or better standard for all road users saves lives and makes great business sense. Upgrading existing roads to maximise travel on 3-star or better roads is also practical, cost-effective and starts saving lives right away. iRAP provides the business case for investment and the tools to maximise lives saved.

Let’s work together to create a safer, better world!

How we improve roads

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Our life-saving products

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How 3-star or better roads save lives

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Shaping Safer Road Policy

Shaping Safer Road Policy

We need a strong policy framework and ambitious global targets if we are to deliver safer roads that save people’s lives.

iRAP and its partners are working with international bodies, national governments and highways agencies to build a global policy consensus for safer roads.

In 2015, the United Nations included halving road deaths and serious injuries as a Sustainable Development Goal (3.6). This game-changing move put road deaths centre stage – where they belong – as a global development issue, alongside poverty reduction targets and the right to clean water.

Now, the challenge is to build on this momentum. The UN Secretary General has recommended all new roads should be built to a 3-star or better standard and existing roads upgraded. The establishment of a Safer Roads Fund to maximise travel on 3-star or better roads can provide international finance institutions, health organisations, treasury officials, road executives and road builders with the social and economic basis for safer, sustainable roads.

Let’s work together to create a world free of high-risk roads and save lives!

 

How iRAP is shaping Safer Roads Policies

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How 3-star or better roads save lives

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Saving Lives Worldwide

Saving Lives Worldwide

 

Road deaths and serious injuries are an international public health crisis. Every year, around 1.2 million people are killed on the world’s roads and around 30-50,000,000 people are injured.

Road crashes are the leading cause of death for young people aged between 15-29 years. Road crashes cost an estimated 2-5% of GDP in each and every country worldwide. Like other global health problems the Vaccines for Roads exist and it is just a question of the scale of our response.

iRAP is working to support the scaling up of action worldwide and reduce this tragic toll by enabling low-cost infrastructure solutions that make our roads safer.
Safer roads also make sound business sense. Dollar for dollar, safer roads provide one of the highest possible, job-creating public investments a country can make in health and infrastructure policy.

How iRAP Are Working to Save Lives

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Supporting all road users

Supporting all road users

We want safer roads for all road users: pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and vehicle occupants.

Safe roads are a social justice, health and economic issue. In poorer communities, in particular, road traffic crashes can have catastrophic effects that tip families into poverty and destitution.

The road improvement programmes we enable make your roads safer. Because every road environment – and the community it serves – is unique, each life-saving plan we develop is unique too!

iRAP is at the cutting edge of bespoke solutions for safer mobility worldwide, regardless of how you move from A to B. Our work is making roads safer for you and your families, your community and your company.

Campaign for safer roads!

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Star Rating for Schools

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3-star or better save lives

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Star Rating A Road Design

Star Rating A Road Design

The Star Rating of a Road Design can be completed as a stand-alone activity. The process is being used by road agencies, development banks and design consultants to objecitvely specify and measure the safety of a road design for all road users.

The process offers an opportunity for road owners to set a performance based star rating target for all road users (e.g. the new road must be minimum 4-star standard for pedestrians and cyclists and minimum 3-star standard for motorcyclists and vehicle occupants). It has been successfully used in conjunction with existing mechanisms such as Road Safety Audits and compliance with road design standards.

The impact on risk of various design iterations can also be explored to help harness the potential of designers to find creative solutions to challenging safety problems.

Road Coding

Road Coding

Here is a visual representation of some of the key road infrastructure features that are assessed during a typical roads inspection. The inspection identifies levels of risk for all road users. By adding key infrastructure elements such as footpaths and street lighting or improving existing elements to reduce risk we can make roads safer for all road users.

Data Preparation

Data Preparation

Trained staff code the road attributes in 100 metre intervals and upload data into ViDA in an Excel.csv format under supervision from a suitably qualified iRAP partner or supplier. To ensure high standards of accuracy, the team undertaking the coding is required to give a weekly report which shows the level of accuracy for each road attribute.

Where a road agency already has data available (e.g. asset management register) this information can simplify the coding exercise and ensure good integration with existing systems.

Processing

Processing

The raw data is processed in ViDA to create data reports about a road’s design and the level of risk for each road user group. ViDA is capable of performing risk and economic calculations for millions of kilometres of road.

All data is securely stored and project teams can determine who has access to results.

Star Rating

Star Rating

Processed road inspection data is used to develop Star Rating maps. The five-colour maps provide a simple  and objective measure of the level of safety which is built-in to the road. Five-star roads are the safest while one-star roads are the least safe.

The internationally recognised colour coding system ensures a better understanding and awareness of why some  roads are safer than others.

Investment Plan

Investment Plans

A Safer Road Investment Plan is produced that makes the business case for investing in road infrastructure safety. The plans list a range of life-saving measures that could be used to improve a road’s Star Rating and reduce fatalities and serious injuries.

IRF

IRF – Safer Roads by Design™

The International Road Federation 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.
Safer Roads by Design™ is an all-inclusive approach to road safety and includes seminars on the fundamentals of Road Safety, Roadside Safety, Work Zone Safety, Intersection/Roundabout Safety and Vulnerable User Safer.

University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham (UK) iRAP course in Road Safety introduces people to the iRAP technology for evaluating the safety impact of road infrastructure.

By the end of the course, the participants are expected to have acquired an understanding of the following key items:

  • The fundamentals of the iRAP approach to risk assessment and mitigation
  • The concept of star rating based on inspection data and road designs
  • The principles of developing a safer roads investment plan

The course includes practical exercises, discussions and exposure to the iRAP   software. The course is delivered in the state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities of the University of Birmingham.

Enroll in the University of Birmingham course now.

RAPcapacity

RAPcapacity

RAPcapacity online courses help people learn how to undertake iRAP-specification road assessments.

  • The courses available are:
  • Getting started and accessing results
  • Risk Mapping and Performance Tracking
  • Star Rating and Investment Plans from inspections
  • Star Rating and Investment Plans from design
  • Road attribute coding

Take an online RAPCapacity course now.

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