FINAL REPORT VOLUME 2 - mwinnett.files.wordpress.comPhare Multi-CountryTransport Programme (Contract...

Consortium Finnroad – ERSF - TRL

Phare Multi-CountryTransport Programme

(Contract number 098-0297)

The Phare Multi-Country

Road Safety Project

FINAL REPORT

VOLUME 2

MAIN BODY

November 1999

Contract 98-0297.00

The Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project

Final Report Consortium Finnroad-ERSF-TRL

Main Body

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CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................. 6

1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 7

1.1 The Phare Programme ............................................................................................................................... 7

1.2 The Phare Multi-Country Transport Programme .................................................................................. 8

1.3 The Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project ....................................................................................... 9

2. Background ..................................................................................................................................................... 10

2.1 Road safety - a global perspective ........................................................................................................... 10

2.1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 10

2.1.2 Rates and Trends .............................................................................................................................. 10

2.1.3 The cost of road accidents ................................................................................................................ 11

2.1.4 The Nature of the Road Accident Problem ....................................................................................... 11

2.1.5 Institutions and Information Systems ............................................................................................... 12

2.1.6. Concluding Remarks ....................................................................................................................... 13

2. 2 The experience of the European Union countries during the last 40 years ........................................ 14

2.2.1 Which lessons for Central and Eastern Europe? ............................................................................... 14

2.2.2 United Kingdom ............................................................................................................................... 15

2.2.3 Comparisons between countries ....................................................................................................... 15

2.2.4 West Germany and France ............................................................................................................... 15

2.2.5 Belgium and the Netherlands ........................................................................................................... 16

2.2.6 Spain ................................................................................................................................................. 16

2.2.7 The role of the EU Institutions ......................................................................................................... 17

2.2.8 Vehicles ............................................................................................................................................ 17

2.2.9 Road User Behaviour ....................................................................................................................... 17

2.2.10 Road infrastructure and environment ............................................................................................. 18

2.2.11 Emergency services ........................................................................................................................ 18

2.3 Actions to be taken.................................................................................................................................... 18

2.3.1 Vehicles ........................................................................................................................................... 18

2.3.2 Road users‟ behaviour ...................................................................................................................... 18

2.3.3 Infrastructure safety .......................................................................................................................... 19

2.3.4 Emergency services .......................................................................................................................... 19

2.3.5 Organisation ..................................................................................................................................... 19

2.4 Conclusions................................................................................................................................................ 20

2.5 Lessons for the Central European Countries ......................................................................................... 20

3. The Multi-Country Road Safety Project Methodology ............................................................................... 22

3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 22

3.2 Project Objectives ..................................................................................................................................... 23

3.3 Method of work and the work programme ............................................................................................ 23

3.3.1 General approach .............................................................................................................................. 23

3.3.2 Phase one: assessment of the current situation ................................................................................. 25

3.3.4 Evaluation of National Road Safety Plans included in the WB/EU Phare Project ........................... 25

3.3.5 Assessment of Programmes in the countries .................................................................................... 26

3.3.6 Audits of Road Safety Situations on the Helsinki Corridors in Phare Countries.............................. 27

3.4 Phase Two: Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 28

3.4.1 Preparation of Best Practice Reports ............................................................................................... 28

3.4.2 Setting up a Regional Monitoring System ........................................................................................ 29

3.4.3 Behavioural Aspects ......................................................................................................................... 29

3.4.4 Phare Road Safety Seminar .............................................................................................................. 30

3.5 Phase Three: Action Plans ....................................................................................................................... 30

3.5.1 Road Safety Action Plans and Regional Plan ................................................................................... 30

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4. Project Reports (documentation structure). ................................................................................................. 31

5. Country Reports ............................................................................................................................................. 33

5.1 A summary of the 13 country reports ..................................................................................................... 33

5.1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 33

5.1.2 General assessment of the road safety situation ............................................................................... 34

5.1.3 Essential statistics ............................................................................................................................. 34

5.2 General assessment of the 13 countries ................................................................................................... 37

5.2.1 DEE frameworks ............................................................................................................................. 37

5.2.2 Co-operation/Administration of Road Safety ................................................................................... 38

5.2.3 Data System ...................................................................................................................................... 38

5.2.4 Motor Insurance and Accident Costs ................................................................................................ 38

5.2.6 Road Engineering/Infrastructure ...................................................................................................... 39

5.2.7 Road Safety Publicity and Education ............................................................................................... 39

5.2.8 Driver Training and Testing ............................................................................................................. 39

5.2.9 Traffic Education of Children........................................................................................................... 39

5.2.10 Vehicle Road Worthiness Inspections ............................................................................................ 40

5.2.11 Traffic Police and Law Enforcement .............................................................................................. 40

5.2.12 Road Safety Research/Monitoring .................................................................................................. 40

5.3 Summary conclusions ............................................................................................................................... 40

6. Country Action plans ..................................................................................................................................... 42

6.1 Introduction to plans ................................................................................................................................ 42

6.1.1 Background ...................................................................................................................................... 42

6.1.2 Development of plans ....................................................................................................................... 42

6.2 Albania ....................................................................................................................................................... 43

6.2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 43

6.2.2 Current Situation in Albania ............................................................................................................. 43

6.2.3 Action Plan ....................................................................................................................................... 44

6.2.4 Summary with costs ......................................................................................................................... 45

6.3 Bosnia and Herzegovina ........................................................................................................................... 47

6.3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 47

6.3.2 Current Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina .................................................................................. 47

6.4 Bulgaria ..................................................................................................................................................... 54

6.4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 54

6.4.2 Current Situation in Bulgaria ............................................................................................................ 54

6.4.3 Action Plan ....................................................................................................................................... 56

6.5 The Czech Republic .................................................................................................................................. 60

6.5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 60

6.5.2 Current Situation in the Czech Republic .......................................................................................... 60

6.5.3 Action Plan ...................................................................................................................................... 62

6.6 Estonia ....................................................................................................................................................... 65

6.6.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 65

6.6.2 Current situation in Estonia ............................................................................................................. 65

6.6.3 Action Plan ....................................................................................................................................... 67

6.6.4 Summary with costings .................................................................................................................... 69

6.7 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia .............................................................................................. 71

6.7.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 71

6.7.2 Current Situation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia ................................................. 71

6.7.3 Action Plan ....................................................................................................................................... 72

6.7.4 Summary with costing ...................................................................................................................... 74

6.8 Hungary ..................................................................................................................................................... 76

6.8.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 76

6.8.2 Current Situation .............................................................................................................................. 76

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6.9 Latvia ......................................................................................................................................................... 80

6.9.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 80

6.9.2 Current Situation in Latvia ............................................................................................................... 80

6.9.3 Action Plan ....................................................................................................................................... 81

6.9.4 Summary with costings .................................................................................................................... 82

6.10 Lithuania ................................................................................................................................................. 83

6.10.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 83

6.10.2 Current Situation in Lithuania ........................................................................................................ 83

6.10.3 Action Plan ..................................................................................................................................... 84

6.10.4 Summary with costings .................................................................................................................. 85

6.11.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 86

6.11.2 Current Situation in Poland ............................................................................................................ 86

6.11.2.3 Results of 1999 Phare Mission to Poland ................................................................................... 87

6.11.3 Action Plan ..................................................................................................................................... 88


6.12 Romania ................................................................................................................................................... 92

6.12.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 92

6.12.2 Current Situation in Romania ......................................................................................................... 92

6.12.3 Action Plan ..................................................................................................................................... 94


6.13 The Slovak Republic .............................................................................................................................. 99

6.13.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 99

6.13.2 Current Situation in Slovakia ......................................................................................................... 99

6.13.3 Action Plan ................................................................................................................................... 100

6.14 Slovenia .................................................................................................................................................. 103

6.14.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 103

6.14.2 Current Situation in Slovenia ....................................................................................................... 103

6.14.3 Action Plan ................................................................................................................................... 104

6.14.4 Summary ...................................................................................................................................... 107

6.15 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................ 108

7. Regional Plan ................................................................................................................................................ 110

7.1 Background to Regional Plan ................................................................................................................ 110

7.2 Engineering ............................................................................................................................................. 110

7.2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 110

7.2.2 Planning and design ........................................................................................................................ 111

7.2.3 Action Plan ..................................................................................................................................... 113

7.3 Enforcement ............................................................................................................................................ 116

7.3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 116

7.3.2 Central Organisation ....................................................................................................................... 116

7.3.3 Current Country Situation .............................................................................................................. 116

7.3.4 The Action Plan .............................................................................................................................. 117

7.3.5 Co-operation ................................................................................................................................... 119

7.3.6 Information and Intelligence Exchange .......................................................................................... 120

7.3.7 Key Costs and Benefits .................................................................................................................. 120

7.4 Education and publicity ......................................................................................................................... 120

7.4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 120

7.4.2 Children‟s Traffic Education .......................................................................................................... 121

7.4.3 Publicity and Information Campaigns ............................................................................................ 122

7.5 Research .................................................................................................................................................. 124

7.5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 124

7.5.2 Priority Actions Needed ................................................................................................................. 124

7.5.3 The Importance of Road Safety Research ...................................................................................... 124

7.5.4 Key Components ............................................................................................................................ 125

7.6 Conclusions.............................................................................................................................................. 130

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8. Funding Road Safety .................................................................................................................................... 131

8.1 The Need for Accident Costs Figures .................................................................................................... 131

8.2 Calculating Accident Costs .................................................................................................................... 131

8.3 Funding for Sustained Reduction of Road Accidents .......................................................................... 132

8.4 Sources of Funding ................................................................................................................................. 133

8.4.1 International Funding .................................................................................................................... 133

8.4.2 Government Budgets ...................................................................................................................... 134

8.4.3 User Fees ........................................................................................................................................ 134

8.5 Other (Private) Sector Organisations ................................................................................................... 134

8.5.1 Insurance Industry .......................................................................................................................... 134

8.5.2 Other (private) Sector Organisations .............................................................................................. 134

8.5.3 Funds for Road Safety in the Phare Countries ................................................................................ 135

9. Summary Conclusions and Recommendations .......................................................................................... 138

9.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................................. 138

9.2 Planning Priorities .................................................................................................................................. 138

9.3 Funding .................................................................................................................................................... 139

9.4 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................... 141

Appendix A Terms of Reference .................................................................................................................... 142

Appendix B Project Team profile................................................................................................................... 151

Appendix C Seminar participants .................................................................................................................. 160

Appendix D CD Contents ................................................................................................................................ 165

Appendix E Summary of Recommendations ................................................................................................ 168

Appendix F Mobile Training Unit - Costs ..................................................................................................... 170

Appendix G A survey of the Training Programme ...................................................................................... 172

Appendix H The TISPOL Structure .............................................................................................................. 174

Appendix I DEE Framework Country Comparisons ................................................................................... 177

Appendix J Methodology for Calculating Accident Costs ........................................................................... 184

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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AP ARL

BIHAMK

CADD CEC

CEEC

GRSP DEE

DFID

DRL EBRD

ECMT

EIB EMVC

ERA

EU FI

FRG

FYROM GAMBIT

GDP

GDPP GNP

GRD

GRSP GSM & NMT

HDM

ICRS IMF

INSIG

INSTAT IPTANA

IPTF

IRI IRU

ITS

LRSC MAAP

MCTP

MoE MoT

MoTC

MPWT MTC

NAR

NMT NRSN

OHR

PCU PHARE

RA RAR

RD RSN

SICRS

SIDA SRSC

TERN

ToR TRL

UN/ECE

UNICEF VPD

WB

WHO

Accession Partnership Enterprise for Road Repairs and Works

Bosnian Autoclub

Campaign Against Drink Driving Central European Countries

Central Eastern European Countries

Global Road Safety Partnership Disaggregated Effectiveness Evaluation

Department for International Development

Daytime Running Lights European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

European Conference of Ministers of Transport

European Investment Bank Estonian Motor Vehicle Centre

Estonian Road Administrations

European Union Fatality Index

Federal Republic of Germany

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Polish Road Safety Programme

Gross Domestic Products

National Road Authority (Poland) Gross National Product

General Road Directorate

Global Road Safety Partnership Mobile Telephone Networks

Highway Design Model

Interministerial Council for Road Safety International Monetary Fund

National Insurance Company of Albania

State Institute of Statistics of Albania Design Institute for Road, Water and Air Transport

International Police Task Force

International Roughness Index International Transport Union

Institute for Transport Studies

Local Road Safety Councils Microcomputer Accident Analysis Package

Multi Country Transport Programme

Ministry of Education Ministry of Transport

Ministry of Transport and Communications

(Albanian) Ministry of Public Works and Transport Ministry of Transport & Communication

National Administration of Roads

Non-Motorised Transport National Road Safety Council

Office of Higher Representatives

Programme Coordination Unit Poland Hungary Aid for Reconstruction of Economy

(but now taken to be Technical Assistance for Central and Eastern Europe)

Regie Autonome Romania Automobile Registry

Regional Directorate (of NAR) Road Safety Unit

Secretariat of the Interministerial Committee on Road Safety

Swedish International Development Agency Slovene Road Safety Council

Transport European Road Network

Terms of Reference Transport Research Laboratory

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

United Nations Children‟s Fund Vehicles Per Day

World Bank

World Health Organisation

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1. Introduction

1.1 The Phare Programme

The Phare Programme is currently the main channel for the European Union's (EU) financial and technical co-

operation with the 13 countries of central Europe (CEC's). Set up in 1989 to support the sweeping reforms

behind economic and political transition, by 1996 Phare had been extended to include 13 partner countries from

the region. Originally allocated 4.2 billion Euro for the 1990-1994 period, the Phare budget was increased to

6.693 billion Euro for the 1995-1999 period.

Since the Essen European Council of December 1994, Phare has become the financial instrument for the ten

associated CEC's, supporting them in their preparation for accession to the EU. These countries were:

Bulgaria;

Czech Republic;

Estonia;

Hungary;

Latvia;

Lithuania;

Poland;

Romania;

Slovak Republic;

Slovenia.

In addition, for the non-associated countries in the region (Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia (FYROM) and Bosnia and Herzegovina), Phare provides support in their transition to democracy

and a market economy.

Phare's assistance takes the form of grants, and its work has grown to encompass a wide range of activities.

Throughout the 1989-1996 period, Phare has shown a continuing flexibility in adapting the changing priorities

and limitations of the reform process in each of its partner countries. The most recent period, 1994-1996, has

been characterised by a large increase in support for the legislative framework and administrative structures, as

well as projects promoting democratisation and civil society, and investment in infrastructure, including cross-

border cooperation.

As Phare's objectives evolved, it became necessary to adopt new orientations for the Programme so as to re-

direct support towards the preparation of candidate countries for accession. Phare's activities now concentrate

on two main types of horizontal need.

The first priority will be to help the administrations of the partner countries acquiring the capacity to implement

the 'acquis communautaire'. Phare will thus help the national and regional administrations, as well as regulatory

and supervisory bodies, in the candidate countries to familiarise themselves with Community objectives and

procedures.

The second priority is to help the candidate countries bring their industries and major infrastructure up to

European Community standards by mobilising the investment required. This effort will be largely devoted to

areas where community norms are becoming increasingly demanding: i.e. environment, transport, industrial

plant, quality standards in products, working conditions, etc.

With regard to the non-associated Phare beneficiaries (Albania, FYROM, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Phare's new

orientations affect neither the programmes under way, nor the budgetary allocations programmed up to 1999.

Instead, Phare will continue to provide support in their transition to democracy and a market economy.

In July 1997, the Commission presented Agenda 2000, together with its opinions on each of the applications for

membership. In a single framework, the Commission outlined the broad perspective for the development of the

EU and its policies beyond the turn of the century; the impact of enlargement on the EU as a whole; and a future

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financial framework beyond 2000, taking into account the prospect of an enlarged Union. The Agenda 2000

documents offer a clear and coherent vision of the EU as it enters the 21st century.

The European Commission approved Accession Partnerships (AP) for the ten applicants of Central and Eastern

Europe (CEECs). These are a key part of the enhanced pre-accession strategy aimed at guiding the applicants

towards EU membership. Each AP will support the applicant country in its preparations for membership by

setting out both the priority areas for further work identified from the Commission's Opinions and the financial

assistance from the EU available to help tackle these problems. The AP's focus on preparing the applicant

CEECs to meet fully the membership criteria set by the Copenhagen European Council.

1.2 The Phare Multi-Country Transport Programme

The Phare Multi-Country Transport Programme (MCTP) has been in operation since 1992. It is an integral part

of the EU's initiatives to support the development of a safer, more efficient transport system in central and

Eastern Europe and to stimulate regional cooperation in the area of transport policy.

The Programme is managed by the European Commission with the assistance of the Programme Co-ordination

Unit (PCU) in Prague. National Transport Ministries in all thirteen countries are represented in the Liaison

Group, which meets biannually and provides the forum for Programme monitoring, strategic planning and the

exchange of experience.

The programme has provided support to all Phare countries primarily in the form of pre-investment and strategic

studies, management and technical training and harmonisation of the regulatory and legislative framework. Up

to 1995, the Programme included investments in improvements of border crossings.

Between 1992 and 1997, the Programme received funds of 105 million Euro with more than half of these funds

being devoted to border crossing modernisation (56 million Euro). Since 1995, however, this component has

been integrated into a Transit Facilitation and Customs Modernisation Programme.

The key objectives of the Programme have been to:

develop the physical links between the Phare countries, and between these and the EU through the

extension of the Trans-European Transport Networks;

establish a harmonised regulatory and legislative framework;

develop the human resource capacity of the region institutions through training for all transport modes.

The Programme currently operates 21 projects with a total allocation amounting to some 25 million Euro. All

but three of these projects are being monitored and supervised by Steering Committees and care has been taken

to ensure the careful co-ordination of tasks and transfer of relevant output/data between related projects to avoid

a potential overlapping of activities.

Close cooperation with Directorate General Transport (DG VII) of the European Commission has been

established on the supervision of projects from both a technical and administrative point of view. Nearly twenty

DG VII experts have been involved, and their active participation in Steering Committees for the various

projects, together with the involvement of Phare independent experts hired through the Transport Framework

Contract, represents a unique and effective way of supervising Phare funded projects.

Other agencies have also been very active in project monitoring eg. UN/ECE, ECMT, CEI, UIC, IRU, JAA,

ECAC, ETF and their contribution to the outcome of the projects have been highly appreciated. Furthermore,

the active participation of the international financing institutions, IFI's, in particular the WB and the European

Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the Corridor studies and the projects on Road Safety and

on Road and Motorway Management have significantly contributed to successful implementation of projects.

The involvement of the Phare countries has increased significantly. Several ongoing projects include, as part of

the implementation process, various seminars and workshops which serve as very useful platforms for

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exchanging views among the stakeholders involved, as well as for developing contacts and strengthening

regional cooperation among the countries. Such events also contribute to the dissemination of information on

the projects as well as on the Programme in general.

As from October 1999, more detailed information on the Programme can be found on the Internet at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg1a/phare/programme_types/multi_country/mctp/transport.htm

In the eight years since the Phare Multi-Country Transport Programme started, it has been a highly effective

mechanism for stimulating regional cooperation, for fostering dialogue and consensus and for establishing the

foundations for the closer economic integration required for accession.

1.3 The Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project

Within the above-mentioned programme the European Commission has decided to launch a Road Safety Project

that covers 13 Phare countries. The countries were divided into two groups; six countries in which an

international group of experts, financed by the WB and the EU, carried out a study and recommended measures

to improve the situation in 1993-94, and seven new countries not included in the above mentioned study. The

countries were as follows:

6 countries already assessed - 7 new countries -

Bulgaria; Albania;

Czech Republic; Bosnia Herzegovina;

Hungary; Estonia;

Poland; Latvia;

Romania; Lithuania;

Slovak Republic. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia;

Slovenia .

The aims of the Project were to:

Collect all relevant data to assess the road safety situation in the countries

Assess the current road safety situation and the implementation of the recommendations of the WB/EU

Phare financed road safety project in 1993-94 in six countries

Identify measures and programmes that could be replicated in the other Phare countries;

Assess the road safety situation and road safety programmes in other seven Phare countries;

Carry out an illustrative example of a road safety audit on the Helsinki Corridor IV between Prague and

Bucharest;

Prepare of best practice reports that cover:

Major two lane roads outside built-up areas;

Urban roads and traffic calming;

Enforcement of traffic laws;

Establishment of a regional monitoring and evaluation system of the road safety situation;

Prepare a proposal for behavioural improvement programmes;

Arrange a Phare Road Safety Seminar;.

Prepare an overall action plan to be implemented on national level or through multi-country initiatives.

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2. Background

2.1 Road safety - a global perspective

2.1.1 Introduction

The world‟s first road accident fatality occurred in 1896 and since then the motor vehicle has claimed an

estimated 30 million lives. A recent major study on „The Global Burden of Disease‟ undertaken by the World

Health Organisation (WHO), Harvard University and the WB showed that in 1990, traffic accidents were

assessed to be the worlds ninth biggest cause of death. However assessing the long term impact of accidents

and taking full account of the impact of injuries, the study forecast that by the year 2020 road accidents would

move up to third place in the table of major causes of death and disability.

Independent studies by both the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) and the WHO have estimated that 1.17

million people lose their lives each year as a result of road accidents and over 20 million suffer injuries. Perhaps

surprisingly, the majority of these, about 70 per cent, occur in those countries that the WB classifies as low or

middle income and where vehicle ownership levels are low by Western standards. The latest estimates from

TRL also suggest that road accident death in East and Central Europe in 1998 was in excess of 100,000. (This

figure takes into account definitions used to define a road accident death and also the under-reporting of

accidents.)

Whilst the road accident situation is slowly improving in high income countries, most „emerging‟ and

developing countries face a worsening situation. As infectious diseases are brought increasingly under control,

road deaths and injury rise in relative importance. In Thailand for example, more years of potential life are lost

through road accidents than from tuberculosis and malaria combined. In Mexico, accidents as a cause of death

rose from 4 per cent in 1955 to 11 per cent in 1980, with traffic accidents playing the leading role. Safety

specialists believe that this is not the inevitable price that has to be paid by these countries for the mobility of

people and goods, but that there is increased scope for improving their road safety situation whilst developing

into a more industrialised society.

2.1.2 Rates and Trends

The rate commonly used to compare the severity of the road accident problem in different countries throughout

the world, is the number of deaths from road accidents per annum per 10 000 licensed vehicles. This is far from

ideal as an indicator of relative safety in different countries. For example, the injury accidents per million

kilometres travelled by vehicle per annum, may be a much better parameter to use. Unfortunately, the reporting

of non-fatal accidents in most developing countries is poor, and few carry out traffic surveys and censuses,

which provide information on annual travel by different classes of vehicle.

Fatality rates for a wide range of countries (1989-1995), have been calculated by TRL. It has been found that

whilst countries of the European Union and North America are characterised by a death rate of often less than 2

deaths per 10,000 licensed vehicles, some developing counties (particularly the poorest), for example Ethiopia

and Rwanda have a death rate in excess of 150. Countries of Eastern Europe lie, as might be expected, closer to

countries of the European Union but tend to be consistently greater. For example, Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovakia

and Slovenia had death rates of about 5.0 whilst in Albania, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan rates were significantly

greater at between 20 to 40 deaths per 10 000 licensed vehicles.

In an ongoing study, TRL has examined trends in road accident deaths over the last fifteen years in different

regions of the world. This shows that in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

countries, road accident deaths actually dropped between 1980-1995 by almost 20 per cent. Conversely in

Africa, Asia, Latin America, Caribbean and the Middle East, deaths increased over the same time period by

between 30 to 70 per cent, therefore, from a global perspective, the major problem appears to lie in the

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developing world. Central and Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria

show modest increases in deaths.

Another important factor affecting the number of people killed in road accidents in developing countries is the

level of medical facilities available. Thus in the European Union with good ambulance services, road accident

casualties are very quickly taken to hospital to receive immediate attention. Even before reaching hospital,

trained paramedic services mean that expert assistance can be provided at the roadside. Another useful measure

of the seriousness of the road accident problem in a country is the Fatality Index (FI), i.e. the percentage of all

casualties that are fatally injured. In a study carried out by TRL the FI was determined for 32 (mainly)

developing countries and was found to range from about 4 (Cyprus, Mauritius) to over 20 (Pakistan, Iraq).

Reasons for high FIs were investigated by means of regression analysis and it was found that the level of

medical facilities available in these countries (expressed as population per physician and population per hospital

bed) were very closely correlated with the FI. The poorer the medical facility as defined above, the higher the

FI.

Clearly the level of medical facilities available in different countries has a significant impact on the number of

people dying in road accidents. By improving medical services generally, including ambulances and trained

paramedics, the number of people injured in road accidents who subsequently die can be significantly reduced.

2.1.3 The cost of road accidents

Apart from the humanitarian aspects of road safety, it must also be borne in mind that road accidents are

responsible in emerging and developing countries for a loss of scarce financial resources that these countries can

ill-afford to lose. A recent analysis carried out by TOI, Oslo showed that road accident costs were the

equivalent in any country, be it developed or developing, to approximately two per cent of its annual Gross

National Product (GNP). In 1998 prices this suggests that road accidents in India for example may be costing

about 7 billion Euro, in Thailand 3 billion Euro, in Chile 1.2 billion Euro, etc. If one assumes road accidents to

cost two per cent of GNP in all countries then for those countries of Central and Eastern Europe, road accidents

in 1998 might have cost over 11billion Euro. Worldwide, the total cost of road accidents in 1998 may well have

been in excess of 500 billion Euro. If the reduction in the substantial pain, grief and suffering caused by road

accidents in developing countries is not sufficient motivation, there is also a very strong economic case to be

made in the significant loss of resources each year due to accidents.

Unfortunately, road safety is but one of the many problems demanding its share of funding and other resources

in developing countries. Even within the boundaries of the transport and highway sector, hard decisions have to

be taken on the resources that the government of a developing country can devote to road safety. In order to

assist in this decision-making process it is essential that a method be devised to determine the cost of road

accidents and the value of preventing them.

So, the first need for cost figures is at the level of national resource planning to ensure that road safety is ranked

equitably in terms of investment in its improvement. Fairly broad estimates are usually sufficient for this

purpose, but must be compatible with the competing sectors. A second need for road accident cost figures is to

ensure that the best use is made of any investment, and that the best (and most appropriate) safety improvements

are introduced in terms of the benefits that they will generate in relation to the cost of their implementation.

Failure to associate specific costs with road accidents will almost certainly result in the use of widely varying

criteria in the choice of measures and the assessment of projects that affect road safety. As a consequence it is

extremely unlikely that the pattern of expenditure on road safety will, in any sense be „optimal‟. In particular if

safety benefits are ignored in transport planning then there will inevitably be an under-investment in road safety.

2.1.4 The Nature of the Road Accident Problem

There are some accident characteristics which are common to a number of developing countries and yet are

somewhat different from those in developed countries. For example, in developing countries, a relatively high

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proportion of fatalities are pedestrians and children aged under 16 years, and many fatal accidents involve

trucks, buses and other public service vehicles.

In many cases these higher percentages are an obvious consequence of the difference between the traffic and

population characteristics of developed and developing countries. For example, the average percentage of the

population aged 5 to 14 years in a sample of 16 developing countries was 28 per cent compared with 15 per cent

for 9 developed countries. As pedestrians, children and professional drivers constitute such a large proportion

of the accident problem, it is clear that many developing countries need to give priority to improving the safety

of these particular three groups.

As might be expected, pedestrians represent a significant proportion of those killed or injured in most countries

throughout the world. Even so, interesting differences have been found to exist. Thus in North America for

example, pedestrians represent about 12 per cent of all road accident fatalities, and in the European Union

countries the figure rises to about 20 per cent. Most Central and Eastern European countries have values similar

to those in the West with the exception of Romania and Albania, where the value is in excess of 40 per cent.

Regions of the developing world also show high proportion of pedestrian fatalities, again, of the order of 40 per

cent. Perhaps surprisingly, the highest values have been found to be in the Middle East where, on average about

50 per cent of all persons killed are pedestrians.

Another important regional difference relates to accidents involving buses. In Europe and North America only 3

to 5 per cent of all accidents involve a bus whereas in some developing countries the figure is much greater. In

Pakistan, Nigeria and India the equivalent figure is between 20 and 40 per cent. Many factors contribute to

these high rates, for example, poor vehicle condition, overloading, poor driver performance and a difficult

working environment.

In most countries, police road accident reports give some information about the factors or causes which

contributed to the accidents. In general, these data have to be treated with some caution as the police

investigating the accidents are unlikely to have been trained as engineers and they may therefore underestimate

the contribution made by road engineering problems. Their main aim is usually to determine whether these

have been a traffic violation and therefore the emphasis of the investigation is likely to be placed on detecting

human error and apportioning blame.

Studies of road-user behaviour in a number of African and Asian cities indicate that road-users tended to be less

disciplined than in the European Union countries. Although the relationship between these differences in

behaviour and accidents has not been determined, the results suggest that road safety measures which are not

self enforcing, such as road signs and markings, may be much less effective unless they are integrated with

publicity and enforcement campaigns.

Another area of concern in some, but not all countries, is the problem of alcohol and road-users. On-going

research in one Asian country has indicated, from random roadside breath test surveys, that the proportion of

weekend drivers sampled after 10.00pm with over 80mg alcohol/100ml blood in their bodies is more than ten

times that found in the United Kingdom. Conversely, of course, Islamic countries are unlikely to have an

alcohol-related road accident problem.

Overall there are wide differences between developed, „emerging‟ and developing countries in the behaviour,

knowledge, attitudes, and culture of the road-users, in the conditions of the road and the vehicles, and in the

characteristics of the traffic. Consequently, the effectiveness of transferring some European Union or North

American country solutions to developing countries is uncertain and their appropriateness needs to be

considered in relation to the problems and conditions prevailing in individual countries.

2.1.5 Institutions and Information Systems

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In road safety matters, as in many other sectors, there is a need to strengthen the various institutions responsible

for the various aspects of road safety and to increase their capability for multi-sectoral action. The whole

process of planning and implementing road safety improvements should be multi-disciplinary and dynamic.

In any country it is important that one person at Ministerial level has overall responsibility for road safety and

that one senior civil servant (ie head of government department such as the Ministry of Transport or Public

Works) has full executive responsibility. In developing countries, the setting up of a National Road Safety

Council (NRSC) has proved beneficial, assisting in the overall co-ordination of safety matters, the creation of a

national action plan, the funding of safety measures, etc. The NRSC can also provide a valuable role in bringing

into play the private sector, thus assisting in the provision of private sector funding.

The setting of targets is a well established management strategy, and when applied to accident reductions, has

provided very effective in many developed countries. A national target does need to be disaggregated so that all

those with safety responsibilities are given their own specific and realistic targets with adequate funding directly

related to those targets. To manage this efficiently, it is also recommended that the authorities produce an

annual Road Safety Plan which clearly states the current accident reduction target and how it is to be achieved.

These Plans should be published to provide higher authorities and the public with a valuable record of the

efforts the authority is making (as well as its effectiveness in subsequent years) in improving the safety of the

road network.

Very little positive action can take place in any country to deal with the road accident problem until the

magnitude and nature of the problem is fully understood. The most important source of information is usually

the police road accident report. It is important therefore that the police use a well designed form or booklet for

the collection of accident information at the scene of an accident, and that the information collected is analysed

by means of a computer based system. Analysing the information collected by the police may also entail the use

of a coding form so the data is more easily transferred onto computer.

Clearly, different countries have different methods to collect, store, and analyse data, but it is important that this

process is undertaken in a consistent and systematic manner. Accident records are a vital source of information,

used by the police, the courts, engineers, planners, research workers etc, and remain the fundamental building

block in the process of identifying both the nature of the problem and the remedial measures required.

2.1.6. Concluding Remarks

Most high-income countries have had half a century to learn to cope with the problems of ever increasing

motorization. The less wealthy nations have had less, and for many the pace of change has been much greater.

Many developing countries have a serious road accident problem. Fatality rates are high in comparison with

those in developed countries and whilst in Europe and North American the situation is generally improving,

many developing countries face a worsening situation. The situation in Eastern Europe lies somewhere between

these two. Apart from the humanitarian aspects of the problem, road accidents cost countries about two per cent

of their GNP each year – sums that most countries can ill afford to lose. Compared with causes of death more

commonly associated with the developing world, deaths from road accidents are by no means insignificant.

Lack of medical facilities in these countries has been shown to be an important factor leading to high death

rates.

In order to identify priorities for action, it is important that there is a clear understanding of the road accident

problem and the likely effectiveness of road safety system which can be used to identify accident patterns, the

factors involved in road accidents, and the location of hazardous sites. In order that an overall budget for, say, a

five-year action programme can be determined, it is essential that Central and Eastern European countries set up

procedures for costing road accidents. This will also do much to ensure that the best is made of any investment

and that the most appropriate improvements are introduced in terms of the benefits that they will generate in

relation to the cost of their implementation.

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Other basic requirements for middle-income countries are likely to include the following, although this list may

not be exhaustive:

a) Adapt a scientific, quantitative basis for road safety policy. Establish research centres, establish data

systems and integrate with transport policy;

b) Create an institutional focus for road safety plans and actions which must be multi-disciplinary. Form

road safety councils, train safety teams and establish realistic targets;

c) Press for long-term land-use and transport policies to reduce the use of the more dangerous modes and

mixes of traffic;

d) Highways: plan well-defined hierarchies of use, reduce the unexpected on highways, institute safety

audits, low-cost remedial works and low speed/pedestrian priority areas in cities;

e) Behaviour and training: target young road users. Legislate against, and control driving whilst drunk or

on drugs. Improve targeted enforcement;

f) Vehicles: priority given to seatbelts, and also to helmets for two-wheelers. In low-income countries,

target public and parastatal freight and bus fleets (for general vehicle condition as well as other

measures);

g) Improve emergency medical services for those who survive the first few minutes after a crash but die

within the next few hours (often two-thirds);

h) With all measures, adopt, experiment and evaluate – and let the results be known and transferred on a

national and international basis.

With support from multinational organisations such as the WB, the European Commission and also bilateral

agencies such as DFID, SIDA, etc., many Phare countries have accelerated their efforts to improve road safety

in recent years. It is hoped that these trends will continue and that all countries will, through joint programmes

of research and development, and by sharing information, maintain an effective and scientific approach to

reducing road accidents throughout the world.

2. 2 The experience of the European Union countries during the last 40 years

2.2.1 Which lessons for Central and Eastern Europe?

The evolution of road accidents in the European Union countries is best shown by a consideration of the number

of fatalities in the 15 countries that now constitute the EU:

1957 : approx. 40 000

1960 : approx. 46 000

1965 : 58 000

1970 : 71 000

1972 : 75 000

1975 : 63 000

1980 : 57 000

1985 : 46 000

1990 : 48 000

1995 : 44 000 (including former East Germany)



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It appears that the level of fatal accidents is now back where it was forty years ago, after a peak occurring in

1972. It must be stressed that the amount of traffic is about 5 times what it was forty years ago.

The 1972 peak deserves special attention. It happened after two decades of extremely rapid increases in the

number of accidents. Each year, there was on average 2 500 more deaths than the preceding one, and the trend

had long looked unavoidable. There are mainly two reasons for the sharp turning point of 1972.

The first one is the decision in some countries that action had to be taken to avoid the situation getting worse. In

fact, the ever-increasing number of fatalities was halted as early as 1965 in the UK and in Sweden, and 1970 in

Germany. In the UK, for instance, spectacular action was conducted by the then Minister for Transport (Mrs

Barbara Castle) in the field of drinking and driving, which successfully reduced the number of deaths in 1967

and 1968.

One event contributing to the sharp change in road accidents in the European Union countries was the oil

embargo of October 1972. As a consequence of the risk of being deprived of oil, almost all governments

decided some sort of restriction in the use of cars, for instance driving bans on Sundays, and introduced or

reduced speed limits all over the European networks in order to save fuel. It is not definite that these limits

saved a lot of fuel, but they certainly spared a large number of lives. They created a lasting psychological effect.

The crisis then lasted more or less for ten years, with almost every European country stressing the need to spare

energy. After 1973, overall speed limits were kept all over Europe with the exception of some German

autobahns with levels in a rather narrow bracket: 50 - 60 km/h in cities; 80-100 km/h on ordinary roads; and 110

-130 km/h on interurban motorways.

At the same time, following strong recommendations by the European Conference of Ministers of Transport

(ECMT), West European countries introduced the compulsory use of seat belts after the successful example

given by France in July 1973. The combination of the lowering of speeds with the increased use of seat belt is

the main cause for the sharp turn of 1973.

But a more detailed analysis shows that, even if the general trend was the same every where, there were marked

differences from country to country. A number of these are worth being stressed.

2.2.2 United Kingdom

As stated earlier, the United Kingdom initiated strong road safety activities as early as the mid 1960s. The result

was a levelling in the number of fatalities, even before the oil crisis (7 800 fatalities in 1964; 7 700 in 1972).

Since then, the continuation of a coherent road safety policy, including regular and efficient publicity campaigns

as well as great attention given to the road network resulted in an overall decline, until the present level of

around 3 500 per year – less than half the 1972 one.

2.2.3 Comparisons between countries

To illustrate the efficiency of road safety policies, it is useful to compare the numbers in two countries, which

have similar economic development and ways of life.

2.2.4 West Germany and France

The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) (65 million inhabitants) and France (58 million inhabitants) have the

following fatality figures (Table 2.1):

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Table 2.1. Comparison of fatalities between the FRG and France.

The figures speak for themselves. Except for the period 1972 – 1978, Germany has been improving far more

rapidly than France has, even though France's figures have been declining since 1972. In 1960, FRG had 62 per

cent more fatalities than France did, yet in 1998 France had 48 per cent more fatalities than FRG.

2.2.5 Belgium and the Netherlands

The comparison between Belgium (10 million inhabitants) and the Netherlands (16 million inhabitants) is

interesting (Table 2.2).

Table 2.2. Comparison of fatalities between Belgium and the Netherlands.

The results are strikingly similar to those of the preceding comparison. The ratio of fatalities to the population

was very close in Belgium and the Netherlands in 1960, before the beginning of any sizeable road safety policy

in either country. Today, the ratio is double in Belgium (140 fatalities per million inhabitants) in comparison

with the Netherlands, which is well known for its coherent road safety policy (70 fatalities per million

inhabitants).

This result is the more surprising as 60 per cent of the Belgium population is Flemish.

2.2.6 Spain

Spain is different from the above-mentioned countries, in that its economic development came quite late. The

level of car ownership increased accordingly with an important time gap. So it is not surprising that accident

levels continued to increase until 1989, and only recently began to drop.

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What is interesting is what happened between 1990 (7000 fatalities) and 1993 (5500 fatalities). This very sharp

drop, despite a continuous increase in the level of traffic, can be linked to very strong and quite expensive

publicity campaigns, using "hard" messages, in the way some "Anglo-Saxon" countries (e.g. Australia, and the

UK) are doing. These campaigns were due to the strong will and action of the authority for road safety in Spain

at that time. Since then, the level of fatalities has levelled, or even recently increased (5747 fatalities in 1998).

From all these data, a clear conclusion is arising. Although there has been a clear general trend in the European

Union, differences between countries can nevertheless be huge, depending on the efficiency of their policies.

The result can vary by a factor of 1 to 2, between the countries that are acting properly, and the ones that are not.

This poses at least two questions. What can the EU do to try and avoid such situations? Additionally, how is it

possible to improve things, in order to try and bring the countries with the worse results in alignment with the

best ones?

2.2.7 The role of the EU Institutions

The legitimacy of the intervention of the EU in the field of road safety has been questioned for years. The Treaty

of Rome was not entirely clear about it. It mentioned road safety only in relation with professional traffic, so a

minority of countries was able to state that there was no legitimacy for the EU to intervene in this field, even if a

large majority of countries would not agree with this opinion.

The Maastricht Treaty tried to clarify the question by clearly including road safety within EU responsibilities.

But at the same time, it stressed the principle of subsidiarity, which states that if a problem can be dealt on the

local or national level, the EU should not interfere.

The situation then, is not much different from what it was before. A minority of countries is still questioning

the right of the Union to interfere with their own road safety policy. Here the present situation is described

according to the four fields of road safety activities: vehicles, road user behaviour, road infrastructure, and

emergency services.

2.2.8 Vehicles

Setting up vehicle standards is an activity where the legitimacy of EU action is beyond any doubt, and has been

since the Treaty of Rome, among EU member countries. After a very long process, new car standards are now

unified for the whole of the EU. Some of these deal with safety, e.g. brakes, seat belts, lights, crash resistance,

etc. Quite often, they just transform into "directives", which have already been introduced by most car

manufacturers.

In the future, the EU could be useful in making Daytime Running Lights (DRL's) compulsory in new cars.

The EU does not only deal with new cars. It has exacted a directive making it compulsory to check regularly the

technical conditions of cars.

2.2.9 Road User Behaviour

Road user behaviour is the road safety policy side in which the legitimacy of EU intervention is strongly

opposed by some member countries, on the basis of the subsidiarity principle.

Some success has been registered, as shown by the directives regarding driving licences harmonisation, or

mandatory seat belt use all over EU territory (after all countries have already taken the decision for themselves).

However, in the two very important fields of drinking and driving, and of speed limits, it has been impossible

for the EU to issue directives, due to the opposition of a minority of countries, and the lack of political will to

use the majority rule.

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2.2.10 Road infrastructure and environment

The situation regarding the infrastructure side of road safety policy is still clearer, for almost everyone agrees

that the principle of subsidiarity is difficult to argue against. The EU is not in a good position to issue technical

Directives about the design of roads, crossings, etc.

Even the harmonisation of traffic signs - which would make sense - is not on the agenda, due to the difficulty

and cost of the work that would be needed.

2.2.11 Emergency services

For the same reasons of subsidiarity, the EU is not in a position to act in the field of emergency services, except

on a very limited number of points, such as the setting up of a unique phone emergency number all over EU

territory.

To conclude, it appears that the EU institutions are encountering strong difficulties and opposition if they wish

to act in the field of road safety by issuing directives to member countries. They have to act by other ways and

means: improving knowledge, disseminating information, facilitating exchange of best practice and so on.

2.3 Actions to be taken

The description of the actions to be taken to improve the situation in the EU as a whole, and more specifically in

the countries with the less satisfactory results, will follow the same division in four fields. Administrative

organisation is also added as an extra field.

2.3.1 Vehicles

The situation regarding vehicles‟ safety has two sides. Great improvements have been made regarding the

protection of car occupants. Due to continuous research associated with good financing, some car manufacturers

are able to protect the life of people (if they are wearing their seat belt) in the event of a crash against a concrete

wall at 65 km/h.

Other car manufacturers are following, especially after the setting-up of the EURO-NCAP crash-test process,

which classifies cars according to the protection level they provide to their occupants. It is then possible to state

whether the situation is highly satisfactory from this point of view.

However, one major problem, of a very different nature, remains unsolved regarding the car side of vehicle

safety.

This problem lies in the increasing gap between vehicle performances and the speed limits existing on all

European roads and almost all European motorways. A large number of vehicle are designed to be driven at

180km/h or 200 km/h and even more, where the authorised maximum speed is around 120 km/h in all countries,

except Germany. The message sent to the driver is contradictory, and leads to strong temptation not to comply

with the speed limits.

A technical solution would be easy to adopt, as illustrated by trucks. Following an EU directive, trucks and

coaches are now required to be equipped with speed limiters and these have proved to be very efficient (trucks

to 90km/h and coaches to 100km/h) . But the political will to issue a similar directive for cars does not exist,

even if it would be very important for safety, lead to profound changes in the design of vehicles, make them less

expensive and more fuel efficient.

2.3.2 Road users’ behaviour

Experience has shown that road users' behaviour can be changed and improved through a combination of

education-information and enforcement-penalties.

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The most efficient information relies on the heavy use of mass media, especially television. The improvement of

enforcement can best be obtained by providing police and the judiciary system with modern equipment, which

can greatly increase the volume of enforcement without increasing the workforce.

But publicity, as well as modern equipment, needs a level of funding which is often lacking. Only Finland

succeeded in creating a special prevention organisation mainly funded by a 1.1 per cent safety fee on third party

insurance premiums, which provides 5 million Euro per year. Some other EU countries are achieving similar

results through other ways, including general budget funding. But others have found no proper solution.

2.3.3 Infrastructure safety

One of the main improvements, which have occurred during recent years, was a result of awareness that

infrastructure improvement and equipment could play important roles in the reduction of accident numbers.

This component is far larger than the traditional studies had found, looking at accident contributory factors. In

many circumstances, well-designed roads can almost suppress severe and fatal accidents. The idea is to apply to

roads the "total quality" approach, which is the rule in many other fields and should be the one on the roads, due

to the consequences of accidents.

In Germany, a division by a factor of four was achieved for accidents in urban areas, mainly through traffic

calming techniques. The UK, the Netherlands, and Sweden, have been among the countries making a wide use

of these techniques, as well as of the safety audits. Safety audits aim is identify remedies (often low-cost)

appropriate to the network before accidents happen, and not after, as in the traditional “black-spots” approach.

2.3.4 Emergency services

Some countries are making extensive use of helicopters for getting emergency teams to the location of accidents

and bring the victims to the hospital. A recent Dutch study found that it was a very cost efficient measure.

2.3.5 Organisation

A difference can be identified between two categories of countries: those which succeeded in creating a large

road safety community, and those where road safety policy lies on the shoulders of a very limited number of

people – sometimes one or two. The comparison between France and Germany or between Belgium and the

Netherlands clearly shows that the success is on the side of the countries, which are able to mobilise a large

number of bodies and people, in a collective approach to road safety. In a country like Germany, the number of

people directly involved in road safety activities exceeds 300.

Whether these methods could be achieved in more individualistic countries remains an open question. But the

consequences of the absence of the involvement of the private sector and the government sector are very

negative. In the individualistic countries, when the people in charge of roads are motivated, and in a position to

take or propose the right decisions, positive results can be achieved.

But experience shows that these are in the minority. Years, if not decades, can pass without proper decisions and

actions being taken. Accident levels keep far above what they should be, because no one is really demanding the

safety policy, which is needed.

It should be noted that the creation of an efficient road safety network requires a certain amount of money to

organise and support, such as has occurred in Finland, Germany, or the Netherlands.

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2.4 Conclusions

Generally speaking, the European Union does not give road safety the priority it deserves. With about 40 000

fatalities in the EU, and hundreds of thousand of people being injured, road accidents remain one of the most

severe public health problem of the European Union, despite past improvements.

A study by the French Académie des Sciences recently compared the public health impact of road accidents and

air pollution in France.

In this country alone, road accidents are responsible every year for the loss of about 300 000 life years (about

9 000 people are killed, with an average loss of 30 years of life). If epidemiological studies are right, air

pollution is responsible for a loss of somewhere between one and three hundred life years, i.e. about one

thousand times less than road accidents. It has to be added that here are a lot of debates going on regarding the

scope of air pollution consequences, which are extremely difficult to estimate, as they only concern very ill

people, the life of which they may shorten by a few days or a few weeks. The French results can be extended to

the whole of West Europe, although the money spent fighting air pollution is without any true relationship to the

size of the problem.

The budget allocated for road safety actions within the General Directorate for Transport (DG VII) is averaging

4 million Euro per year, where one could easily imagine the use of 20 times more for European-wide road safety

publicity campaigns alone. There is a European Environment Agency, where the effect on public health of

environmental problems is at best debatable. There is also no European Road Safety Agency, although 40 000

people are killed each year, with economic losses amounting to at least 7 billion Euro, coupled with even higher

socio-economic costs.

Policies in the European Union have also proved that it is not successful to try to transfer traffic from the road

system to alternative modes of transport (rail, waterways) in order to reduce the number of accidents. There is

not a single place where such transfers have had a sizeable effect, even when very large amounts of public

money were spent. The markets are different, as well as the magnitude of the traffic. Road transport vehicles

cover more than 3 500 billion kilometres per year in West Europe, while goods sent by rail do not exceed 12

billion kilometres.

If the real aim is to improve road safety, it is far better to spend the money directly on road safety schemes, than

on projects with the illusory goal of transferring traffic off the road, for they will not have any effect on safety in

proportion to their cost.

But there are also positive lessons to be learned from the European Union. With proper policies, it is possible to

act strongly on the level of accidents. Of course, suppressing them is an impossible task. But the right approach

should be, as it is for instance in Sweden with its "zero vision", to refuse to accept any accident as a fatality, but

to assume every human being should be protected, even if he/she is responsible for the accident.

This approach leads to the conclusion that the main responsibility for road safety lies in the hands of society as a

whole, rather than on the individuals. The support for this approach is proved by the fact that the European

Union ountries have accident ratios ranging from one to two, according to the efficiency of the policies they

have implemented. Appropriate actions reduced the number of accidents by a factor of two. That is the main

lesson which can be drawn from the European Union, and the main encouragement to act. There are not many

human actions which could save so many lifes and avoid so much suffering.

2.5 Lessons for the Central European Countries

The 1992-1993 Mission and 1994 the Budapest Seminar issued a series of recommendations, of which five were

especially important: setting up a National Road Safety Council (NRSC); issuing an Action Plan; securing a

permanent funding system; reducing speed limit in cities from 60 km/h to 50 km/h; and enacting a “black-spot”

programme.

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Some years later, it is worth examining how these recommendations were followed in the 6 different countries.

The following table 2.3 summarises the situation in mid 1999.

Table 2.3. Implementation of main recommendations from 1993/94

NRSC Action Plan Financing

System

50 km/h Black Spots

Programme

Bulgaria Existed Existed No change 1996 Existed

Czech R. Existed Existed No change 1997 Existed

Hungary Existed Existed No change 1993 Existed

Poland 1993/1996 1996 No change No Existed

Romania 1995 1996 Under

elaboration

1999 1999 /1998

Slovakia No No No change No Existed

The above table shows the failures as well as the successes. It emphasises the difficulties of getting proposals

into action. Some countries have exacted very good action plans, but the government or parliament responsible

for decisions did not adopt them.

For instance, no country succeeded in securing permanent funding for road safety activities as a whole. This is

certainly one of the major failures of the last years. Without permanent funding earmarked for road safety, it is

difficult to create a strong road safety community, including scientists, civil servants, political people, laymen,

etc.

The above description of experience in the European Union countries has shown that the success of road safety

policies is largely linked to the importance of a road safety community able to stress the importance of the fight

against accidents and lobby for it. This community should link people within the administration and within

society.

One immediate conclusion is that the Western financing bodies (EU, WB, EBRD) should link their grants or

subsidies in the field of road transport to the establishment of secure permanent funding for road safety

activities, including strong publicity campaigns, whose efficiency have be widely proved.

Another role of the Western bodies should be to open doors for high rank Western experts to enable them to

visit the people in charge, especially Ministers, in order to try and convince them to take the proper decisions for

road safety when needed. This has proved to be very effective in a number of circumstances, especially during

the 1994 Budapest Seminar.

Finally, another lesson from the Budapest Seminar and the Bratislava Seminar is that this type of meeting

should be organised more frequently (i.e. every two years) and that between seminars, a permanent link should

be kept, using the potential of the Internet.

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3. The Multi-Country Road Safety Project Methodology

3.1 Introduction

The transportation system, as well as society, in the Phare countries has experienced profound changes during

the 1990s. The quality of transportation has improved, traffic legislation has been updated, insurance and

emergency systems have been created, environmental aspects have been given a higher priority, and the role of

the traffic police has changed. Waiting times for new cars have been reduced and cars are readily available. Cars

have also become status symbols throughout the region. This process has had, and will have, a strong impact on

road safety in the countries.

Traffic accidents become an increasing problem in countries with rapid motorization. In Phare countries, car

ownership and transportation have had significant growth in the 1990s. This positive development brought about

a negative side effect, namely, increasing road accidents. In some Phare countries, the road safety improvement

programmes commenced and implemented have already brought about good results. The WB/EU Phare-financed

mission and study in six Phare countries that ended in a Road Safety Policy Seminar in Budapest in October

1994 was a major contribution to this.

Road safety has been a considerable concern on some sections of the established Trans-European Road Network

Routes and TEN-corridors. However, the situation varies greatly between countries, depending on the standard

and condition of the roads, and the intensity of the law enforcement by the police. Because these corridors pass

through more than one Phare country it is of utmost importance to have a common standard, with similar road

conditions and good driving behaviour for the whole network on the Trans European Roads.

Official statistics generally show that in 90 per cent of the accidents, human factors are the main or contributory

factors: such as speeding, lack of care, loss of control, and drunk driving. This is very true in Phare countries in

which generally, the traffic culture is young and the driving experience of road users is not high. However,

wherever an accident occurs, there are three main factors: the driver, the vehicle and the environment. In road

safety improvement work the “three „E‟s”, enforcement, education and engineering, are also used. For that

reason in this project all the key sectors have been reviewed and all types of actions have been considered in

order to prepare realistic road safety improvement action plans which will bring about positive results.

Taking into account the road safety situation in the region, the general priorities and needs of the project were:

Collection and dissemination of comparative data on road safety statistics and activities in Phare countries;

Identification of the major road safety problems facing the region and encouragement of the development of

regional and sub-regional initiatives to tackle such problems;

Collaboration amongst multi-lateral agencies and other funding institutions to develop a co-ordinated

Strategy and Regional Road Safety Initiative for tackling the road safety problems of the Phare region over

the next decade;

Establishment and maintenance of a Regional Road Safety Database which should be accessible to others as

necessary to encourage the further analysis of accidents and the development and better understanding of

road safety characteristics and trends in the region;

Establishment of mechanisms and encouragement of regular dissemination of information to a network of

road safety professionals to provide a common source of information and clearing house for exchange of

research results.

Initial steps have been taken through WB/EU Phare financed project in 1992-93 and the 1994 Conference, but

these are likely to need to be extended to ensure increasing effectiveness in the light of the rise in motorised

traffic within the Region.

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3.2 Project Objectives

The Terms of Reference (see Appendix A) suggest that the main objective of the project is the transfer of road

safety expertise from the member states of the EU to the relevant authorities in the Phare countries.

This was achieved by:

Examining the road safety situation and policies through reviewing the accident statistics and existing

studies and actions carried out in the countries concerned;

Taking into account the results and lessons learned from the previous study of six of the thirteen countries,

and applying this experience when recommending measures for the other seven countries;

Providing advice in the form of “best practice” instructions and introducing new road safety methods;

Introducing the safety audit method, studying part of one TEN-corridor as an example of best practice;

Developing regional and national road safety policies on the basis of successful measures and policies

implemented in EU Member States and the Phare countries themselves, and formulating an Action Plan for

the implementation of these programmes;

Establishing an evaluation and monitoring system of the road safety situation in the region;

Preparing a mechanism to distribute and disseminate road safety knowledge through a database in and

amongst the countries concerned.

One important objective in the project was to improve cooperation between EU Member Countries and Phare

countries and harmonise the systems, operations and policies with EU ones, especially in those countries that

will soon become EU members. An important forum for this was the Road Safety Seminar arranged during the

second phase of the project.

Because the local consultants were used extensively, they have been co-operating with each other, hopefully

creating permanent relationships between them.

Five years have elapsed since the first WB/EU Phare financed regional initiative. One component of the project

was the preparation of a regional monitoring and evaluation system for the Central and Eastern European

countries which would give regular information about the development of the road safety situation within the

countries. For that reason, another objective was the development of continuity in road safety work in the regions

in the form of permanent cooperation and regular Co-ordination meetings between the countries.

3.3 Method of work and the work programme

3.3.1 General approach

The general approach was as follows:

Local specialists were used to a maximum extent, and especially during the early stages of the project, for

data collection and analysis and assessment of the present road safety situation;

The best local firms or the best possible local road safety specialists were employed, and these were in

charge of local work, such as the collection of accident data, information and results of already implemented

road safety programmes and action plans, and possible additional studies of road user behaviour;

Nominated EU-specialists (see Appendix B) were in charge of each component of the project and they

prepared detailed instructions and forms, which the local specialists used in their work. Based on these

forms and instructions a Workshop was convened in Bratislava, which was attended by all EU and local

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specialists. This “issue of orders” ensured that the data collected from all countries was of the same

standard, content and quality;

Some of the EU specialists were involved in the earlier WB study and these were responsible for six

countries with another team concentrating on the seven countries. The teams worked independently, but

used the same criteria. The results of the assessment of road safety programmes implemented in the earlier

WB study of the six countries was utilised, when designing action plans for the other countries;

In addition, lessons learned in the EU Member Countries where road safety work has produced immediate

benefits were incorporated;

The Consultants regarded this project as an important training exercise. Thus the local specialists were used

to a maximum extent and any difficulties they had were overcome by appropriate advice and assistance.

An overall task flow diagram of the project is shown below.

PHASE ONE: ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT SITUATION

Collection of Data of Accidents

and Road Safety situation in the

13 Phare Countries

Audit of road safety situation of

corridor IV, Prague - Brno -

Budapest - Arad - Bucharest

Study of implementation of

National Road Safety Plans in

six WB/Phare studied countries

Assessment of Road Safety

Programmes in seven Phare

Countries

Assessment of transferability of

results from WB/Phare-project

to other Phare countries

PHASE TWO: RECOMMENDATIONS

Preparation of Best Practice Reports

• major two lane roads outside

urban areas

• urban roads and traffic calming

• enforcement of traffic laws

Setting-up Regional Monitoring

and Evaluation System

Behavioural Campaigns and

Programs

Phare Road Safety Seminar

PHASE THREE:

OVERALL ACTION PLAN

REGIONAL/NATIONAL

DRAFT FINAL REPORT AFTER 11 MONTHS

FINAL REPORT AFTER 12 MONTHS

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3.3.2 Phase one: assessment of the current situation

It has been noted from studies elsewhere in the world that one of the major constraints inhibiting the

improvement of safety is the general absence of accurate information on the scale, nature and characteristics of

the problem. This is due to the lack of an effective accident database involving a uniform accident reporting form

and a microcomputer based accident data storage and analysis system.

There is likely to be great variation in data collected in each country, its dissemination within the country and

availability of data elsewhere within the region. This makes it very difficult to gain an accurate picture of the

true scale and nature of the problem, either in an individual country or in the Region. It also makes it difficult to

compare countries. Simple data was collected to provide a time-series set on the incidence of road accidents and

their magnitude in each of the countries, together with other factors such as car ownership, expenditure on road

safety campaigns, and legislation. Whilst some good data existed before each country made a commitment to

democracy, the recent years since that declaration are more important indicators of future trends. Experience

suggests that some data are still being collected but that it can be variable in content and depends very much on

the country.

The information collected was used to put the road safety situation in each country into context and also to

identify regional differences. Regression analysis was used to identify the parameters influencing accident rates.

Historic data was used to identify current trends including, in some countries, the changes from a command

economy to a more democratically based system.

The influence of the importance of medical facilities in each country was assessed by a regression analysis of the

quality of medical services available with the fatality index, which relates to each country. The fatality index is

defined as the proportion of all persons killed and injured, who are actually killed in road accidents.

A careful appraisal was made of the quality of macroscopic data available from each country and where statistics

appeared suspect (or partially non-existent), data was taken from the IRF statistical source.

As well as comparing the Phare countries with each other and the different regions within Phare, comparisons

were made with countries within the European Community. In this way the magnitude of the problem of road

safety within the Phare countries was placed in conjunction with countries where massive investments in

accident prevention and reduction already occurs.

A "snapshot" of the country road safety situation was made. This was based on data gathered from a

questionnaire circulated within all of the countries. This placed data collection and its subsequent analysis on a

more consistent basis, allowing like to be compared with like (albeit in some cases at a basic level). The

questionnaire had a general introduction and a set of guidelines for its completion, which included definitions of,

for example, road accident deaths, urban/non-urban and vehicle types.

Typical questions related to, for example:

number of road traffic accidents by severity and time of occurrence;

annual vehicle kilometres;

number of registered road vehicles; and

road safety inventory and status review.

There were many variables that could be examined and a general assessment of accident contributory

factors was made at the inception phase of the project.

3.3.4 Evaluation of National Road Safety Plans included in the WB/EU Phare Project

In 1992-1993 WB/EU missions to the six Central and Eastern European Countries (Hungary, Czech Republic,

Slovak Republic, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria) resulted in a general report and six specialised reports on each

of the countries.

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The reports included recommendations regarding:

Management of road safety policy;

The main actions to be undertaken;

A financial programme for the following years.

The results of these recommendations have been evaluated. As far as it is understood, the approach has been

quite different from one country to another, with some following closely the recommendations of the WB/EU

reports, and others having taken very few steps in implementation.

The evaluation included the following:

Analysis on paper of the actions undertaken since the setting-up of the specific national reports, on the three

levels mentioned above: road safety management; decisions taken (especially in the field of road users‟

behaviour); and financial and other means allocated to road safety;

Visits to high-ranking administrative and political people presently involved in road safety policy, in order

to check the awareness and dedication to road safety and to inquire about the ongoing projects in the field;

Site visits to check progress, and to what extent regulations were enforced in practice;

On the basis of material collected and observations made, evaluations were drawn about the value and

efficiency of the policies followed (or not) by the six different countries. This enabled attention to be

focussed on the main strengths and weaknesses, and the preparation of detailed action plans for the future.

Among the weaknesses, special attention was given to factors, which inhibit and retard decisions and

activities for traffic safety.

An evaluation of the management of traffic safety policy identified answers to such questions as how clear the

responsibilities of various bodies that have a role in the work are, and how smooth cooperation and flow of

information is between them. Again, concerning the actions undertaken, evaluation shows how far the decisions

cover the recommendations, and how far the decisions are realised in practice. The funding of road safety, the

continuity, and the cost effectiveness of funding are crucial aspects.

3.3.5 Assessment of Programmes in the countries

The project team has extensive experience of developing and applying evaluation frameworks. It was decided to

use the DEE Technique©1 to develop frameworks to represent all the major sectors of road safety (see

Monitoring Evaluation System Report). Each sector can be divided further into sub-sectors: their components

and desired indicators of achievement with respect to each indicator. This “idealised framework” provided a

frame of reference against which actual performance could be assessed.

Data about current road safety actions and planned initiatives was also collected. This enabled the project team

to evaluate the adequacy and possible results of actions already implemented.

The results of the evaluation of the activities and projects was stored in a database, from which it was possible to

utilise good examples when preparing the best practice reports and action plans.

The project team included a nominated member to study each sector. Also, the local experts were selected so

that all of the professional fields and issues were covered.

1 DEE Technique© is copyright and available only through Ross Silcock Limited

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3.3.6 Audits of Road Safety Situations on the Helsinki Corridors in Phare Countries

3.3.6.1 Collection and Analysis of Accident Data in Corridor IV

The data collection was carried out by the local consultants from the Czech, Slovak, Hungarian and Romanian

Republics. A database with necessary information on the accidents and traffic of the last five to three years was

created. The local specialists were also responsible for the analysis of the data, according to the instructions of

the EU-specialists. Special attention was paid to the exact location of the accidents. In addition to the number of

accidents, fatalities and injuries, other indicators such as accident rates and densities for road sections were

calculated by the local specialists. Based on this, the most dangerous road sections were identified for more

detailed scrutiny. Accident black-spots were identified where possible. Based on the preliminary analysis, one

illustrative section of 20-30 km was selected for more detailed auditing.

3.3.6.2 Collection of Data of the Road and Safety Audit

Features of design, layout and road furniture which were not compatible with the safe function of the road and

commensurate with its place in the network hierarchy were examined. At the same time, detailed data of local

road safety standards was collected to verify how well they complied with the EU-standards.

National standards for road design and operation are not uniform in the various countries of Central and Eastern

Europe. In some cases the upper and lower limits of values that are recommended do not match. In other cases

the standards are even contradictory. It also occurs that standards for a certain element of road design exist in

some countries only. Furthermore, standards may be obligatory or just be a guideline. As a result of all this, the

actual layout and even the use of the roads differs considerably between the countries and also within countries.

Even without changing any official standard, much can be done in the field of harmonising the practice of road

design and operation by making use of the margins in the existing standards. In a smaller number of cases

obligatory standards would have to be changed to arrive at harmony.

However, to obtain reliable information, site visits were necessary. During the site visits the corridor was

videotaped and photographs were taken of locations of interest. At the same time, the auditors looked for

deficiencies or risk factors, which might hamper road safety.

A very general checklist used in the auditing at this stage was as follows:

1. Was the status of the road in the functional hierarchy of the road network appropriate to present use?

Were there cross-sectional variations (e.g. on bridges)? Was the geometry consistent?

2. Do the designs comply with the traffic volumes, number of pedestrians and safe design practices?

3. Vulnerable road users:

- was there evidence of pedestrians in unsafe locations?

- were improved facilities for cyclists needed?

- were there adequate safe crossing places or bridges for pedestrians?

4. Was there evidence of vehicles overrunning verges or footways, or damage to roadside furniture or

other objects that might indicate a problem, hazard or conflict?

5. Have lay-bys, rest, and parking areas been positioned safely, and were they adequately signed?

6. Were there parked vehicles that might cause an accident risk?

7. Was illegal access effectively controlled? Were all permitted accesses for vehicles and pedestrians

safe for intended use?

8. Were sightlines adequate at junction approaches?

9. Was the road signing (number, graphic design, location, materials etc.) adequate even for hours of

darkness?

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10. Were there bushes, trees etc., that may with time encroach onto carriageways or obscure sightlines or

signs?

11. Were public utilities, boxes, pillars, posts and cabinets located in safe positions?

12. Were there rigid objects like bridge abutments, pillars, posts or trees too near the carriageway?

13. Was the condition of the pavement adequate especially on steep gradients, sharp curves or approaches

to junctions?

14. Were there notables difference in maintenance levels or abrupt changes at the borders that might cause

risks?

15. Were there differences between the countries in patterns of traffic behaviour of the local transport

(vehicles and pedestrians/cycles)?

16. Does the quality of signing and driver information vary along the route?

Based on the preliminary audit and the accident data analysis, a more detailed safety audit of a selected section

of 20-30 km in each country was carried out. It included auditing of the following:

- road geometry;

- visibility in curves and junctions;

- signs and pavement markings;

- guard-rails;

- fixed obstacles;

- adequacy of pedestrian/cyclist facilities;

- junction design;

- location and adequacy of bus-stops;

- need for climbing lanes;

- need for lighting;

- condition of road surface.

Also, checklists developed in the UK, Denmark and Finland were used in the more detailed safety audit.

3.4 Phase Two: Recommendations

3.4.1 Preparation of Best Practice Reports

The identification of best practices in the road safety field and the reporting of these matters to the European

Commission and the respective Phare agencies is of utmost importance for the success of the subsequent

activities that will be undertaken within the context of future road safety programmes. Many road safety

projects carried out in the EU or Phare countries have something that is worthwhile disseminating. A strategic

approach to future dissemination of these projects needs to be developed.

The raising of awareness and acceptance of the outputs of successful road safety projects implemented

elsewhere are greatly helped when the projects and outputs concerned are related to what Phare audiences

consider their priorities. The first target was to generate a list of priority topics, crucial for the road safety issues

that are specifically mentioned in the ToR.

These issues were:

1. Major two lane roads outside built-up areas;

2. Urban Roads and Traffic Calming;

3. Enforcement of Traffic Laws.

Five to ten priority topics were identified for each issue.

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3.4.2 Setting up a Regional Monitoring System

All road safety activities should be monitored to ensure that money is being spent effectively and that lessons

are learned about the most and least successful schemes. Given that funds are always limited for such purposes,

it is imperative that the money available is spent in the most wise and effective ways of tackling the problem. As

each initiative is implemented, the effectiveness of that measure should be monitored (ideally by looking at

accident data from the “before” and “after” situation for equivalent periods of time).

Monitoring of an overall Action Plan aimed at institution building, and strengthening of the key agencies with

road safety responsibilities, must focus on whether the objectives of the Action Plan are being achieved. It is

necessary to ensure that the activities of the consultants and special advisers have been effective and that the

impact of such activity is having the desired effect in terms of strengthening the capability of the country to

tackle the problem.

The use of monitoring frameworks was recommended as this generally results in greater success in terms of

implementation of Action Plans. This identifies (in a framework format) exactly what activities are to be carried

out as part of the Action Plan implementation and seeks to identify performance indicators which can be used to

see whether or not the desired impact has been achieved. They can be used during implementation to identify

whether the project is progressing as desired, in terms of development and institutional impact. The system will

make a quick understanding of the relationships between various measures and their impacts possible, allowing

good interpretation and explanation.

The advantages of using such frameworks as the DEE Technique principally was that it made it possible to have

identical frameworks for each country which would permit a general comparison of achievements across sectors

and across countries. Further, the data could be easily aggregated to give an overall indication of the

performance of the region as a whole and by sector.

The technique has been proven in a number of countries and regions and has most recently been implemented in

Armenia to monitor and evaluate the Road Safety Action Plan. A further advantage is that the framework can be

based on a snapshot framework developed earlier in the project.

3.4.3 Behavioural Aspects

Human error is a main factor in road accidents, being a contributory factor in around 95 per cent. Programmes

such as education, training, or publicity to change road user behaviour, must therefore play a large part in any

strategy to reduce the number of accidents and casualties. Behavioural programmes are relevant for all sections

of society.

In every country, cars have become a symbol of freedom and because people do not have to wait long to

purchase a car, if they have the money, motorization has been quite rapid. All measures that might limit

motorization have been slowed down for political reasons. This has produced significant problems, because road

safety work has been lagging behind in many of the Phare countries.

The Behavioural Aspects Report considered psychological theories of road user behaviour and general

principles of road safety education, training, and publicity. In addition, case studies of initiatives were

considered, covering:

- speed;

- seat belts;

- drink driving;

- cycling safety;

- pedestrian safety; and

- combination campaigns.

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3.4.4 Phare Road Safety Seminar

The conclusions of the sub-projects and the national reports on road safety developments in the Central and

Eastern European states were presented as a part of the follow-up of the previous Phare/WB Traffic Safety

Policy Seminar, which was held in Budapest during October 1994.

The WB/Phare seminar in Stupava focused on:

Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Romania:

- degree of implementation of recommendations/conclusions coming from the WB/EU Phare study

1992/93;

- measured impacts of implemented recommendations/conclusions of the WB/EU Phare study

1992/93;

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania and

Slovenia:

- steps for the implementation of a nationwide road safety programme;

- costs of these programmes;

- impacts of these programmes;

- legislation required to enact road safety measures;

“Best Practice Reports”;

Implementation of the regional Monitoring and Evaluation System.

The seminar was arranged in Bratislava from 17th to the 18th

June 1999, as a 2-3 day intensive seminar. The

participants (see Appendix C) were from 12 Phare countries. Bosnia and Herzegovina were unable to send any

representatives.

3.5 Phase Three: Action Plans

3.5.1 Road Safety Action Plans and Regional Plan

There is a need for co-ordinated action as the effectiveness of road safety activities in any one sector is often

dependent upon complementary supportive activity being carried out in other related sectors. Absence of such

complementary activity can diminish effectiveness. Conversely, Co-ordination across several related sectors can

result in substantial synergy occurring, where the effect is multiplied and the effectiveness of all the measures

becomes enhanced. Interventions will therefore be required in each road safety sector to ensure that all sectors

are contributing effectively towards the overall improvement of safety. Given the wide range of sectors, which

can influence road safety, it is essential that such activities are co-ordinated and harmonised to achieve the

maximum effect. Experience in industrialised and developing countries demonstrates that road safety

improvements can only be achieved by carrying out activities in all sectors affecting road safety and that this is

best done within a comprehensive, co-ordinated road safety plan.

Following the Stupava seminar and discussions with the country representatives, a series of actions with

costings and estimated cost benefits were produced. These are included in the section Action Plans, Chapter 6

of this report. Similarly, a Regional Plan consisting of four sections, Engineering, Education, Enforcement and

Research was also prepared (Chapter 7 of this report).

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4. Project Reports (documentation structure).

The project was divided into 3 phases (described in Chapter 3: Methodology) and an overview of the project

outputs is given in the figure 4.1 below.

The first phase involving initial data collection and analysis resulted in three documents (Interim Report 1):

The Country Reports;

The Accident Data Report;

Safety Audit Corridor IV.

These documents have been written to the attached CD (see Appendix D: CD Contents).

The Accident Data Report was produced from a number of data sources and the structure relative to those data

sources is given in Figure 4.2 below.

Final Report

Regional Action PlanCountry Action Plans

Seminar Workshop Reports

Figure 4.1. Phare MCRS Reports

Best Practice Reports Behavioural Aspects report

Monitoring/Evaluation System ReportInterim Report 2

Accident Data ReportCountry Reports

Interim Report 1 Safety Audit Corridor IV

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Figure 4.2. Accident Data Report (Main Body) Structure

Tabulations

Tables 1 to 13

(Appendix A)

Tabulations

Tables 14a to 14k

(Appendix B)

Questionnaire BEssential Statistics

DEE Framework

Time series graphs

(Appendix C)

IRF Statistics

Accident Data Report

(Main Body)

Sources

Outputs

Legend

The second phase involving initial data collection and analysis resulted in three documents (Interim Report 2).

The Best Practice Reports;

Behavioural Aspect Reports;

Monitoring/Evaluation System Report.

These documents are also contained on the accompanying CD.

The Seminar reports are contained in the Annex to the Final Report and the audiotape transcription of the

Stupava Seminar are included on the CD.

The third phase, the production of the Country Action Plans and the Regional Plan are part of the Final Report.

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5. Country Reports

5.1 A summary of the 13 country reports

5.1.1 Introduction

An initial aim of the Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Study has been the collection all relevant data in order to

make an assessment of the road safety situation in the 13 Phare countries. Six of these countries also participated

in a study financed by the WB and EU in 1993 - 94. These were:

Bulgaria;

Czech Republic;

Hungary;

Poland;

Romania;

Slovak Republic.

The other 7 countries participating in this current study are:

Albania;

Bosnia Herzegovina;

Estonia;

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia;

Latvia;

Lithuania;

Slovenia.

Between December 1998 and February 1999, 11 specialists undertook a series of missions.

Mr Martti Roth (Finnroad) and Albania, Former Yugoslav Republic of

Mr Sven-Olof Hassel (Finnroad) Macedonia, and Estonia

Ms Kim Smith (Ross Silcock) Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia

Mr Christian Gerondeau (ERSF) and

Mr. Valde Mikkonen (Valmixa Oy) Bulgaria

Mr Valde Mkkonen (Valmixa Oy) and

Mr David Roland (Pantheion Ltd) Czech and Slovak Republics

Mr Valde Mkkonen (Valmixa Oy) Hungary

Mr Archie Mackie (TRL) and Lithuania and Latvia

Mr Per Studsholt Danish Road Directorate

Mr Fred Wegman (SWOV) Poland

Mr Mike Winnett (TRL) Romania

The mission visits lasted between two days and one week, involving discussions with organisations and people

with main responsibilities for road safety related activities and operations.

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5.1.2 General assessment of the road safety situation

The number of fatalities per 10 000 inhabitants is the most relevant criteria to assess the seriousness of the road

safety problem, from a public health point of view. Presently, the corresponding figure is around 1.15 in the EU

(42 000 people killed per 370 million inhabitants), with large variations from one country to another.

The figures for the 6 Central European Countries are:

Hungary Czech Republic Slovakia Poland Romania Bulgaria

1.37 1.55 1.89 1.89 1.22 1.05

The figures for the 7 Central European Countries are:

Albania Bosnia-

Herzegovina

Estonia Latvia Lithuania FYROM Slovenia

0.78 0.48 1.91 2.12 2.06 0.90 1.80

It appears that the road fatality rate, relative to the population, is higher on average than in the EU.

A better criteria to assess the risk on the road is to compare the number of people being killed with the traffic

volume, expressed in vehicle-kilometres, a measure of exposure. Unfortunately, this data is lacking in some

countries, and is often unreliable in others. It is suggested that an estimate of the distance travelled may be

derived from the fuel consumption within each country.

A third way is to compare the number of killed people with the vehicle fleet (two-wheel vehicles being

excluded).

The number of fatalities per 10 000 vehicles for the 6 Central Europe Countries are:

Hungary Czech Republic Slovakia Poland Romania Bulgaria

5.0 3.7 5.7 6.5 9.4 4.6

The number of fatalities per 10 000 vehicles for the 7 Central Europe Countries are:

Albania Bosnia-

Herzegovina

Estonia Latvia Lithuania FYROM Slovenia

24.1 18.6 4.9 8.8 7.4 5.5 3.9

For the EU, the corresponding figure is only around 2.3 (42 000 fatalities for 180 million vehicles), although the

average distance travelled per vehicle is higher, by a factor of about 2. It is clear that there is a high probability

of an increase in the number of accidents in Central European countries, when the vehicle fleet increases, and

when the distance travelled per vehicle becomes closer to the average in the EU (around 15 000 km per year).

5.1.3 Essential statistics

The accident data supplied by the local experts from the 13 countries is included on the CD accompanying this

report, along with a basic analysis of the data. Two useful tables (Tables 5.1 and 5.2 taken from the Accident

Data Report) are the essential statistics for the countries, shown below. The tables give an indication of the

accident trends between 1994 and 1997.

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Table 5.1 original countries.

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Table 5.2. other countries

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5.2 General assessment of the 13 countries

5.2.1 DEE frameworks

The in-country visits were intended to extend this inventory by the application of a standard assessment

framework to provide a "snapshot" of road safety activity in each sector. This safety assessment framework is

called DEE (Disagregated Effectiveness Evaluation). The technique involves the development of project

specific monitoring frameworks that define the achievement of overall objectives by a number of easily

measured indicators. Scores were awarded to each of the indicators, based on discussions in the country and

experience on other road safety projects. These were entered into the DEE computer programme, which

includes the weightings, and which calculates a score for the 11 sectors of activity:

Co-ordination of Road Safety;

Accident Data System;

Insurance and Accident Costing;

Post Accident Assistance;

Engineering;

Publicity;

Driver Training and Testing;

Traffic Education of Children;

Vehicle Testing and Inspection;

Traffic Police;

Road Safety Research Monitoring..

An overall score for Road Safety is also produced (Figure 5.1). It should be noted that the scores are an

indication of progress towards the desired minimum level of activity only. They should not be viewed as a

criticism of individuals or organisations working in the field of safety, but rather as a way of highlighting the

relative strengths and weaknesses of each sector of activity. In this context, it should be noted that, for example,

Slovenia is performing well in all sectors except vehicle testing and driver training, but as a consequence of

these two weaker points, the DEE indicator for total road safety appears low. Details of the DEE framework

may be found in the document “Interim Report II, Volume III, Monitoring/Evaluation System Report”.

Figure 5.1. Dee indicator. Road safety comparison between countries.

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The 11 sectors will form the basis of the structure of the following summary of the current situation in the 13

countries.

5.2.2 Co-operation/Administration of Road Safety

Two countries (Poland and Romania) have profoundly changed their overall road safety organisation, with the

creation of National Road Safety Councils (NRSC) and the setting up of national road safety plans.

In three others (Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria) NRSCs already existed, although with very limited

powers and means. In Hungary, there is no permanent staff and the situation has changed little since 1994.

A joint road safety council does not exist in the Slovak Republic. None of the persons in positions of

responsibility during the earlier study in 1992 - 93 are still in situ, including politicians as well as senior civil

servants and safety experts. The three speakers from the Slovak Republic at the Budapest Seminar in October

1994 are no longer active in road safety and no one currently in a responsible position had a copy or knowledge

of any previous report, including the country report, summary report or seminar proceedings. Copies of the

report could not be located in any organisation.

In the four last mentioned countries, the lack of a coordinating body with real powers is clearly a problem, and

the organisation of road safety policy within the government has to be re-evaluated.

Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina are countries in which there is no NRSC at present. In both countries the

reason for this situation is the unstable political situation. It can be seen, however, in other road safety related

activities, many of the countries are lacking or poor, because there is no Co-ordination.

This is generally low scoring on the DEE sector. Increasing political stability and some financial provisions for

the various committees and councils would address and improve this issue.

There is often a good supply of expert knowledge and advice but a low demand and lack of willingness to pay

for it. There is also a need to create Inter-ministerial Road Safety Committees that are to some degree immune

from the instabilities of politics and can provided a stable platform for operation and continuity between

political transitions. Guaranteed funding for these bodies and a clear programme of activities is also required.

5.2.3 Data System

Collection is well co-ordinated within countries but comparisons between countries are sometimes difficult to

make because of the variation in criteria. The data included in them varies a lot. This most probably depends on

who has designed the system. In many cases, however, a lot of data, which would be necessary for a black-spot

analysis, is missing.

5.2.4 Motor Insurance and Accident Costs

This is an area where the real cost of motoring is far less appreciated than it is in the European Union. This may

be a symptom of the low-income levels of the populations but, in view of the high accident cost as a percentage

of GDP, accident costs should be reflected in the insurance premium. The insurance systems tend to reflect the

position of the command economy rather than the market economy.

There also appears to be little incentive to improve driver skills under the current systems, whereas no-claims

bonuses and premium reductions for safer drivers are good incentives.

Insurances should also be seen to reflect the wider issues of road safety, rather than simply exist as means of

obtaining legitimate access to the highway.

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5.2.5 Emergency Medical Services

First aid training is widespread among the police and motoring public, however, response times for accidents

varies considerably.

Ways need to be found to reduce the time between the accident occurring and the victim receiving professional

medical care. The skills are in place but the infrastructure and equipment is not evenly distributed or in some

cases not available.

5.2.6 Road Engineering/Infrastructure

There is no lack of highly skilled engineers in all of the countries. In most of the countries engineering the area

of road safety related activities in which something has already been done to improve the situation. Usually that

is the improvement of accident black-spots. This has been done as a special project or part of a road

rehabilitation programme.

While most of the countries admit to carrying out safety audits as an integral part of every road design project, it

would appear that in most of the countries this safety audit is not as comprehensive an exercise as described in,

for example, the instructions concerning Safety Audit of Highways of the Institution of the Highways and

Transportation. Countries should develop a customised approach adopting best practice.

5.2.7 Road Safety Publicity and Education

This is generally poor and uncoordinated. There are clearly other issues which have a higher priority at present.

The issue of funding this activity is also a matter to be resolved. Funding could be tackled along the lines

suggested under education.

5.2.8 Driver Training and Testing

The practises implemented in EU countries are followed in most of the countries under assessment and it is

almost certain that the remaining countries will adopt them.

Very thorough testing procedures are in place, however the ability to match a set of criteria to pass a test does

not automatically translate into good driving habits. The high level of accidents among young males bears

testimony to this.

It has been observed that there is a difference between competence to perform a task under controlled conditions

and performance of the same task without controls. In order to reflect the seriousness of the road safety situation

and to reinforce good driving habits, consideration should be given to re-training and re-education as part of the

penalty system.

The countries had high scores in this DEE sector.

5.2.9 Traffic Education of Children

There is some kind of children‟s traffic education in all countries. It may be taught as part of a general subject

or as a separate subject included in the curriculum. Normally the same teachers that give the education in

general give this tuition, but in some countries there are specially trained traffic teachers. Additionally, the

traffic police usually participate in the children's traffic education. The education can commence in

kindergartens and continue through primary and secondary schools.

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Educational safety programmes are in place or are being designed for the citizens of the 21st century who will be

the beneficiaries of this Phare Road Safety Programme. However, many of the countries are under performing in

this area due to the shortage of financial support.

It may be of assistance to show the countries how independent Western safety organisations generate revenue

for their programmes and how to develop sponsorship in lieu of advertising.

5.2.10 Vehicle Road Worthiness Inspections

The vehicle fleet in most countries is old by European Union standards. Lacking modern safety features,

injuries are likely to be more severe for drivers and pedestrians. This is a situation that will be remedied in time

when the economies improve and the vehicle fleet becomes more modern.

The existing vehicle fleet is monitored fairly thoroughly however, and testing stations, monitoring equipment

and the standard of personnel are improving rapidly. This is an area that is being addressed systematically and

responsibly. The DEE sector response suggests a comparable situation in all countries, with the exception of

Slovenia. It was suggested in the Slovenia mission report that the score was perhaps lower than is the case in

reality due to insufficient time to evaluate this sector.

5.2.11 Traffic Police and Law Enforcement

Police forces are competent and generally well trained scoring high on the DEE sector. However, due to the

structure of the DEE framework, this masks a lack of modern equipment, particularly speed enforcement meters

and alcohol testers.

Equipment issues should be addressed as a matter of urgency, since speed and alcohol are major contributory

factors in traffic accidents. While it is encouraging to see the introduction of lower speed limits and in some

cases a zero alcohol limit; the effect of these is difficult to assess. The deterrent effect is also reduced if the

possibility of detection is reduced and it is suggested that the seriousness of these problems is greatly under

estimated.

An enforcement regime based upon the pattern of the Victoria (Australia) scheme monitoring speed and alcohol

together would provide an indication of the severity of these problems. A display of the seriousness of the

offences to the public would subsequently produce long term behavioural changes.

5.2.12 Road Safety Research/Monitoring

Excellent institutions exist in the countries but funding levels are extremely low in many cases. Research is

often one of the first areas to be cut when government budgets are reduced. Long term projects and greater

continuity in research should be acknowledged as beneficial to the overall safety programmes.

5.3 Summary conclusions

The eleven DEE sectors for the 13 countries have been combined (see Appendix I) in order to provide a

comparison of achievement between the countries. The four sectors with the lowest level of attainment appear

to be Co-ordination, Education, Publicity and Research.

These four sectors are crucial in the development of a successful programme for the improvement of road

safety. Negative attitudes towards cooperation and co-ordination represent an illustration of a cultural condition,

which can impede creativity. It is also quite difficult to quantify the financial benefits of research and

consequentially, it is often neglected. However, it is apparent from the reports that there is no lack of

intellectual achievement and ability among the specialists in all of the participating countries. There is both “the

will and the skill” but there is overall a lack of financial resources, which is limiting the expression of ability.

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How may we convince those in authority of the importance of investment in long term research, co-ordination,

publicity and education? From the data provided from the countries we might make the following observation. If

there is no change in the current trends, then there will be a significant number of drivers who will become

casualties in road accidents. Figure 5.2 is an illustration of the probability of a driver becoming a casualty in a

period of 60 years driving. The real figure is likely to be much higher taking into account the growth of vehicle

ownership.

Figure 5.2. Vehicle owners likely to be injured in a 60-year period.

What then is the major contributory factor to road accidents? It is not the lack of knowledge of the process. It is

not the lack of engineering ability. It is not the lack of skilled specialists. The major contributory factor is the

lack of funding!

0

20

47

64

25

38

24

0

41

8

39

53

17

30

0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Bosnia Herzegovina

FYROM

Estonia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Hungary

Romania

% Injured

% of Vehicle owners likely to be injured in a 60 year period

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6. Country Action plans

6.1 Introduction to plans

6.1.1 Background

The country action plans are arranged in the following order:

Albania;

Bosnia and Herzegovina;

Bulgaria;

Czech Republic;

Estonia;

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia;

Hungary;

Latvia;

Lithuania;

Poland;

Romania;

Slovak Republic;

Slovenia.

The reports are planned with the following general structure:

Introduction;

Current situation in the country;

Road Safety;

Results of the WB/Phare study 1994;

Result of 1999 country mission;

Action Plan;

Two year plan;

Summary with costings.

6.1.2 Development of plans

The early phases of the project concentrated on information gathering from local experts in order to identify the

magnitude of the road safety problem in the Phare countries and to make a comparison with the European

Union. Following further discussions during the country visits, it was possible to begin to catalogue general

safety issues and to create a list of possible remedial measures (see Country Plans on attached CD).

This theme was further expanded at the Stupava (Slovak Republic) seminar in June 1999. Following the

Workshop activity sessions, delegates from each country produced a series of actions for road safety

improvements. These priority actions form the basis of the following Action Plans.

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6.2 Albania

6.2.1 Introduction

Albania is a small country with a population of over three million. It was part of the former socialistic block

although more oriented towards China than the Soviet Union and started to open its tightly closed borders in

1992 after an economic collapse in 1990 and 1991. Since then, there has been political unrest and upheavals, an

unsuccessful coup attempt in 1998 and recently the crisis of Kosovo near its border, for which reason it is

natural that road safety is not yet a political issue, or of any priority.

Albania is still a rural economy, with agriculture generating over half of output. In 1993 the new government

initiated a programme of macroeconomic stabilisation and structural reforms with the IMF and the WB‟s

support. After that the economic growth was quite rapid for four years, but slowed down with political unrest in

the country. Despite significant economic advance, the level of GDP is still the lowest in Europe: the 3 323 000

inhabitants had an average income of 800 Euro in 1997.

Before the borders were opened, car ownership was restricted. Now the ownership is free and there are many

cars available, including large and fast cars. Although it can be argued that such vehicles are safer, they can

create dangerous situations, especially at high speeds, and with reckless driving behaviour.

6.2.2 Current Situation in Albania

6.2.2.1 Road Safety

The road safety situation in Albania has been reported as the “worst in Europe” and a cause of “growing

concern”. There was a rapid increase in road accidents from 141 fatalities in 1990 to 421 in 1993, immediately

following the lifting of government control on private vehicle ownership. After that, the situation improved, and

the number of persons killed has stayed under 300 per year. Data supplied by the Institute of Transport Studies

of Albania show that although the number of vehicles and the traffic volumes are steadily increasing, the

number of accidents, injuries and fatalities are all staying at approximately the same level, although the situation

is varying year by year. However, the political situation in Albania has been so unstable that the accuracy of all

information and statistics is questionable.

6.2.2.2 Result of 1999 Phare MCTP Mission

As part of the Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project, several road safety specialists from EU countries were

scheduled to visit the 13 Phare countries included in the project to assess the current road safety situation. Martti

Roth and Sven.Olof Hassel from Finnroad visited Albania in January 1999 and meetings were held with key

government authorities and private organisations.

Albania has started its first road safety project with the assistance of the WB and the EU. The project consists of

a study, enforcement equipment for the police, traffic signs, signals, carriageway markings and guardrails.

As a result of the assessment of the visiting specialists the following problems were identified for action to

improve the road safety situation in Albania (these are not listed in order of priority):

1 The fatality rate is the highest in Europe, 27.8 fatalities per 10 000 vehicles in 1997;

2 Pedestrian accidents are a serious safety problem: over 40 per cent of fatalities are pedestrians;

3 Accident risk is high at night: over one third of accidents occur in darkness;

4 Use of safety belts is almost 0 per cent;

5 There is no organisation responsible for road safety in Albania;

6 Traffic discipline is poor;

7 There is no traffic education in schools;

8 There is no road safety publicity work;

9 Vehicle inspection activity has just been started as a pilot project;

10 Road safety research is lacking;

11 Accident Data Register could be improved.

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Based on the above the following recommendations to improve road safety were made:

1 Inclusion of a road safety component in the emergency plan to take care of the huge amount of refugees;

2 Establishment of a NRSC with representatives from relevant government and private organisations;

3 Organisation of a Road Safety Unit (RSU) with sufficient foreign professional participation to assist NRSC

in the planning and implementation of road safety improvements;

4 Preparation of a realistic national road safety improvement programme;

5 Development of Albanian road design standards to include modern road safety principles to be used in

rehabilitation and development of new national roads and urban intersections;

6 Training of civil servants and private sector employees involved in activities and operations which have an

influence on road safety;

7 Introduction of road safety education as a pilot project in selected primary schools in Tirana;

8 Selection of a number of accident black-spots in Tirana and surrounding rural areas for demonstration

projects of remedying hazardous road locations;

9 Preparation of a road safety publicity campaign for both refugees and Albanian citizens;

10 Procurement of enforcement equipment for the police and training in use of them.

6.2.3 Action Plan

6.2.3.1 Introduction

The Phare MCTP Road Safety Project has collated a large amount of information and data about the Road

Safety situation in the different countries. In order to further disseminate this information and to develop a

strategy for the future, a seminar was held in Stupava, Slovakia, between the 17th

and 18th

of June 1999. This

was structured to include presentations on a global perspective on road safety, the EU situation, and a summary

of the country reports, followed by three parallel workshops. The workshops were conducted as an open forum

where views and ideas were exchanged in order to develop future plans for each country. The workshops were:

Workshop 1. Best Practices concerning:

i) Major two lane roads outside built-up areas;

ii) Urban roads and traffic calming.

Workshop 2. Best Practices in Law Enforcement.

Workshop 3. Country reports and Action Plans.

The workshops were followed by a general session in order to present the conclusions and these conclusions

subsequently form the basis for the action plans for each country.

The representatives of each country were asked to prepare a list of (in their opinion) the ten most urgent road

safety improvement measures in their country. These lists, together with the findings during the country

missions, were used in preparation of the action plans.

6.2.3.2 Two-year Plan

The two-year plan is based upon information supplied from Albania and incorporates the issues identified as a

result of the country mission (see above) and the Phare Road Safety Seminar.

1 Establish National Road Safety Council. For commencement of efficient road safety work it is necessary

to establish a proper road safety organisation which could be the NRSC. It should have its own budget and

consist of representatives from all government bodies and private organisations that have an interest in

traffic. The council should have a secretariat, an RSU in the MPWT that would prepare the matters to be

dealt with in the meeting and monitor implementation of decisions. The first task of the NRSC would be to

prepare a national road safety improvement plan.

2 Law Enforcement. The road police will get enforcement equipment and training in the use of it from the

WB financed Roads Project. In addition, the powers of the road police should be increased so that efficient

enforcement is possible. Discipline of road users in traffic is not adequate and should be improved by

enforcement. This concerns all road user groups: drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists. The

enforcement should be focused on speeding, drunken driving, the use of seat belts, and the inspection of

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documents. For example, increasing of the use of safety belts from almost 0 to 50 per cent would save at

least 15 lives annually. This is easily achieved, since almost all cars have seat belts fitted: people just do not

use them.

3 Improvement of Traffic Databases. There is a computerised accident recording system in Albania but the

new accident report form is not yet in use. Introduction of the new form would facilitate more efficient road

safety work.

Similarly the vehicle registers and the driving licence register should be computerised and the traffic police

should have the ability to check the data of vehicles and drivers from the register at all times. A vehicle

register is also necessary for the regular vehicle inspection system that has been started on a pilot project

basis.

4 Start Traffic Education in all schools. There has been a pilot project in traffic education in some schools

organised by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education. This pilot project should be enlarged to cover all

schools. Traffic education should be included also in the curriculum of the teacher training institutes.

Special material should be prepared and distributed. Financing could be arranged by INSIG or international

financing institutions or programmes.

5 Extend vehicle inspection to the whole country. There has been a vehicle inspection pilot project

including construction of a model inspection station financed by Phare in Tirana. Extension of the regular

vehicle inspection system to the whole country would require construction of 12 new inspection stations

and training of 25 vehicle inspectors.

6 Commence Road Safety Publicity Work. Preferably with the assistance of foreign specialists, the MPWT

together with the secretariat of the NRSC should commence road safety publicity work. To start with, this

could consist of a special programme on the radio, but could later be extended to newspapers and television.

7 Accident Black-spot Improvement Programme. Systematic identification and improvement of dangerous

locations on the public roads and urban areas should be commenced in Albania. Experience world-wide has

proved improvement of accident black-spots to be one of the most efficient and cost effective measures to

improve road safety. The programme could be started with a training course and pilot projects conducted by

foreign road safety specialists.

8 Training of Professionals in Road Safety. At the moment there is no road safety education of

professionals in Albania because there is no traffic engineering professor in the University of Tirana.

Education of traffic engineers should be started at university level, because without academic specialists, it

is impossible to start any road safety research that is necessary for policy and decision-making.

9 Improvement of Vehicle Insurance System. Drivers are required by law to have third party vehicle

insurance but not all vehicles are insured by the sole state-owned insurance company. Also, the insurance

premium is too low (45 Euro per year). For that reason the insurance system should be renewed and opened

for competition, payment of the premiums controlled, and violations punished. At the same time,

cooperation between the road police, MPWT, vehicle register and the insurance companies should be

started.

10 Initiate Pilot Project to Improve Urban Road Safety. Despite Albania‟s rural economy, 25 per cent of

the accidents and 15 per cent of the casualties occur in urban areas. Some of the main streets in Tirana

would be excellent pilot objects for road safety arrangements, traffic calming etc. Experience from these

pilot projects could be used later, when the activity would be extended to cover other cities and middle-

sized townships. This activity, which should include training, would benefit from foreign assistance in the

beginning.

6.2.4 Summary with costs

Table 6.2.1 is a summary of the measures to improve road safety, together with an estimate of the costs and

associated reductions in fatalities, injuries and accidents.

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Table 6.2.1. Measures to improve road safety.

Improvement Measure Euro

Reduction in

fatalities

Reduction in

injuries

Reduction in

Accidents

1 Establishment of National Road

Safety Council

50 000

2 Law enforcement

Equipment

Training

500 000

100 000

15% 10% 10%

3 Traffic Databases

Develop data bases

Hardware

Training

200 000

200 000

200 000

4 Traffic Education in Schools

Material

Training

100 000

100 000

5 Vehicle Inspection Extension

Inspection Stations

Training

2 500 000

500 000

3% 3% 5%

6 Road Safety Publicity

Campaigns

Material

50 000

50 000

2% 2% 5%

7 Black-spot Improvement

Study and Planning

Training

Implementation

150 000

50 000

2 000 000

5% 8% 10%

8 Training of Professionals

Engineering

Education

300 000

200 000

9 Improvement of Insurance System

Study

50 000

10 Road Safety in Urban Areas

Organisation

Training

Pilot Projects

50 000

100 000

500 000

5% 7% 5%

Total 7 950 000

6.2.4.1 Summary

Law Enforcement

Establishment of the NRSC with its own budget and secretariat;

Intensification of enforcement of speeding, drink driving, use of seat belt,etc. through purchase and

distribution of equipment to traffic police (speed measurement equipment, alcohol testers, computer

network, communication equipment,etc.) and training;

Improvement of accident, vehicle, and driving licence databases;

Start traffic education in all schools;

Extend vehicle inspections to the whole country by construction or rehabilitation of 12 vehicle inspection

stations;

Commence road safety publicity work;

Accident back-spot improvement;

Start training of road safety and traffic engineering professionals;

Improve the vehicle insurance system;

Pilot projects to improve urban road safety.

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6.3 Bosnia and Herzegovina

6.3.1 Introduction

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a small country with a population of around 3.3 million. It was part of the former

Yugoslavia before attaining independence. Many of the previous systems and infrastructures are no longer in

place as a result of the recent war. This has had a direct effect on road safety.

It should be noted that the available accident and casualty data are not very accurate, and that no data is

available at all between 1990 and 1993. The discrepancies in the data mean that it is impossible for those

working in the field of road safety to have a good understanding of the casualty problem.

Similarly, adequate information on vehicle usage is not readily available in Bosnia and Herzegovina for all

vehicle types. However, the existing vehicle fleet is reported to be in a poor condition compared to pre-war,

because of the financial constraints that many people are under, and a lack of spare parts.

6.3.2 Current Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

6.3.2.1 Road Safety

The 1997 fatality rate of around 18.58 deaths per 10 000 vehicles that occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina is

around nine times higher than the fatality rate of 1.5 to 2 deaths per 10 000 vehicles in other industrialised

countries, such as the UK. Data for Bosnia and Herzegovina should be treated with extreme caution due to the

inaccuracies in data previously mentioned. Difficulties with the collection of casualty data mean that the main

reasons behind this fatality rate cannot be accurately identified. Those particularly vulnerable to road accidents,

and hazardous locations are generally unknown. Engineers are forced to use their experience in assessing those

sites that are thought or known to be hazardous.

Whereas in 1988 and 1989 there were in the region of 600 fatal accidents per annum, since 1994 there has been

a third of this number. There are various reasons for this. The Cantons (districts) appear to act independently

and the Federal Ministry of Interior is responsible for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina but not for the

semi-autonomous Republic of Srpska. As a result, there is no single organisation responsible for road safety at

State level, with both the Ministry for Interior for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and for the

Republic of Srpska seeming to be responsible for road safety in each entity. Very little cooperation between the

two Ministries is reported to take place, with the result that different procedures and methodologies to tackle

road safety and traffic management seem to be developing. Indeed, the confusing politics of the country appear

to exacerbate the problems caused by the war.

It should be noted that in a country that has recently undergone tremendous upheavals as a result of war, road

safety understandably does not have a high priority. In many road safety sectors, more activity was undertaken

prior to the war.

6.3.2.2 Results of 1998 Phare MCTP Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina

As part of the Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project, visits were made to the 13 Phare countries to assess the

current road safety situation. Kim Smith, of Ross Silcock Limited, visited Sarajevo between 18 and 22

December 1998 and met with various key organisations. The following issues were highlighted by the EU

specialist as necessary to improve the road safety situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1. Accident/Casualty Data System. A reliable accident/casualty data system does not exist at present.

Preferably, one organisation at national level should be tasked with collating the data and analysing trends.

2. Co-ordination. A national body needs to be established to coordinate all areas of road safety activity, such

as through a NRSC. This could enable activity to be undertaken at Canton level while allowing information

and expertise to be shared, and reducing duplication of effort.

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3. Children's Traffic Education. Road safety education for children, through formal education, is a long-

term strategy that must be a part of any country's road safety plan and should be included in the national

curriculum.

4. Identification of Hazardous Locations. It is recommended that the proposed department for road safety

engineering be established to take responsibility for identifying problems and countermeasures.

5. Safety Audit. A system of formal safety audits should be established and all new or rehabilitated roads

should be audited while there is an opportunity to include safety features as part of the works.

6. Research. A research programme needs to be developed to enable interventions to be based on fact. As a

minimum, it is suggested that the programme should include research into the true number of accidents

occurring, and into the costs of road accidents to the economy.

7. Road Safety Plan/Finance. In order for the casualty problem to be tackled effectively by different sectors,

it is essential that a road safety plan is developed, adopted and implemented. Part of the plan should include

the securing of funds from a source that will grow with the number of road users.

6.3.3 Action Plan


The following actions have been developed based on the findings of the mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in

December 1998, and on discussions held with several agencies involved in road safety during a further country

visit in July 1999 by Tim Selby of Ross Silcock Limited. The actions are intended to reflect priority areas for the

next two years, but based on practicality given the existing political situation and the reality of a lack of serious

funding for improvements.

It is understood that various proposals concerning amendments to the traffic law have recently been put forward

to the Office of Higher Representatives (OHR) for consideration and that these included a section with regards

to road safety. It is on the basis of these current proposals that future road safety activity can best be developed

in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, it is unknown when any decision will be made to accept or reject these

proposals.

It should be noted that for an external consultant to develop a detailed road safety action plan, they should

ideally be in the country for a period of at least several weeks. This action plan has been developed solely on the

basis of two short country visits.

1 Co-ordination. A major problem in Bosnia and Herzegovina is that no single body is in charge of

coordinating road safety activities at national level (including both the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

and the Republic of Srpska). It is recommended that an Institution in the form of an NRSC be established to

represent the country as a whole and have statutory powers to coordinate all national road safety activities.

Given the existing political structure, the Council needs to be appointed by the OHR and be responsible directly

to them.

This organisation should be responsible for coordinating all road safety activities. As such, it should have input

from professionals with technical skills in education, economics, police and health services. Such a Council will

need a full time secretariat to provide technical and administrative support. The secretariat would be responsible

for ensuring implementation of decisions and policies agreed by the NRSC. It is recognised that many tasks

associated with the NRSC were tasks originally carried out by the police and there may be problems in

transferring these roles as the police may see it as a reduction of their powers.

Given the political structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina, objections may well be received from some sources

over the centralisation of control. However, such a Council would merely play an overall coordinating role in

ensuring the effective use of scarce resources for the country as a whole. Therefore, any national body needs to

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have cooperation and representation from both entities within the country, along with representatives from the

private sector in the form of trade organisations. The sharing of information to assist road safety in all its

various aspects would naturally be beneficial whilst also reducing any duplication of effort.

Initial funding for a NRSC would need to come from central government, although it has been suggested by

those consulted that revenue could be raised through sponsorship in due course. The insurance industry would

be a main source of such finance and have already indicated their interest in contributing to a central body aimed

at improving road safety. The recently reformed motor industry within Bosnia and Herzegovina would be a

natural source of additional sponsorship, as would other motor vehicle manufacturers and the oil industries.

Naturally, the implementation of such a Council is particularly sensitive to political will.

2 Accident and Casualty Data System. Prior to the war, an automatic data processing system existed for

accident and casualty information although this system is now felt to be out of date and seems to be no longer in

use. Furthermore, no standard casualty and accident report form currently exists and this prevents any national

analysis from being carried out.

A new standardised accident and casualty data form should be introduced whilst a micro-computer based

accident and casualty data storage, retrieval and analysis system, such as the Transport and Research

Laboratory‟s (TRL) Microcomputer Accident Analysis Package (MAAP) should be established at a central

location. Each Canton or Municipality can carry out its own analysis using this database package but also

supply a central body with its individual accident and casualty records using a consistent style and format. It is

reported that each police station has its own computer and the installation of a standard accident and casualty

database package could therefore be easily achieved. Naturally, police would need training in the use of both the

standardised report form and in the use of an accident and casualty database package. If a new standardised form

were to be used, it should not only contain the relevant information for police records and enforcement, but also

information for accident investigators.

The collection of all the data by a national body in a consistent format will assist in allowing accident and

casualty trends to be analysed, and information to be disseminated to interested bodies. Similarly, the collection

of such data at Canton level still allows hazardous locations to be easily and uniquely identified through the

plotting of accidents onto maps. Thus accident locations with their associated attributes and contributory factors

identified from the accident and casualty form can be easily highlighted. However, given the existing political

structure in the country, with no national police force in place, the central collection and analysis is difficult to

coordinate. At an early stage, any such activity could be carried out through the International Police Task Force

(IPTF).

As a first step, it is recommended that a pilot project be set up in one Canton and/or Municipality of the

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Srpska to demonstrate the potential benefits which can

be achieved. The use of an adapted database system such as MAAP is suggested as being appropriate. This

system can therefore be introduced at a national level at a later stage, as appropriate, although it is suggested that

this will be beyond the two-year action plan time period.

The data obtained from using this database system should be made available to all interested groups in order to

provide data for those working within the road safety field and to help raise awareness of the problem.

3 Identification of Hazardous Locations. It is acknowledged that the main priority at present is to repair

damage to the existing road system caused during the war. However, it is important that monitoring of accidents

on the remaining road network, and on recently rehabilitated roads be carried out to ensure awareness of

hazardous locations. Whilst much of the previous data has been lost and there is a general lack of data, it is

important that the process be restarted in order that as much detailed accident and casualty information be

brought together. This work ties in with the previously raised action with regards to the accident and casualty

data system and would be assisted by the implementation of a demonstration project in a specific Canton or

Municipality to illustrate the potential benefits. Again, concern over implementing the system for the whole

country exists with regards to the proposed action plan time period. Some additional training in road safety

engineering may be needed for local engineers.

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4 Research - Accident and Casualty Costing. At present, the economic cost of road accidents and casualties

by severity is not known and it is important that research is carried out. Prior to the war, estimates were made

but these were not based on accurate research. The identification of the economic cost of road accidents and

casualties to the national economy can only be determined by carrying out this research. This will assist in

making both the politicians and public aware of the true economic costs to society and allow cost benefit

analysis to be calculated for various measures to assist in the prioritisation of improvements to road safety.

At present, there is very little road safety research being carried out at all and there is a need for assistance in

this area. It is suggested that as a basic starting point, Bosnia and Herzegovina use either those costs by severity

calculated for a country such as Germany (as the countries have strong economic links), or use a value

equivalent to some 2 to 3.5 per cent of the GDP to estimate economic losses through road accidents. Accident

costing exercises should begin to be undertaken by universities or economic research institutes in due course,

although this may come into fruition outside of the two year action plan.

5 Traffic Police Training. The level of education and training in the police force has been reported in the

Country Report to be quite low. The International Police Task Force (IPTF) which currently operates in Bosnia

and Herzegovina has helped to improve the attitude and training of the police force but it is felt that the issue of

traffic control and safety has received low priority in terms of training.

Additional training of officers in the specialist traffic divisions in each Canton or Municipality and within the

Ministry of Interior would be beneficial. This could be carried out as part of the IPTF role. This training could

incorporate the use of a new accident and casualty report form, particularly in a pilot project for a specified

Canton or Municipality.

6 Road Safety Education. At present, there seems to be no official requirement for road safety to be

included in the national curriculum, although it was reported by those consulted that occasionally, some traffic

knowledge is imparted to school children by teachers. However, this seems to be on an informal, ad hoc basis.

It is recommended that road safety be integrated into the curriculum for primary and secondary school children

as a cross-curricular theme. This action requires road safety to be taught at teacher training colleges and for road

safety teaching materials to be developed, based on educational and child development principles. In-service

training seminars for existing teachers need to be established to ensure they have the necessary skills to teach

road safety. It is suggested that this is established via a pilot project, incorporating specified teacher training

colleges and schools within a Canton or Municipality, and working with the Ministry of Education in both the

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska, ideally under the guidance of a National

Road Safety Council. The production of a Teachers' Guide to assist road safety education is also recommended.

As part of the pilot project, the NRSC secretariat technical staff should be trained as part of an input by an

international consultant with relevant experience in such matters.

7 Publicity and Information Campaigns. Very little publicity is carried out across the country, with what

little there is, done by independent organisations such as BIHAMK, the autoclub. BIHAMK does have the

support of the police, and the Education and Transport Ministries for its work, although funding is solely from

their own sources. Specific campaigns have included safer cycling and pedestrian information for school

children. Additionally, a television personality presents some road safety information to children, and this is

thought to be useful in passing on a road safety message.

Particular problems facing this sector are a lack of funding and a lack of genuine knowledge with regard to

particularly vulnerable types of road users. Those consulted also considered there to be a general lack of interest

by the relevant Ministries in assisting road safety through producing publicity material. Furthermore, no central

body exists to coordinate and develop any information and publicity campaigns.

It is recognised that campaigns need to be targeted at specific groups of road users. Without accident and

casualty data, with its accompanying causation factors, a campaign cannot be effectively designed. Publicity

should be data led and give a positive behavioural message. It is therefore suggested that following the

introduction of a casualty database, even on a demonstration basis, information is gathered from this source to

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target specific casualty groups. Advertising campaigns can then be developed, probably with some consultancy

guidance, with funding of campaigns obtained through sponsorship, such as by insurance companies. There is

also a need for the campaign to be monitored and reported upon, to allow lessons to be learnt.

8 Vehicle Testing. The current motor vehicle fleet is reported to be in a generally poor condition. Financial

constraints restrict the purchase of new motor vehicles, whilst the ageing vehicle stock requires more and more

repairs.

It should be noted, however, that annual testing of vehicles through a technical inspection has to be carried out

in order that the vehicle is registered. The issue of fraud was noted as being a minor concern with some vehicles

being passed fit despite defects existing. Furthermore, it was felt that different inspection centres operated to

different levels of examination, partly due to a lack of knowledge on behalf of the tester, and partly due to a lack

of suitable equipment. New equipment would assist in reducing such problems with automatic printouts

following a check, preventing any deception, and allowing greater consistency between inspection centres.

However, such modern equipment is accepted as being expensive. Amendments to the law would be necessary

to ensure that such test equipment be used at all levels throughout the entire country.

Regional testing centres, under the auspices of the autoclub have already been proposed and this is supported in

an attempt to raise vehicle standards. Additional testing centres operating to a high and consistent level are

required to be built with better trained mechanics. Random checks on vehicles by the Police may be necessary to

ensure inspection tests are properly being carried out.

9 Driver Behaviour. Although the current driving test seems quite comprehensive, it is reported by some that

sections of the test are open to abuse, such as the demonstration of having carried out 35 hours worth of

instruction prior to taking the test. Those consulted strongly believed and perceived that novice drivers in charge

of powerful motor vehicles were particularly at risk and over represented in accidents, as in the rest of Europe.

Although this cannot be verified due to a lack of accident and casualty data, there seems to be a view that

improvements to driving behaviour are needed. As a first step, there is a need to review the existing system fully

and identify specific actions required.

It is suggested that a two-stage system for obtaining a driving licence be considered. This system would include

a probationary period in which offences and accidents are monitored. Should the novice driver be the cause of a

road accident or commit an offence, the licence can be revoked and the driver required to undergo further

instruction. Such measures would naturally have legal implications and need changes to the current traffic laws.

Changes to the current insurance system could also be considered. Compulsory insurance presently relates

solely to vehicles, rather than drivers, thus ensuring no direct financial penalty to drivers involved in an

accident.

6.3.4. Summary

6.3.4.1 Estimated Costs

A summary of the actions and an estimate of likely cost implications are included in Table 6.3.1. It should be

noted that these costs are indicative only, and that it is not possible to verify them without further information.

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Table 6.3.1 Estimated Costs to Improve Road Safety

Measure Estimated

Cost

(EURO)

Organisations

1 Co-ordination

Establish NRSC 50 000 OHR

Establish permanent secretariat (inc. equipment) 150 000 OHR

2 Accident and Casualty Data System

Review existing report form and adopt new style 30 000 Police/IPTF

Establish demonstration project/buy MAAP 40 000 Police/IPTF

Training in use of form and database 30 000 Police/IPTF

3 Identification of Hazardous Locations

Safety engineering training

Improvement measures – safety engineering

30 000

500 000

MTC

MTC

4 Research – Accident Costing

Accident costing 20 000 Universities

5 Traffic Police Training

Training of traffic police 30 000 Police/IPTF

6 Road Safety Education

Production of teachers‟ guide 50 000 Ministry of Education/NRSC

Training existing teachers (pilot) 30 000 Ministry of Education/NRSC

Initial teacher training

Development materials

10 000

20 000

Ministry of Education/NRSC

Ministry of Education/NRSC

7 Publicity and Information Campaigns

Data led publicity campaigns 80 000 NRSC

Consultancy/advisory services 30 000 NRSC

8 Vehicle Testing

Equipment and facilities 300 000 MTC

Training 50 000 MTC

9 Driver Behaviour

Full review of existing system

Changes to testing/licensing system

30 000

100 000

MTC

MTC

TOTAL 1 580 000

6.3.4.2 Summary of Actions

The following is a summary of the recommended measures that are required to improve road safety in Bosnia

and Herzegovina over a two-year period. Whilst the measures included have attempted to be realistic and

pragmatic, much depends on the prevailing political attitudes and the desire for both the Federation of Bosnia

and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska to work together in various ways to assist road safety. Whilst it

may be possible to implement the following measures in either of the two entities in the form of pilot projects,

attempts should be made to affect changes in both and thus obtain international support and backing.

Co-ordination:

Establish NRSC with backing of OHR;

Establish a permanent secretariat;

Establish funding mechanism under which the NRSC can operate.

Accident and Casualty Data System:

Review and amend existing report form;

Establish an accident and casualty database as a pilot project;

Training in accident and casualty report forms and database system;

Monitor effects of project and disseminate results.

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Identification of Hazardous Locations:

Use accident and casualty database established in pilot project to identify hazardous locations;

Safety engineering training for engineers;

Begin programme of improvement measures at hazardous locations identified in pilot project.

Research – Accident and Casualty Costs:

Establish economic cost of road accidents and casualties;

Make politicians and public aware of true cost of road accidents to society;

Undertake accident and casualty costing research by severity.

Traffic Police Training:

• Training of specialised traffic police.

Road Safety Education:

Include road safety education in initial teacher training colleges;

Carry out in-service training in road safety education for existing teachers;

Incorporate road safety into teaching curriculum for school children;

Develop teaching materials and teachers‟ guide.

Publicity and Information Campaigns:

Use demonstration project database system to identify target groups for publicity;

Make single body responsible for carrying out publicity;

Seek ways to obtain private sector funding to run national campaigns;

Implement campaigns.

Vehicle Testing:

Training of mechanics and provision of vehicle testing equipment in pilot area;

Carry out checks on inspection centres and agree appropriate offices to carry them out.

Driver Behaviour:

Review demonstration project database to define extent of young/novice drivers in accidents;

Agree ways to reduce their involvement in accidents through changes in the licensing system.

It should be noted that changes to road safety on a national level are very sensitive to the political situation in

Bosnia and Herzegovina. As such, changes and improvements need to be carried out one step at a time. This

will naturally delay the process of assisting general road safety measures for the country as a whole. It may

therefore be necessary to implement various activities in either the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

and/or the Republic of Srpska in the form of Demonstration Projects. It is important however that the intention

be made clear to implement the changes throughout the whole country in the longer term in order to attract

support from the various funding agencies.

It should be further remembered that benefits accruing from improvements to road safety will not necessarily be

identifiable overnight. The education of children in road safety, for instance, will have benefits long into the

future. Whilst it is important to be able to demonstrate tangible results, it is suggested that once hazardous

locations have been identified, suitable low cost measures can be implemented to demonstrate their effect on

reducing accidents over a year. Using suitable accident costs as noted previously, the first year rate of return for

carrying out accident investigation and prevention can be easily demonstrated using a financial basis.

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6.4 Bulgaria

6.4.1 Introduction

This Action Plan is based on the country report (Interim Report I, Country Reports) of Bulgaria, where two

visits have been made in the course of the Multi-Country Road Safety Project. Another sources for the Action

Plan is the Stupava seminar, where the country reports and reports on best practices (Interim Report II, Best

Practice Reports) were discussed and evaluated. Also the effects and costs of the recommended road safety

measures are estimated as far as possible on the basis of earlier applications of same measures.

In Bulgaria there is specific need for a new action plan for road safety work because of new traffic legislation

which came into effect at the beginning of September 1999, and along with it the new Traffic Safety Council

was also constituted. The first recommendation in the Country Report was: "There is urgent need for an action

plan, which binds together the activities of different sectors and defines targets, preferably in quantitative terms.

The first task of the new National Road Safety Committee would be to produce such a plan, which is also a

useful tool for co-ordination of activities”.

The current proposal can be seen as a point of departure for the national plan.

6.4.2 Current Situation in Bulgaria

6.4.2.1 Political and Economic Development

Bulgaria is a country with 8,283 million inhabitants (in 1997) and borders with Greece, the former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Romania, and Turkey. The area of the country is 111,000 km2 and it has

sea contact at the Black Sea.

Since the start of liberalisation in 1989, after decades of a socialist political and economic system, Bulgaria has

had a period of economic instability with frequent changes of governments and responsible state authorities.

The economic activities have been disrupted in many sectors, and the GDP is still far lower than ten years ago.

In Bulgaria, the privatisation process has been slow and discontinuous up to 1997.

The transport sector has suffered heavily from the political and economic turbulence. Between 1990 and 1997

there were six different Ministers of Transport. The frequent changes made coherent policy or reforms

impossible, and created a lack of continuity in planning, investments, and in basic activities like research.

Moreover, the transit traffic has been the backbone of the transport business, but this has been weakened by

wars and conflicts in countries like Iran, Iraq, Libya, Turkey and Yugoslavia.

The economic instability is highlighted by the figures of inflation. Consumer prices have risen rapidly: more

than tenfold in 1991 and again in 1996. Correspondingly, the Bulgarian currency Leva has lost its value in

relation to US currency. In 1997, its exchange rate was only 0.16 per cent of its value in 1990. The president of

a leading insurance company reported a "political and economic catastrophe", and near "collapse of the banking

system and consequently the financial sector as a whole".

A new start was made in 1997 by the present Government, which signed an agreement with the IMF to reshuffle

the economics in accordance with the principles of a market economy. This included the transfer of large parts

of industries and other economic activities to the private sector. As a consequence, a large reduction in the

number of people working in the public sector took place. The rate of unemployment was 13.7 per cent in 1997,

showing a marked increase on the level of two years earlier (11.1 per cent), but clearly remaining lower than in

the peak period of 1994 when it was 20.5 per cent.

In connection with the latest economic reform, the value of the Leva was fixed, tying it to the Deutsche Mark

(1 Dm = 1000 Leva). The inflation has slowed and the economic development seems to be proceeding

appropriately, albeit slowly as seen from the consumer point of view.

Although the period of political and economic interregnum is over, it may have far reaching consequences for

the future. There are concerns over the decreasing birthrate (now below 65 000 compared to almost double this

in previous years). Additionally, young, well-educated people are migrating from the country as a whole,

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creating an export of educated human capital (brain drain), rather than creating products for export using this

intellectual capital from within Bulgaria.

6.4.2.2 Development of Traffic Safety

After the start of liberalisation there was a tendency towards an increase in accident figures, especially fatalities.

This typical indication of new personal freedom decreased in 1991 when the first wave of super inflation cut

down the traffic volumes and motorisation. After that the trend was for an increase in figures up to 1994-95,

and then again a fairly clear improvement of safety. However, the figures of fatalities, and those of all accidents

show different trends than the figures of injuries. These discrepancies seem to indicate effects of several factors:

the huge increase in costs has decreased the volume of car traffic and fatalities due to that, but the injuries within

other transport modes show only a moderate decrease. The number of all accidents indicate also the fact that in

1997 it became possible to settle the material crashes between the car owners and insurance companies without

announcing them to traffic police.

The traffic safety development in Bulgaria indicates that transport costs may have clear consequences on safety,

if the prices vary widely. In Bulgaria the real price of gasoline was in 1997 more than 700 times higher than in

1990! Interestingly enough, along with the stabilising of prices in 1998, the accident figures have again started

to increase. According to preliminary information the number of fatalities again exceeded 1000. It implies that

there is an increase in the most serious accidents of about 10 per cent, and the fatality rate exceeds 12 per one

hundred thousand inhabitants.

The Bulgarian traffic safety work was summarised in the report as following:

An appropriate conclusion could be brief, borrowed from a paper of the Institute of Transport and

Communications. The transport system ”in the transitional period of Bulgaria at present should be interpreted as

a mixture of the declining traffic demand of the old regime and increasing traffic demand in the emerging new

regime. It is very difficult to interpret the current traffic movement because the former traffic has neither

completely disappeared nor has the new traffic pattern taken shape”.

What is said about transport system and traffic flow as a whole, can be said also about the current road safety

activities in Bulgaria. It is a similar mixture. Even though there are strengths in it, some of them inherited from

the earlier regime and some of them emerging from the new; the present mixture is not ideal for functioning

effectively.

It is a realistic anticipation that there will be an increasing trend in the accident statistics as soon as people can

afford to make use of their cars, and buy more of them. The huge increase in prices has kept the mobility low

and favoured public transport in cities so far, but in the coming years the prices will stabilise and earning will

increase. Along with the increasing mobility and increasing use of private cars, accidents will also increase if

effective countermeasures are not applied in parallel with motorisation. There are encouraging examples from

many countries that road safety can be improved even during periods of moderate growth of mobility and

motorisation.

6.4.2.3 The 1993-1994 Mission

The joint mission of World Bank and European Union in 1993-1994 found a fairly favourable situation and

development in Bulgaria. The traditions of road safety work were unique and remarkable, and the accident

statistics did not reveal too alarming trends.

The four main recommendations from the mission - establishment of an inter-ministerial council, reduction of

speed limits on urban areas to 50 km/h, creating a black-spot programme, and securing appropriate funding for

road safety activities - did not have any immediate effect in Bulgaria. There had been a "Central Road Safety

Commission" operative for some fifteen years as well as a black spot programme.

However, the speed limits were regulated in 1996, and a limit of 50 km/h has been applied generally since then

on urban areas. Also the funding of road safety has received a formal solution, but unfortunately, only formal.

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The establishment of Road Safety Fund shows that the problem has been recognised, but in practice the problem

remains because the Fund does not have capital or incomes.

6.4.2.4 Result of 1999 Phare Mission to Bulgaria

In the Bulgarian Country Report (Interim Report I, Volume 1, Country Reports PART 2, April 1999) it was

noticed that the current traffic safety work needs improvements on almost all sectors, and new measures seem to

be necessary. The following measures and activities were listed:

1 Data collection. Data production fulfils basic needs, but it can be completed by collecting representative

data about risk related behaviours in traffic. The exact figures describing offences against speed limits,

cases of not wearing seat belts, not obeying red lights or the proportion of drivers in traffic being drunk,

would allow for the allocation of countermeasures to prevent the risks before accidents take place. There

are often possibilities to regulate the system so that it generates less risk taking if the conditions and

circumstances for such behaviours are known. Concerning accident data, the coverage of injuries and that

of material damages could be improved by making use of data from medical services, and from insurance

services (see point 2).

2 Insurance. The insurance sector could collect aggregate statistics combining data from all of the

companies. The accident costs both for the private economy, and for the national economy should be

calculated and published. Related to that, the insurance premiums should be related to differences of

accident risks of driver groups.

3 Pedestrian environment. Needs for improvements to the traffic environment are numerous. Most urgent is

the reorganisation of the parking in cities so that pedestrian traffic can flow appropriately. Road markings

are a useful tool in improving order both for vehicles and for pedestrians.

4 Publicity. Publicity is an issue, which is useful and necessary for many other measures. The highest

benefits could be received if publicity concentrated on the improvement of order in urban traffic and on the

benefits of seat belt use (parallel with intensified enforcement of it).

5 Risk awareness. Awareness of risks in traffic among all road user groups and of the possibilities and

responsibilities to manage the risks must be improved by intensifying the treatment of the issues in the

media. Expert knowledge should be transmitted for open debate, and media should be actively informed

about safety development (monthly and annual accident statistics).

6 Speed control. In Bulgaria, excessive speeds are a dominant cause of accidents, and they deserve special

attention. Campaigns alone or intensified enforcement for short periods do not help much. Combined with

the implementation of new laws or new forms of automatic control, a speed management programme can be

created, and in the longer term, a reduction in accidents will result.

7 Financing. Financing of road safety programmes and all activities should be secured. Appropriate

financing of activities like research, data production and education may save money by allocating extra

resources appropriately.

The recommendations above are not prioritised. Moreover, some of them include several measures. Clarification

will be made in the next section when discussing the action plan.

6.4.3 Action Plan


The current Phare project has collated a large amount of information and data about the Road Safety situation in

different countries since September 1998. In order to further disseminate this information and to develop a


and 18th

of June 1999. This




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Workshop 2. Best Practices in Law Enforcement

Workshop 3. Country Reports and Action Plans.

The workshops were followed by a general session in order to present the conclusions and

these conclusions subsequently form the basis for the action plans for each country.

6.4.3.2 Short Term Action Plan

By separating the measures presented earlier and by giving them an order of priority, the following sample of

measures can be compiled for a short-term action plan. Some of the measures are introduced shortly in order to

describe how they are considered to be applied.

1 Speed Enforcement. Intensified enforcement of speed limits by applying automatic control devices both on

rural roads and urban areas. In a traffic flow where the majority of vehicles may have excessive speeds it is

quite difficult to apply traditional forms of enforcement. Quite typically, an excessive speed may be

recorded once in a second. Such a density of offences requires automatic control devices and other

arrangements related to that. The investments on devices and systems are noticeable. But also the benefits

are large: reduced number of accidents is the main result, but even travel speed may improve because traffic

flow becomes smooth and delays caused by crashes diminish. The pedestrian safety benefits most from

intensified enforcement when the number of casualties is used as a yardstick. In Bulgaria the pedestrian

accident rate is exceptionally high. The costs of automatic speed control are recouped, in favourable

conditions, during the first half year, and in a three year period the costs are covered by three to six times.

2 Pedestrian Environment. Rearrangement of parking and use of street parking places.. As was described in

the country report the parking of cars on pedestrian pavements - a practice in Bulgaria - compels the

pedestrians to use lanes intended for motorised traffic,.and they continue to do so elsewhere. When

accidents happen pedestrians appear to be the guilty party, but primarily the parked cars barrier repair them

from the pavement. For the road owner - the state and towns - it is a cheap legal measure to prohibit

parking on pedestrian pavements, and collect fines from offenders. For the car drivers it is an additional

cost to pay for parking, but such costs have become obligatory in all motorised cities. A market economy

will provide a supply of parking spaces if demand is allowed to rise without directing it to pavement

parking

3 Paintings and Markings. Systematic marking of lanes, and particularly pedestrian areas, creates order in

traffic and effectively guides pedestrians to behave appropriately in a traffic environment. Good order again

produces safety as a consequence, because the possibilities to anticipate each other's action in traffic

improve. Moreover, children especially can be trained to follow traffic rules in a clearly marked

environment.

4 Speed management. Applying traffic calming arrangements in order to suppress excessive speeds and

guide traffic flow in urban areas. Different arrangements of traffic calming are obligatory in urban areas and

on areas where highway speeds are buffered to urban norms. Joint application of enforcement and means of

traffic calming yields better results than either of them alone.

5 Campaigning. Campaigns supporting the intensified enforcement activities and re-arrangements of urban

traffic help in two ways. They make the current other measures more effective, and they help in getting

acceptance for unpopular road safety measures in general.

6 Insurance. Making insurance fees dependent on the variability of risks between different motorist groups

is fair and it also improves risk awareness if applied openly.

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7 Publicity. Intensifying the treatment of traffic safety issues in the media by making use of expert

knowledge. The most relevant knowledge and representative facts, as well as debate around them are

necessary in creating risk awareness in society.

8 Financing. Money for road safety purposes can be collected from payments for car inspections, insurance,

or driving licences. Incomes may come to a central fund from where different activities are then supported.

9 Accident data completions. Completing the accident database with the statistics of material crashes

compensated by insurance companies.

10 Behavioural data completions. Completing the accident data with systematic data about risk-related

traffic behaviours, such as excessive speeds, not wearing seat belts, etc.

6.4.4 Summary with Costing

The first five measures need financing as investments in traffic safety, whereas the measures from 6 to 10 are

arrangements, which do not need money and which do not yield immediate effects on accident statistics. They

rather create prerequisites for continuous improvement of safety.

The first two measures, intensified speed control and rearrangement of parking, together with the media

information campaign, form the three priority measures.

The measures introduced here form a programme, where the measures support each other. Because of that it is

somewhat unorthodox to take single measures from the programme and try to estimate costs and benefits

separately for them. One of the documented facts is that the benefits of road safety measures vary widely

depending on the context where they are used. Most of the road safety measures do not have fixed effects but

certain potentialities and depending on the circumstances of where they are applied, the safety effects, as well as

costs, vary quite a lot. The costs and benefits estimated represent mainly positive cases, and quite often

potentialities rather than real results. But even so, it is of the utmost importance to consider costs and benefits

before decisions about the measures are made.

The costs for devices and systems for automatic speed enforcement and fining are relatively high as basic

investments: with some 2.5 million Euro a fairly wide enforcement system could be created. However, there are

also possibilities to cover the device costs with leasing arrangements. In such a way the incomes can be

channelled to cover the costs. In best of conditions the benefits would exceed the costs already incurred during

the first year. But of course, the main part of the benefits are the improved safety, which means an effect on the

incomes for society but not real money for road safety authorities.

On the other hand, the costs for the implementation of parking in cities is easily met and beneficial to car owners

For society the legislation costs are minimal to prohibit parking on pavements and it also allows cities the right

to collect payments from offenders. In market economy terms the demand for parking creates supply. Even very

simple arrangements seem to be operate: cities rent parking areas to private enterprise, who in turn rent

singlespaces to drivers and car owners, thus ensuring parking is controlled. More sophisticated systems are

those where payment devices are used and controlled by town authorities, where parking services are arranged

and marketed in car parks. It is important regulations are obeyed and that "the user pays" principle is applied, as

is stressed by the European Commission in "Towards Fair and Efficient Pricing in Transport" (1995). If the

cities allow free parking everywhere, i.e. pavements, chaos quickly results, and costs for alternatives increase.

The situation in Bulgaria is such that some 2.5 million Euro would be necessary for investment in parking, if

parking were a single project. But as is clear from what has been said, there are also possibilities to proceed in

phases, and the costs should be directed to the users of the parking facilities.

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A partial solution for parking problems in capital areas in many countries are the free of charge parking areas

outside city quarters. Public transport is used and it if often the only rational possibility in city areas, where

parking can be rather expensive. It may be worth mentioning that in the capital area of Tokyo, the annual

parking costs for use of a car are higher than annual fuel costs, if a car is used for daily transport.

Both of the measures described above need support from media. Also here the costs can be estimated as total

input of professional work and media space and time. A half a million Euro is a relevant estimate, but in

practice the issues can be treated as "news" or debated as "social problems" and "traffic safety plans" without

payments from the funds of traffic safety bodies. On the other hand, preparation of information for press, radio

and TV requires quite a lot of work from traffic safety experts. Paying for it is a real cost for traffic safety

bodies, even though public media - customers finally - may pay the main part of the costs.

The three priority measures could produce a large reduction of fatalities, at best up to 50 per cent. Reduction of

injuries would not be as large, but about a 25 per cent improvement on statistics can be expected, and also a

modest 10 per cent decrease in material accidents is possible. These results can be achieved in the course of 2-3

years.


Improvement Measure

EURO

Reduction in

Fatalities

Reduction in

Injuries

Reduction in

Crashes

1 Speed enforcement 2 500 000 30 % 15 % 5 %

2 Pedestrian environment 2 500 000 10 % 5 % 2 %

3 Paintings and markings 1 000 000 2 % 3 % 5 %

4 Speed management by calming 2 000 000 4 % 3 % 3 %

5 Campaigns 500 000 10 % 5 % 3 %

6 Insurance - - - 2 %

7 Publicity (supporting )

8 Financing ( " )

9 Accident data completion ( " )

10 Behavioural data completion (")

Total 8 500 000

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6.5 The Czech Republic

6.5.1 Introduction

In the Phare area, the Czech Republic is a country where research on traffic safety issues has strong traditions

and where current research is also active. The action plan for improvement of road safety should preferably be

based on data and research. Accordingly, in the case of the Czech Republic it is natural that the national

initiatives give foundation for international recommendations.

This action plan tries to incorporate both the proposals presented by the Czech experts in the Stupava Seminar,

and the recommendations and observations made by the experts during the country visit in the frame of the

current project. It may at least stimulate the work, which is necessary in the Czech Republic, as the current

national action plan for 1999-2000 terminates and a new plan is drafted.

6.5.2 Current Situation in the Czech Republic

6.5.2.1. Economic and Political Background

Czech Republic is a country with 10.3 million inhabitants, an area of 78,864 km2 and borders with Slovakia,

Austria, Germany and Poland. The development towards a political and social market economy has been

intensive, and although the main boom has already passed, the country is still in the state of transition.

The Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy. A two-house Parliament makes the country's laws. The 81

members of the smaller house, called the Senate, serve six-year terms. Voters elect one-third of the senators

every two years. The 200 members of the larger house, called the Chamber of Deputies, are elected to four-year

terms. The Parliament elects a president, who serves as Head of State. The President appoints a Prime Minister,

who heads the government and oversees its day-to-day operations. The Prime Minister names a cabinet to help

carry out the executive functions of government.

Local government was renewed in 1990 and recently a reform was proposed to introduce a system where 13

regions plus the City of Prague would constitute the regional administration. The existing system is more

complicated: there are 7 regions plus the City of Prague for juridical administration and the National Police. For

the other sectors of administration there are 72 counties with nominated County Governor and other officials.

The five largest cities (Prague, Plzen, Usti, Brno, Ostrava) have the status of county administrators with an

elected City Mayor and City Council. Within the other counties there are municipalities with Elected Mayors

and Municipal Councils.

Most of the people in the Czech Republic live in towns and cities. Prague, with a population of more than 1

million, is the largest city. Other cities with more than 150,000 people are Brno, Ostrava, and Plzen. The Czech

Republic has a severe housing shortage. Most people in urban areas live in blocks of flats, many of which are

high-rise, and of poor quality, built before the political changes.

The Czech Government is working to move the country from a command economy to one based on private

enterprise. Despite disruptions caused by the shift, the people of the Czech Republic still have one of the

highest standards of living in Central and Eastern Europe after the political changes. Most households have

cars, refrigerators, televisions, and washing machines. Many city families also have country cottages. People in

rural areas usually work in agriculture or travel to cities or nearby factories to work. Rural families often live in

single-family homes.

About 45 per cent of the workers of the Czech Republic hold jobs in service industries. There are many new,

privately owned insurance and property firms, medical and other professional services, repair shops, retail

stores, hotels and travel agencies. Manufacturing employs about 40 per cent of the labour force of the Czech

Republic. Although heavy industry is still important today, light industries such as footwear, glass, and textiles

are re-emerging as important producers for export.

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In road traffic, widespread changes, especially rapid motorization, characterise the development. Additionally,

the liberalised markets have produced broader individual freedom than is the case in the European Union

countries.

6.5.2.2. Road Safety Activities

The recommendations from the 1992-1993 WB study have been implemented in the Czech Republic, but this

has not been entirely due to the mission. In fact, the inter-ministerial council, a road safety plan with financial

considerations, and a system for identifying and reconstructing black spots in the road network (within

economic resources) already existed prior to the 1992-93 missions.

It was revealed during the course of the present mission, that the recommendations from the earlier study were

not known at the operational grassroots level of road safety organisations. Consequently, the reasonable

applications done cannot be attributed to the recommendations made.

The only recommendation to be applied after the mission was the reduction, in 1997, of the speed limit in urban

areas from 60km/h to 50km/h. However, this decrease in the urban speed limit was achieved only through

compromise, with the speed limit on motorways being increased. Whilst the responsible ministries only

proposed the reduction of urban speeds by 10km/h, the Czech Parliament decided not only to do that, but also to

increase the motorway speed limit by 20km/h from 110km/h to 130km/h. The motivation behind such a move is

not clear, but apparently some kind of compensation was regarded as necessary for the improved safety on the

streets. The ensuing result was that fatalities in urban areas decreased, but increased on motorways.

Despite the results described above, it is the firm conviction of the authorities and experts in road safety that the

earlier mission has been beneficial to their work. It has helped to bring safety issues to the agenda of political

decision making.

However, the losses in traffic accidents are high, and intolerable. Nearly 1,600 people were killed in 1997 and

nearly 37,000 injured in about 200,000 registered accidents. It should be noted that the total number of

accidents is not comparable with other countries. In the Czech Republic drivers have to report any accidents

causing damage exceeding 30 Euro. Economic losses due to traffic accidents are estimated to be about 1 billion

Euros annually.

Fortunately, there are signs that the worst phase of the boom has passed. The number of fatalities has stabilised

within the range of random variation since 1992, and in 1998, a significant drop was reported. Preliminary

figures indicate that the number of fatalities slightly exceeds 1,400.

Generally, it can be estimated that the measures applied for the promotion of safety have been strong enough to

counterbalance the effects of rapid motorization as far as fatalities are concerned. However, the total number of

accidents has increased year on year.

The prospects of turning the overall development into a positive enterprise are promising. There will be major

realignment taking place in the years to come.

There is a national co-ordinating body for road safety. BESIP forms the Government Council for Road Safety.

It consists of representatives from the Ministries of Interior, Transport and Communication, Education, Youth

and Sports, Finance, Justice and Defence. Non governmental bodies such as the Red Cross and Czech Car Club

are also members as well as Czech TV and Czech Radio. The Minister of Transport and Communications

currently chairs the group.

A new action plan was approved by the Czech Government in October 1998 for increasing the safety of road

traffic 1999 - 2000. This action plan has a comprehensive activity programme.

The situation was summarised in the country report of the current project in the following way:

There are several aspects in the road safety work of the Czech Republic that may predict successful results. The

level of research expertise, international contacts, data collection and processing as well as the formal

cooperation of road safety authorities is good. An appropriate action plan exists, and local bodies are

functioning.

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Despite this, there is no common conviction among the authorities and experts that the worst phase of the

accident growth has been passed and a turning point achieved. This is reflected in the targets of the current

action plan where the modest 5 per cent annual decrease in the number of lost human lives is accepted as the

goal for the next three years. It is true that a corresponding target may have been set in the 1980s by many

countries, but they were not fruitful. More ambitious targets have been accepted subsequently with good results.

There are real factors in the road traffic system which produce risks for accidents, and these may also cause

some feeling of helplessness in the authorities and experts responsible for planning countermeasures. It is well

known that a heterogeneous driver population, varying vehicle conditions, and incoherent traffic systems all

create risks.

In the Czech Republic all kinds of variability can currently be found. The driver population includes rather

large number of "professionals" whose annual travelling distances are high, but for whom road traffic is a

necessary service to be used. At the other end is a large group of drivers whose annual travelling distance is

low, and who avoid driving for various reasons. In respect of the vehicle fleet, new Western and Japanese cars

characterise the traffic in the capital area, whereas in the countryside old domestic vehicles are typical. In goods

transport, the variability of vehicles is even more striking. Solutions for the traffic environment vary as well.

For example, traffic calming is applied ad hoc but not systematically. Also separate paths and lanes for cycling

are well known, but rare in villages.

In a system where risk-producing factors are apparent, an annual growth of about 10 per cent brings real

pressure for an increase in accidents. Moreover, the growth of car traffic is likely to continue in the forthcoming

years. There are some 5.5 million driving licences in the country but only 3.5 million cars thus far. Even though

the number of driving licences cover also mopeds and elderly drivers who do not make use of their licences any

more, a large group of licence holders are waiting for their chance to get a car, and this number is increasing by

about 200,000 annually.

There are plans to reorganise the road safety responsibilities and also to rewrite the road traffic code. Thus far,

the main responsibility has been with the Ministry of Interior, with the police forces being the main body for

fieldwork. According to the reorganisation the Ministry of Transport and Communications will take the lead

role. The plan with details and time schedule has been approved by the Government, and it is only a financial

and practical issue to get it functioning.

The main obstacle to the effectiveness of the present efforts to improve road safety is the low priority given to

safety and risk awareness, and the priority of improving road safety among the public and the politicians. There

is an imbalance between the supply and the demand in road safety markets. There is a good supply of expert

knowledge and advice but low demand and a lack of willingness to pay for it.

6.5.3 Action Plan

6.5.3.1 Recommendations in the Country Report

In the country report (The Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project, Interim Report I, Country reports) six

proposals were given to cover a wide range of sectors in road safety work, from data collection to organisational

development and programming the work:

1. Complete the accident data with the data about risk related behaviours. Data such as the number of

speeders, number of drivers and passengers not wearing seat belts, and the number of drunk drivers in the

driver population are important for planning and prioritising measures of accident prevention;

2. Resolve to make the planned improvements to traffic safety work;

3. Increase awareness of traffic accident risks among all road user groups and awareness of the possibilities

and responsibilities to manage risks by transmitting expert knowledge for debate in media;

4. Concentrate traffic enforcement on speed control and intensify it by applying automatic control devices and

supporting the enforcement with campaigns and public debate;

5. Keep financing of voluntary local activities regular and promote continuity in the activities;

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6. Complete the road safety action plan with a long-range policy programmee, with objectives and visions

about the future road traffic system.

6.5.3.2 Outcomes of the Stupava Seminar Exercise

The Czech experts in connection with the Stupava Seminar left the following list of measures:

1. Introduction of road safety audit and accompanying measures;

2. Replacement of existing black-spot solutions by a systematic nation-wide system;

3. Introduction of penalty point system;

4. Nationwide introduction of traffic calming schemes in urban areas, including best practices in road marking

both on urban and rural areas;

5. Projects on increasing the wearing of seat belts and child restraint devices, together with the introduction of

daytime running lights;

6. Improvement of the existing system for co-ordination of road safety activities;

7. Making the law enforcement more effective by technical and legislative improvements to the work of the

traffic police;

8. Improvements to the existing information system of the traffic police;

9. Creation of a better system for driver training by organisational improvements and by making use of

computer facilities in training and testing;

10. Introducing targeted information campaigns on focal topics, like speeding, seat belts, penalty point system,

daytime running lights, and safety audit and traffic calming measures.

For each of the measures further details concerning the necessary steps are given, e.g. the first point about safety

audit includes creation a system of training of auditors, the training and testing of auditors, creation of

administrative structures, and monitoring and evaluating the results. Corresponding procedures are also given

for all the other measures.

As can be seen the two lists overlap: each contains organisational recommendations; improved enforcement,

improvement in the information system, and an increase in the publicity of traffic safety issues. Moreover, the

country report also supports many other proposals given by the national experts: safety audit and traffic calming

systems, and the introduction of the penalty point system. As far as the content of the action plan is concerned,

it is easy to accept the latter list as the “top ten action plan” (6.5.3.2).

There are no contradictions between the two lists, but certain differences are apparent. In the country report,

measures that can be decided and introduced immediately and without noticeable resources being incurred, the

list compiled by the national experts includes some rather expensive measures.

There is a temptation to see the two lists as having different time spans. The earlier list is for immediate

measures; the latter is more a long term policy programme, which can be - and should be - started immediately,

but where some of the activities continue for years, even decades, like a traffic calming programme.

6.5.3.3 The Three Priority Measures

From the two lists the three priority measures could be those recommended in both of the lists. Accordingly we

would achieve:

1 Improvement in the organisations, where co-ordination is improved and responsibilities are clarified by

giving the Ministries of Transport and Communication leading positions; the creation of responsible bodies

in each sector such as road administration, urban traffic planning, law enforcement, vehicle inspection,

driver training, traffic education and information, and data analysis and research. Duties can be combined in

different ways, keeping traditions in mind, but it is important that the responsibilities are clear. Moreover,

all of the main sectors should be represented in the national road safety council, discussing and approving

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plans, as well as monitoring and evaluating the results. Also districts of the country should have

corresponding councils.

2 Improvement of law enforcement in road traffic by introducing automatic control of speed limits and

monitoring of behaviour at traffic lights. The human resources can then be allocated towards controlling the

use of seat belts and conducting breath tests in order to find - and prevent - cases of drunken drivers in the

traffic flow.

3 These activities should be accompanied by public discussion about the need and possibilities to improve

traffic safety, as well as by specific campaigns addressed to curb excessive speeds, and make use of

protective means like seat belts and child restraints in cars. The road users' attention would increase if

parallel legislative measures were given, such as the obligatory use of daytime running lights in all

conditions.

The three measures above form a combination, whereby the single measures support each of the others, and are

even necessary for each other. The organisational rearrangements give the traffic police a clarified role, which is

then fulfilled by increasing activities and visibility on roads and streets. Intensified enforcement is again

supported by media campaign. As a side effect, general awareness of road safety issues is also improved.

The costs and effects of the "three point plan" are highly dependent on how widely and intensively it is applied.

The first measure, organisational development, should not create extra costs. On the contrary, it quite often

saves resources, especially human power by reallocating the responsibilities and resources. Alternatively, it is

possible to improve the total output, if resources are kept on an earlier level.

The experience from Victoria in Australia shows that intensifying the enforcement by making use of automatic

control devices and supportive campaigning can improve traffic safety dramatically, the reduction of fatalities

being about 40 per cent in three years. The effects on the risk of injuries and material accidents are smaller and

there is no good empirical documentation about them. However, some 10 per cent reduction in the number of

injuries and 5 per cent in the number of material accidents may be realistic expectations.

The investments for the system are relatively high. In the case of a country the size of the Czech Republic, some

2.5 million Euros, and campaign support would need 0.5 million Euros.

The benefits from improved safety and more fluent traffic flow - because of fewer accidents and more

homogeneous speeds - would cover the investments and other costs during the first six months, and yield pure

profit for society after that. It should be noted that traffic police exist in any case, and it has certain level of

annual costs even though traditional methods are applied in the fieldwork.

6.5.3.4 Table of Costs


Improvement Measure EURO

Reduction in

Fatalities

Reduction

in Injuries

Reduction

in Crashes

1 Road safety audit system & training 2 000 000 5 % 5 % 5 %

2 Black-spot monitoring nation wide 1 000 000 2 % 2 % 2 %

3 Penalty point system 100 000 1 % 1 % 1 %

4 Traffic calming programme nation wide 5 000 000 8 % 5 % 5 %

5 Seat belt, child restraint & DRL project 500 000 5 % 5 % 2 %

6 Co-ordination revision - - - -

7 Law enforcement modernisation 2 500 000 20 % 15 % 5 %

8 Police information system - - - -

9 Driver training & testing 1 000 000 3 % 3 % 3 %

10 Targeted campaigns with other measures 500 000 5 % 3 % 2 %

Total 12600000

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6.6 Estonia

6.6.1 Introduction

Estonia is one of the three Baltic States that declared themselves independent at the collapse of communism in

Russia in 1991. It has a land area of 45,227 km2 and a population of 1.5 million, of which over 400 000 speak

Russian as their native language. Per capita income in 1997 was estimated at about 4 500 Euro and the standard

of living in Estonia has developed rapidly in the 1990s, despite the problems encountered at the start of their

second independence.

Following the fall of communism, the Estonian economy has undergone major reforms including the transition

to a market economy, consisting of the privatisation of enterprises, reorganisation of the public authorities and

the opening of the markets to foreign products and investments.

On January 1st 1997, there were 43,825 km of roads in Estonia, of which 15,304 km (34 per cent) were public

roads owned by the state. The density of the road network was 1,013 km/km2 and 341 km of public roads per

km2.

The public road network is categorised as follows:

Main Roads 1,190 km

Basic Roads 2,666 km

Local Roads 11,448 km

Total 15,304 km

There is general consistency in Estonia regarding the quality and distribution of the road network. There is no

immediate need for major new road construction projects, apart from bypasses for some of the most important

cities, and road safety related improvements.

All main roads are paved; while in 1997, 95.5 per cent of the basic roads and 38.6 per cent of the local roads had

pavements. These pavements were mainly asphalt, while many basic and local roads had a bitumen gravel

surface.

The condition of the main highways is good with an estimated International Roughness Index (IRI) in the range

of 3-5. The geometry of some main highways is, however, poor with small radius curves and narrow cross

sections.

6.6.2 Current situation in Estonia

6.6.2.1 Road Safety

In general the road safety situation in Estonia had not improved prior to the second independence in 1991.

Traffic fatalities were increasing at a sharp rate, and were 2.3 times higher in 1990 than in 1985. The upward

trend continued until 1991. Problems with obtaining fuel, and the general reorganisation of economic life may

explain the radical drop in fatality numbers observed in 1992 (assuming the accident data collection was not

perturbed or interrupted).

During the last five or six years, motorization in Estonia has been the most rapid in Europe. In 1991 there were

167 vehicles per thousand inhabitants; by 1998 this had risen to 295 vehicles per thousand inhabitants, and

according to a forecast the figure will be 440 vehicles per thousand inhabitants by the year 2010.

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Since 1992, the number of road accidents and casualties in Estonia has been varying. Fatalities rose between

1992 and 1994, but decreased by 9 per cent between 1994 and 1995, reaching the lowest figure (213) in 1996

which represented a reduction of over 35 per cent. After that the fatalities increased to 279 and stayed at the

same level (281) in 1998.

The fatality rate in 1997 was 5.4 fatalities per 10,000 vehicles, (1.93 fatalities per 10 000 inhabitants) and 45.5

injuries per 10 000 vehicles.

Compared with the other Baltic States, the road safety situation in Estonia is not bad, but there is a lot of room

for improvement to reach the road safety level of the Nordic member countries of the EU. With the improved

economic situation, assistance of the neighbouring EU countries, and financing from WB, EBRD and other

financiers, it is possible to improve the situation provided that there is good cooperation in road safety work, and

good organisation.

Road safety has been recognised in Estonia by the responsible authorities and also gradually by the politicians as

an issue of concern. It can be anticipated that the new Road Safety Improvement Programme 2000 - 2010 will

be approved in the Parliament this year. Also, the new Road Act and Road Traffic Act will come to the

Parliament soon. This would mean, that a lot more financing for the road safety improvements should be

available through the budgets of the various ministries, especially the Ministry of Transport and

Communications.

It should be noted however, that the measures already implemented with the scarce funds available have had

some success. The number of fatalities in road accidents has decreased in spite of the fact that the vehicle fleet

has almost doubled during the second independence of Estonia. This shows that the country has the commitment

and skills to implement real improvements, overcome problems, and above all, get things done. Estonia is an

excellent illustration that small investments can prevent traffic fatalities, reduce human suffering, and save

unnecessary expenditure and costs.

6.6.2.2 Result of 1999 Phare MCTP Mission

As part of the Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project, several of the specialists from EU countries were

scheduled to visit Phare countries to assess the current road safety situation. Martti Roth and Sven.Olof Hassel

from Finnroad visited Estonia in January 1999 and meetings were held with key government authorities and

private organisations.

As a result of the assessment the following problems were identified for action to improve the road safety

situation in Estonia (these are not listed in order of priority):

1. Accident severity is high: over 20 fatalities per 100 accidents;

2. Urban accidents are common: 61 per cent of all accidents;

3. Pedestrian accidents are a serious safety problem: 20 per cent of fatalities are pedestrians;

4. Single vehicle accidents are frequent: 33 per cent of all accidents;

5. Accident risk is high at night: 46 per cent of accidents occur in the hours of darkness;

6. Weekend accidents are a specific problem;

7. Drunken driving is common: 1.9 per cent of drivers are under the influence of alcohol;

8. Use of safety belts is too low (about 50 per cent usage);

9. Road safety research is lacking;

10. Accident Data Register could be improved.

Based on the above, the following recommendations to improve road safety were made:

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1. Revision of the traffic legislation. Special emphasis should be placed on pedestrian and cyclist safety,

drunken driving, and improving the powers of the police to enforce penalties for traffic offences. Introduction of

the new legislation should include a comprehensive information campaign to familiarise road users with the

changes.

2. To improve road safety in urban areas, a comprehensive campaign should be started. It should include

the creation of a special Urban Road Safety Unit in the Ministry of Transport and Communications,

establishment of Road Safety Councils in five major cities, training of decision makers and professionals of the

cities, commencement of a pilot project to demonstrate possible engineering improvements, and the introduction

of an information campaign to highlight urban road safety problems.

3. Intensification of road safety research by organising an Inter-University Scientific Support Group with an

official status. It should define its goals and membership conditions as well as relationships with administrative

sectors and local authorities.

4. Prepare a short-term programme for road safety studies and research that should include all fields;

education and information, and enforcement and infrastructure improvements. The main emphasis should be on

in-depth accident analysis, and the identification of accident causation patterns, behavioural analysis and

evaluation methods.

5. Organise a network of specialised journalists based on the professionals already dealing with road safety

issues, by setting up a seminar.

6. Further development of the accident data register to produce better road safety studies and research, and

to comply with the practices of the EU.

7. Improve police enforcement strategies through planning and follow-up. A survey should be carried out of

the influence of the recent organisational changes in the traffic police on efficiency and results of the

enforcement.

8. Intensify enforcement on drinking and driving, speeding, stopping at red lights and mandatory seat

belt wearing through purchase of equipment, and the training of policemen to use it, and planning of

enforcement both in the short and long term, to focus on the most dangerous features in traffic.

9. Continue annual safety campaigns addressing the public on:

Speeds and tolerance of speeding;

Drinking and driving (including new legislation, if any);

Pedestrian rights and risks;

Elderly in traffic;

Children in traffic.

10. Design and carry out some pilot projects to demonstrate accident black-spot improvements, traffic calming

in urban areas etc.

6.6.3 Action Plan





and 18th

of June 1999. This




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The representatives of each country were asked to prepare a list of (in their opinion) the ten most urgent road

safety improvement measures in their country. These lists, together with the findings during the country

missions, were used in preparation of the action plans.


The two-year plan is based on information supplied from Estonia and incorporates the issues identified as a

result of the country mission (see above) and the Phare Road Safety Seminar.

1. Law enforcement. Discipline of road users in traffic is not adequate and should be improved by

enforcement connected with information. This concerns all road user groups: drivers, passengers, pedestrians

and cyclists. The enforcement should be focused on speeding, drunken driving and the use of seat belts. Clear

objectives should be set for each enforcement target. For example a short-term objective for the use of seat belts

should be 90 per cent which would prevent approximately 15 fatalities and 100 injuries annually.

2. This action requires the purchase and distribution of equipment for Traffic Police (speed measurement

equipment, alcohol testers, computer network, communication equipment for proper enforcement of traffic

regulations etc.). This equipment is required to improve the quality and rate of enforcement. Proper training

must be arranged before the new equipment is put into use. Also a demerit penalty point system should be

introduced to discipline drivers. Special consideration should be given to improve efficiency and discipline of

the Traffic Police by more training and planning of enforcement activities. Training should also be arranged in

the driving of police vehicles.

3. The benefits of law enforcement and the associated deterrent effect are expected to contribute significantly

to the general reduction in casualties.

4. Increased Publicity. Continue and increase road safety campaigns targeted on special road user groups and

seasons. They should focus on speeding, drink driving and the use of safety belts. In autumn when the schools

start there should be special campaigns to improve the safety of school children, and the use of pedestrian

reflectors etc. To reach as large an audience as possible, television, radio and the press should be used. Also

special material should be prepared for distribution to the specific target groups: parents, children, professional

drivers etc.

5. Increased Traffic Education in schools. Estonian road safety authorities have prepared very good

material for school children and started traffic education in kindergartens and schools. This activity should be

continued and intensified because many children are involved in fatal and injury accidents. In the beginning of

the school year, and particularly in the first grade, the parents of school children should also get advice and

information. Special material should be prepared for that purpose.

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6. Improvement of Road Safety Research. Funds should be directed to carry out essential research for

policy making, changing regulations and assisting the authorities in the monitoring of the road safety situation.

In addition to funding, the research work should be better organised by establishing an Inter-University

Scientific Support Group with an official status to co-ordinate the research work on road safety. Its first task

would be to prepare a short-term research programme that covers all fields of road safety, enforcement,

education and engineering.

7. Improvement of Road Safety in Urban Areas. Many middle sized and small townships currently have no

personnel with experience in road safety. Additionally, there is little experience of the safety effects of urban

road safety schemes. For that reason, special training in road safety matters should be arranged for the personnel

of urban centres. Pilot projects should also be commenced in traffic calming, improvement of the safety of

pedestrians and cyclists, etc.

8. Accident Black-spot Improvement Programme. No systematic identification, or improvement, of

dangerous locations on the public roads and urban areas has been carried out in Estonia. However, experience

all over the world has shown improvement of accident black-spots to be one of the most efficient and cost

effective measures to improve road safety. The programme could be started with a training course and pilot

projects conducted by foreign road safety specialists.

9. Training of Professionals in Road Safety. Both training of traffic and highway engineers, and technical

students, could be improved. A special course should be included in the curriculum of the Technical

Universities, and special annual meetings and training courses should be arranged for graduate engineers.

Similarly, traffic education should be included in the curriculum of the teacher training institutes of Estonia.

10. Improvement of Traffic Databases. The Road Safety Department of the ERA has a computerised accident

database, which is based on an accident report form. It is suitable for statistical purposes, but should be renewed

to allow the identification of accident black-spots, etc.

11. Similarly, the vehicle register and the driving licence register should be computerised, and the traffic police

should have the ability to check the data of vehicles and drivers from the register at any time.

12. Improve the Safety of Pedestrian and Cyclists. Pedestrian safety in Estonia is poor compared with EU

countries. Pedestrians are involved in over one third of the accidents, and account for 30 per cent of road

accident fatalities. Improvements should be started with a study of the causes of the accidents, and risks

connected with them. After that, a special programme should be compiled, which would include legislative

measures and publicity campaigns to promote the use of safety devices such as pedestrian reflectors during the

hours of darkness, and walking on the left shoulder of a highway, etc. The results of the project should be

monitored and reported in public.

13. Initiate Organisational Changes. Road safety organisation in Estonia is still inconsistent. There is

currently no National Road Safety Council but a Traffic Commission that deals with all traffic issues. Similarly,

the traffic police have no countrywide organisation, each region has a special unit in their police organisation.

In the Ministry of Transport and Communications there is no one to coordinate road safety work etc. For that

reason, an organisational study and a proposal for a new organisation is necessary to improve cooperation and

efficiency in the improvement of road safety.

6.6.4 Summary with costings



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Improvement Measure

Euro

Reduction in

fatalities

Reduction in

injuries

Reduction in

accidents

1 Law enforcement

Equipment

Personnel

Training

500 000

500 000

100 000

10% 15% 20 %

2 Increased Publicity

Campaigns

Material

100 000

100 000

5% 5% 5%

3 Increased traffic Education 200 000

4 Road Safety Research

Organisation

Funding

50 000

150 000


Organisation

Training

Pilot Projects

50 000

100 000

500 000

5% 10% 10%


Study and Planning

Training

Implementation

150 000

50 000

2 000 000

8% 7% 8%


Engineering

Education

300 000

200 000

8 Traffic Databases

Develop data bases

Hardware

Training

200 000

200 000

200 000

9 Pedestrian and cyclist safety

Study

Implementation

50 000

1 000 000

2% 3% 2%

10 Organisational Changes

Study and proposal

100 000

Total 6 800 000

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6.7 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

6.7.1 Introduction

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a landlocked nation in the middle of the Balkan area, in South-

Eastern Europe, which declared itself independent from Yugoslavia in 1991. The country extends over 25,713

km2 and it is bounded by Serbia in the north, Bulgaria in the east, and Greece and Albania in the south and west.

The capital of the nation is Skopje.

Before the war crisis in Kosovo, the ethnic Macedonians made up more than 65 per cent of the republic‟s

population. Other prominent ethnic groups included Albanians (21 per cent), Turks (5 per cent), Romanians (3

per cent), and Serbs (2 per cent). The situation is now different because of the large numbers of refugees who

entered the country during the war in Kosovo. Currently, it is unclear how many refugees will remain in the

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Macedonians are afraid that the refugees will create a knock-on

effect on the traffic within the country. The population in 1997 was 1,983,000. The total number of licensed

vehicles in 1997 was 324,631.

The economy of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has encountered problems since independence.

Inflation has been high, and the trade balance negative. In most parts of the country agriculture dominates the

economy. Car ownership is still low, 160 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants, and GDP is 1,552 Euro per capita .

The road network of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is adequate for the cities and municipalities of

the country. All main and regional roads, which total over 4,000 km, are asphalted and in a relatively good

condition. The roads are regularly maintained throughout the year. However, partly due to mountainous areas,

there are a lot of hazards on the roads. Foreign financiers, particularly the EU, have begun many highway

rehabilitation projects and the construction of new bypasses. In these projects, road safety has been taken into

account and safety auditing performed.

6.7.2 Current Situation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

6.7.2.1 Road Safety

Although the road safety situation in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is not good, and is

deteriorating, road safety is not yet a political issue in the country. Evidently it will not be an important issue in

the near future owing to other political conflicts within the country. Therefore, the main responsibility for road

safety lies with the professionals.

In 1997 there were 156 fatalities and 2,164 injuries resulting from road accidents, which means 4.8 fatalities per

10,000 vehicles (7.7 fatalities per 10 000 inhabitants). The figures are not the highest of all CEE countries, but

compared to the figures in many EU countries, the figures are still very high.

According to the statistics speeding is the main cause of accidents. Two thirds of the accidents occur in urban

areas. About 15 per cent of fatalities in road accidents are pedestrians. Drink driving has been recorded as a

cause of fatalities in 10 per cent of accidents.

6.7.2.2 Result of 1999 Phare MCTP Mission to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

As a part of the Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project, several of the specialists from EU countries were

scheduled to visit Phare countries to access the current road safety situation. Martti Roth and Sven-Olof Hassel

from FinnRoad visited Skopje in January 1999 and meetings were held with key government authorities,

together with the local consultant.

The following issues were identified for action to improve the road safety situation in the former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia (these are not listed in order of priority):

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1 The use of seat belts is very low. Enforcing seat belt wearing is not a primary target for the Traffic Police;

2 The number of drunk drivers is very high. Over 10,000 drivers are annually charged for drink driving. It has

to be noted that the Police cannot by the law apply random breath-testing as a leading principle for

surveillance;

3 Pedestrian accidents are a serious safety problem. Approximately 25 per cent of injuries from road

accidents involve pedestrians;

4 Rear-on accidents are common because of bad weather and people driving too close to the car in front;

5 Speeding is one of the biggest problems in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The impact of

speed surveillance is low;

6 Road safety research is lacking;

7 Legislation. The Traffic Police are only allowed to stop and test drivers for drink driving if there is evidence

of obvious behavioural impairment. In other words, the police are not able to randomly stop and test any

driver for alcohol impairment.

Based on the above, the following recommendations to improve road safety were made:

1 Revision of the traffic legislation. Efficient law surveillance could be provided through revision of the

traffic law;

2 Driver training. Development of improved driver-training schemes especially for drivers of emergency

vehicles;

3 Training for Professionals. Study tour for professionals abroad. Development of expert training in the

field of road safety;

4 Research and development. The development of a research programme by the EU research expert team;

5 Improve police enforcement strategies through planning, and follow-up measures;

6 Continue safety information campaigns focused on the dangers of speeding, drink driving and the risk to

pedestrians, especially in bad weather conditions;

7 Start a pilot project to investigate a certain number of the pre-accident phase in road accidents.

6.7.3 Action Plan


The Phare MCTP Road Safety Project has collected a large amount of information and data about the Road



and 18th

of June 1999. This

was structured to include presentations on a Global perspective on Road Safety, the EU situation, and a

summary of the country reports, followed by three parallel workshops. The workshops were conducted as an

open forum where views and ideas were changed in order to develop future plans for each country. The

workshops were:

Workshop 1. Best Practices concerning

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The representatives of each country were asked to prepare their opinion of a list of ten most urgent road safety

improvement measures in their country. These lists together with the findings during the country missions were

used in preparation of the action plans.


The two year plan is based upon information supplied from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and

incorporates the issues identified as a result of the country mission (see above) and the Phare Road Safety

Seminar.

1. Law enforcement and legislation. Excessive speed, either driving too fast for prevailing conditions or

exceeding posted limits, is one of the main causes of road accidents in the former Yugoslav Republic of

Macedonia. Speeders cause the largest number of accidents in the country. The equipment that the traffic police

use to check speeds are old and inefficient. Therefore, it is essential to equip the Traffic Police with the

necessary tools in the future.

Automating speed enforcement is an obvious objective both to prevent speeding and to increase safety. The first

step in automating the process is simply installing a mobile photo radar or laser device in patrol cars, to

photograph speeding vehicles without stopping them downstream. The next step is to set up a camera device in a

box alongside the road and leave it there permanently. The devices can be video-based, or a combination of a

sensor and a trigger to a camera. Besides police enforcement it would be advantageous to use publicity and

instant speed information to reduce the average speeds on the roads.

Drink driving in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a serious offence. The actual rate of drink

driving is not known, but the Traffic Police identify more than 10,000 drunken drivers per year. Random breath

tests are not applied on a large scale. In some countries where random breath testing is applied, a large number

of drivers are tested on the road annually. It would be very efficient to give police the power to conduct random

breath testing, which would require a change in the law.

For some reason, seat belt use enforcement is not a primary target for the police in the former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia. The safety effects of increasing belt use by just a few per cent are, probably, not fully

understood by the authorities. Enforcement is needed in both urban and rural areas, and needs to be focussed on

the correct use of restraints. Quantitative targets for the enforcement of restraint use need to be set, and a

monitoring system for restraint use and enforcement needs to be developed. As in many other countries the use

of rear seat belts could reduce the number of fatalities. It is recommended that the legislation is changed.

Special consideration should be given to improve efficiency and discipline of the Traffic Police by more

training, planning and follow-up of enforcement activities.

When considering young drivers, enforcement needs to be focussed on drink driving and speeding. Selected

times and locations could be identified to maximise the potential for enforcement.

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2. Updating School Safety Education. Unfortunately, traffic education is not a compulsory subject in the

national curriculum of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In primary schools children have traffic

education, but in secondary schools it is dependent on the individual school‟s policy. In order to improve the

current situation, it is recommended that a pilot project is developed which includes road safety education for all

school children and youngsters.

3. Publicity. An important factor, which influences road user behaviour, is publicity. Publicity is used mainly

in connection with the road safety week. There is a need for regular, locally arranged safety campaigns. The

campaigns should concentrate not only on traffic rules and signs, but also on more practical issues in traffic.

4. More efficient traffic databases. A computerised accident database is in use in the former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia. However, the traffic behaviour monitoring systems are lacking, making planning and

data-led operations difficult for all professionals.

5. Accident Black-Spot Improvement Programme. It is common practice to improve accident black-spots

in connection with highway rehabilitation schemes. It is necessary to work out a systematic and an efficient

system to improve road safety through the identification of black-spots. Special courses are needed.

6. Driver training. The normal system to obtain a driving licence is to train at a driving school. It is also

possible to get training in some secondary schools and in Narodna Technica. In some West European countries a

two-stage system for obtaining the driving licence is used. This could be adopted in the former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia. After the training and the test, a new driver gets a temporary licence for a certain

period. During this period the driver must get more training before they obtain the ordinary driving licence.

It would also be good to arrange special training for drivers of emergency vehicles, such as ambulances and

police vehicles, since they are often involved in road accidents and in dangerous traffic situations on the road.

7. Research/monitoring. Road safety research is lacking. It is necessary to develop a research programme

together with EU research experts. Simple equipment to get pictures of average speeds and traffic flows on the

roads is required.

8. Improvement of Road Safety in Urban Areas. The latest data available from the former Yugoslav

Republic of Macedonia shows that approximately 25 per cent of injured and killed persons in road accidents are

pedestrians. Many of these accidents occur in urban areas. Special attention should be given to pedestrians

crossing the road, and to the speed of approaching vehicles. Each city could devise a special urban road safety

programme in order to minimise accidents and risks.

9. Training of Professionals. To improve road safety it would be necessary to arrange expert training for

highway engineers, teachers, police officers, researches and other experts. In the University of Skopje there is

no higher education in road safety.

10. Cross-border traffic. As with many other countries, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has

difficulties regarding foreign registered vehicles and drivers. Solutions that are based on technology,

harmonisation, and the sharing of licence information will need to be developed to assist enforcement.

6.7.4 Summary with costing



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Table 6.7.1 Measures to improve road safety

Improvement Measure

Euro

Reduction in

fatalities

Reduction in

injuries

Reduction

in

accidents

1 Law enforcement

Equipment, Communication

Training

2 500 000

200 000

10%

15 % 20 %

2 Research /Monitoring

Programme

Equipment

200 000

100 000

3 Traffic Databases

Develop data bases

Hardware

Training

200 000

200 000

200 000

4 Traffic Education in Schools

Material

Training

100 000

100 000

5 Driver Training

Material, equipment

Training

200 000

200 000

6 Road Safety Publicity

Campaigns

Material

50 000

50 000

5% 5% 10%


Study and Planning

Training

Implementation

150 000

50 000

2 000 000

5% 5% 10%


Engineering, others

Education

300 000

200 000

9 Cross border Traffic 200 000


Organisation

Training

Pilot Projects

50 000

100 000

500 000

5% 10% 10%

Total 7 850 000

6.7.4.1 Summary:

Intensification of enforcement of speeding, drink driving, use of seat belt etc. through purchase and

distribution of equipment for traffic police (speed measurement equipment, alcohol testers, computer

network, communication equipment etc.) and training;

Introducing of a national research programme;

Improvement of accident, vehicle and driving licence databases;

Start traffic education in all schools;

Improve checks of cross-border traffic;

Commence road safety publicity work;

Accident back-spot improvement;

Start training of road safety, traffic engineering, and other professionals;

Improve driving training;

Pilot projects to improve urban road safety.

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6.8 Hungary

6.8.1 Introduction

Among all of the Phare countries, Hungary is often mentioned as a model in traffic safety work. There has been

clear positive development in the accident statistics during the 1990s. However, the beneficial development has

levelled out in recent years, and there were signs of turn to a negative track in 1998. It is a commonly shared

opinion among traffic safety authorities and experts that new initiatives are necessary in order to retain the

positive development.

In this plan results from several sources are combined. The current project had an expert visit in the country

giving a few recommendations (Interim Report I, Country Reports). The Hungarian experts participating in the

Multi-Country Road Safety Seminar in Stupava produced a list of measures for different sectors of road safety

work. Moreover, the Best Practice Reports (Interim Report II) produced by the experts of the present project

have been used as a source of evaluative information.

As a background for discussing the measures some general facts about the Hungarian society and road safety

activities are repeated from the country report.

6.8.2 Current Situation

Hungary is a country with 10.3 million inhabitants, an area of 93,000km2, and borders with Austria, Slovakia,

Ukraine, Romania, Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Slovenia. The development towards a political and social market

economy has been intensive, and although the main boom has already passed, there are still signs of transition.

Widespread changes, especially rapid motorization, characterise the development of road traffic, with traffic

culture bearing a flavour of liberalised markets with broad individual freedom.

The losses in traffic accidents are still high despite the beneficial developments since the beginning of the

1990s. Nearly 1,400 people were killed and nearly 2,000 injured in 1997. The economic losses due to traffic

accidents are estimated (in terms of lost human capital) to be about 400 million Euros annually.

In Hungary, the rapidly increasing accident figures prompted fairly intensive road safety activities at the

beginning of 1990s and positive development was seen in 1991. The beneficial development has diminished in

the last few years, and the statistics show some kind of stagnation. In fact, the number of casualties in 1998

seems to have grown from the level achieved in two earlier years. The interpretations concerning the current

trend in statistics vary among the experts in Hungary. While some of them are ready to speak about stagnation

and even about a turning point towards a worsening trend, others interpret the same statistics as not alarming

and prefer to speak about "stabilisation of traffic safety".

The recommendations from the WB/EU Phare mission 1992 - 1993 have been implemented. In fact, some of

them had been applied before the mission, and a long list of other measures has been applied between 1993 and

1995. Road safety work, and research as a backbone for that, has long traditions in Hungary. The international

contacts are keen, and since liberalisation have been greatly intensified and diversified.

Generally, it can be estimated that the measures applied for the promotion of safety in the first half of the 1990s

were strong enough to place development onto a positive track, but in the second half of the 1990s, the measures

have sufficed only to counterbalance the effects of motorisation. During the last few years, it is not only the

quantitative increases of motorised traffic which has brought additional accident risks, but also unfavourable

qualitative changes in terms of traffic behaviour which has characterised the development.

However, the prospects of turning the overall development into a positive enterprise are fairly promising, but

considerable new efforts are necessary for that.

After assessing sectors of road safety work, the conclusions in the Country Report were as follows:

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Generally, several aspects of the traffic safety organisations and functions are ideal. There is both basic and

applied research of high quality; there is appropriate data collection and analysis arrangements (even though

they do not cover material damages). There is an authoritative coordinating council; there are cooperative

bodies both on national and district levels; there are funding systems which secure continuity for the work; and

there are action programmes both for common goals, and for specified tasks in different sectors of the work.

Despite this, the positive development has been stopped, and a state of stagnation has continued for the last three

years. Moreover, the results from the first three-quarters of 1998 point towards growing accident figures. At the

same time, during the last three years, the number of vehicles has remained approximately the same.

Additionally, obedience of safety regulations such as wearing safety belts shows a negative trend.

The traffic safety organisations do their work, generally, in an appropriate way, but the road users do not always

adhere to it, and the traffic flow on roads and streets shows signs of conflict and even deliberate risk-taking in

order to achieve benefits other than safety in traffic.

The responsible authorities and experts easily nominate several factors which are likely to increase risks in the

system. Road conditions are often defective for motorised traffic, the programme for building separate cycle

paths is incomplete, and car parks show a mixture of rather old and unsafe vehicles and of quite new cars with

high power to weight ratio, the proportion of novice drivers is continuously high in where an increasing number

of highly experienced drivers create norms, and a large amount of foreign drivers crossing the borders every day

bringing inconsistent behaviour to the Hungarian traffic.

The descriptions are true, and well documented. However, the factors mentioned are either not shown as major

problems in the accident statistics, or they are only issues of will; they can be removed if so wanted.

There seem to be broader problems behind the factors mentioned above. Somewhat contradictory views exist

among the authorities about what are the essential factors, and what would be the most urgent preventive

measures. But even more important is that the road users, and politicians representing them, have other social

problems in mind, which surpass the accident risks in everyday traffic. Increasing criminal offences, economic

problems in families, and other insecurities of life motivate the decisions and acts. For a large group of people,

owning a private car is a primary goal.

Evidently, traffic accident risks remain as background problems for the national economy, public health, and for

individual people, and it will require a rather serious event to change this situation.

Hungary is like several other countries, in a state of intensive motorization. There is a fairly good supply of

knowledge of how to improve safety, but only weak demand for it in society.

6.8.3 Action Plan


It was noted that a short visit does not give ground for a complete list of necessary measures and certainly not

for prioritising them. Instead, some general recommendations were given:

1 Make use of the national resources in research and data production more comprehensively. Research should

be linked more keenly with the decision-making bodies, like the Road Safety Council. The human resources

administrating the funding and evaluation of research, and the interface between research and decision

making, needs to be strengthened.

2 Complete the data system with recordings of accidents with material damage only. Such data are very

useful for several purposes, for example, to improve awareness of the frequency of accidents in everyday

traffic.

3 Awareness of risks in traffic among all road user groups, and of the possibilities and responsibilities to

manage them, must be improved by raising these issues in the public agenda through the media. Expert

knowledge should be transmitted for open debate.

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4 In Hungary excessive speeds are a dominant cause of accidents and they deserve special attention.

Campaigns alone, or intensified enforcement for short periods do not help much. However, combined with

the implementation of new laws or new forms of automatic control, a speed management programme can be

created, and in the longer term a reduction in accidents will result. Discussions can be stimulated about the

need to reduce speed limits, or of the possibility of eliminating tolerance in enforcement, or of withdrawing

the licence from a taxi business if they are caught for speeding.

5 Remove incongruities from the traffic flow as far as possible. There are low-cost measures to achieve this,

such as making daytime running lights obligatory in all conditions. There are more expensive measures,

such as making some traffic calming arrangements nation-wide, or separating cyclists and pedestrians from

the motorised traffic.

6 A road safety plan with two kinds of programmes seems to be necessary. In the policy programme the

longer-range objectives, visions and ideals can be outlined, whereas the acting programmes can incorporate

the immediate targets, measures and responsibilities for different bodies. In Hungary there are intellectual

resources for creating such a plan, and it seems to be worthwhile to utilise them, as this will keep the action

programmes and investments in road safety on a logical course, and may also sharpen the goals and

objectives of the work.

7 Compliance of basic safety requirements such as the use of safety belts would save hundreds of lives

annually. Concentrating enforcement on it is highly profitable. Intensified information showing the savings

of health care may accompany the efforts made in enforcement.

6.8.3.2. Outcomes from the Stupava Seminar Exercise

The Hungarian experts participating in the Phare Multi-Country Seminar in Stupava in June 1999 produced the

following list of necessary measures:

1 General traffic education in schools (currently about 50 per cent);

2 Increasing and improving of the quality of the road safety campaigns, especially on TV and radio;

3 Motivation of politicians in road safety aspects;

4 Improving the efficiency of traffic law enforcement by the police with emphasis on the most dangerous

offences. Development of enforcement equipment and methods;

5 Introduction of penalty point system for traffic offences;

6 Traffic calming in urban areas;

7 General regulation of obligatory use of safety belts, children's safety seats, etc.;

8 Establishment of a road safety organisation in the Ministry of Transport to initiate, coordinate and have

control of road safety activities;

9 Use of fines from traffic penalties for road safety work;

10 Development and improvement of international cooperation with EU and with the region.

This list is not in order of priority. Possibly, traffic calming would be the first short-term measure.

6.8.3.3 The Common Priority Measures

There are several possibilities to combine the two lists in order to get some common priorities. If only those

measures are considered which are included on both of the lists we find following priorities:

1 Intensified information work in order to rise awareness of the problem both among road users, and

particularly among political decision-makers. Both campaigning, and intensified public discussion should

be used as methods;

2 Improvement of police enforcement, concentrating the efforts on excessive speeds. Automatic control

devices may be used intensively;

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3 Traffic calming methods should be applied widely in order to regulate speeds and traffic behaviour in urban

areas;

4 Improvement of the use of seat belts and child restraint devices by specifying legislation and intensifying

enforcement and campaigning;

5 Establishment of a road safety unit in the Ministry of Transport in order to create research-based planning

and control for the road safety activities.

Another possibility is to consider what would be the minimum set measures that would create a new start for

Hungarian road safety work. The first three measures mentioned above would be recommended. Intensified

information, combined with new type of enforcement on rural roads, and control with the traffic calming

methods in urban areas would be an effective programme to begin with.

The results of enforcing these first three measures, realised to the optimal extent, could decrease fatal accidents

by up to 45 per cent, and injuries by some 30 per cent, whereas the number of all accidents would decrease by

20 per cent. If the fourth measure is also included, safety improvements would be higher: the percentages

mentioned above would be 50 per cent, 40 per cent and 25 per cent. The fifth measure creates effectiveness in

the long-term, and no immediate output in terms of accident reduction can be placed on it.

The costs vary widely depending on the extent that the measures are applied. Sensible costs for intensified

information would be 0.5 million Euros, for automatic enforcement 2.5 million Euros, for traffic calming

programme up to 8 million Euros, and for two measures left in the list some 0.5 million Euros. It should be

noticed that a traffic calming programme is an investment for permanent effects, and the economic feasibility of

it is better than what a simple comparison of inputs and outputs gives.


In the table below measures are included from both of the lists. The five priority measures are those included in

both lists of proposals. After them also the other measures mentioned in the list are given.


Improvement Measure

EURO

Reduction in

Fatalities

Reduction

in Injuries

Reduction in

Crashes

1 Awareness of authorities & politicians 50 000 - - -

2 Speed enforcement modernisation 2 500 000 20 % 10 % 5 %

3 Traffic calming programme 5 000 000 8 % 5 % 5 %

4 Seat belts usage promotion 500 000 5 % 5 % 2 %

5 Safety unit establishment in ministry 100 000 - - -

6 Financing safety work from fines - - - -

7 Co-operation nationally & international - - - -

8 Penalty point system 100 000 1 % 1 % 1 %

9 Campaigns by TV & Radio 500 000 5 % 3 % 2 %

10 School education, 50 % more coverage 1 000 000 3 % 3 % 1 %

Total 9750 000

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6.9 Latvia

6.9.1 Introduction

Latvia is in a favourable position with regards to the development of the transport infrastructure as it can learn

from the mistakes that have been made in the European Union. Public transport is currently poor but if an

integrated transport system can be developed, and the dependency on the motor car is not allowed to increase in

an unrestrained manner, then there will be an opportunity for providing a model for the 21st century.

Latvian officials and specialists show enthusiasm and a desire to improve the accident situation on the road

network and they possess the ability to do this. The overall Co-ordination by the Road Traffic Safety Directorate

appears to be good. Many of the technical and organisational systems are in place, but need development.

However, as has been identified on a number of occasions in this report, the issue of funding is holding back the

process and this is costing lives. In particular, “safety engineering” to improve the safety performance of

specific sites, lengths of streets or whole areas of the road network is not used extensively. This is partly due to a

culture of giving safety a low priority, when other needs seem more immediately important.

6.9.2 Current Situation in Latvia

6.9.2.1 Road Safety

Latvia is a small country with a population of just over 2.5 million. It was formerly part of the Soviet Union and

is now going through a considerable period if change, with rapid privatisation and an economy that is gaining in

strength sufficiently to encourage an optimistic view of the future.

The total length of roads is 55,000 km and as far as motorization is concerned, there were 596 057 licensed

vehicles in 1997: 0.24 per head of population. In 1994 there were only 368,000 licensed vehicles, so growth in

vehicle ownership has been quite rapid. There were 525 fatal casualties in 1997, a decrease from 717 in 1994.

Injuries also decreased, from 4,903 in 1994 to 4,674 in 1997. Trends over recent years are shown in Fig 6.9.1.

Figure 6.9.1. Trends in casualties

The casualty rate, compared with best performing countries is high, with a fatality rate of about 21 per 100,000

inhabitants per year. This compares with about 7 for the UK or Sweden. Fatalities per 10,000 vehicles are also

very high at 8.8, compared with 1.5 in Sweden and the UK. Injuries per 10,000 vehicles are 78. Injuries per

100,000 of the population are about 187.

About 30 per cent of the casualties are pedestrians (representing 40 per cent of deaths) and about two thirds of

pedestrian deaths occur in the hours of darkness.

01,0002,0003,0004,0005,0006,000

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997

Accidents, injuries and fatalities in Latvia 1989- 1997

Accidents Injuries Fatalities

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6.9.2.2 Result of 1999 Phare Mission to Latvia


scheduled to visit Phare countries to assess the current road safety situation. This document is the report from

the one-day visit by Archie Mackie, of the Transport Research Laboratory, UK and Per Studsholt from North

Jutland, Denmark. The visit took place in January 1999 and meetings were held with Professor Smirnovs of the

Technical University of Riga and Mr. Lama of the Road Traffic Safety Directorate.

1. There is much opportunity for applying low-cost safety engineering although this is not seen as a high

priority locally. Such engineering would include signs, white paint markings, turning lanes, central refuges,

pedestrian crossings, and narrowing the space for urban traffic, etc. This could be applied as accident

black-spot treatment as well as more generally;

2. Driver behaviour was seen as poor. Speeds should be managed by the use of engineering (traffic calming,

narrowing, breaking up the routes with roundabouts etc.) as well as by police enforcement, but other unsafe

aspects of driver behaviour need to be dealt with by both enforcement and education;

3. More education in schools especially for young pedestrians, is desirable, and could perhaps be linked in to

the general curriculum;

4. Accidents in darkness are a particular problem. Better street lighting would help to reduce this type of

accident, as would reflective clothing or reflectors for pedestrians;

5. Safety needs a higher priority in Local Authorities, possibly aided by specific funding from central

government;

6. Accident reduction teams, with a specific role in accident reduction are needed in Local Authorities;

7. Target setting for accident reduction, both nationally and locally can encourage activity;

8. Better training for safety engineers would assist the profession to make a bigger contribution to accident

reduction;

9. The rescue services were felt to be inadequate in some areas and should be improved;

10. More materials and information should be provided to parents so that they can play their part in creating a

better safety culture.

6.9.3 Action Plan


The Phare MCTP Road Safety Project has collated a large amount of information and data about the road safety

situation in the different countries. In order to further disseminate this information and to develop a strategy for

the future, a seminar was held in Stupava, Slovakia, between the 17th

and 18th of June 1999. This was structured

to include presentations on a global perspective on road safety, the EU situation, and a summary of the country

reports, followed by three parallel workshops. The workshops were conducted as an open forum where views

and ideas were exchanged in order to develop future plans for each country. The workshops were:

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The ten opportunities identified in the mission report form the basis of the proposed two-year plan and costing

as follows.




Improvement Measure

Euro

Reduction in

fatalities

Reduction in

injuries

Reduction in

accidents

1 Equipment for checking drink-

drinking

30 000 5 % 5 % 5 %

2 Equipment for checking speeding 70 000 9 % 9 % 9 %

3 Police enforcement 140 000 5 % 5 % 5 %

4 Traffic calming 2 000 000 10 % 10 % 15 %

5 Reflectors for pedestrians 10 000 4 % 4 % 4 %

6 Road markings 2 000 000 5 % 5 % 5 %

7 Street lighting 1 200 000 3 % 3 % 3 %

8 Education 3 200 000 5 % 5 % 5 %

9 Changes in the law 200 000 2 % 2 % 2 %

10 Road safety campaigns 1 000 000 3 % 3 % 3 %

Total 9 850 000

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6.10 Lithuania

6.10.1 Introduction

Lithuania is in a favourable position with regards to the development of the transport infrastructure as it can

learn from the mistakes that have been made in the European Union. If an integrated transport system can be

developed, and the dependency on the motor car is not allowed to increase in an unrestrained manner, then there

will be an opportunity for providing a model for the 21st century.

Lithuanian engineers, officials and specialists all show enthusiasm and a desire to improve the accident situation

on the road network and they possess the ability to do this. Many of the technical and organisational systems are

good. However, as has been identified on a number of occasions in this report, the issue of funding is holding

back the process and this is costing lives. This is partly due to a culture of giving safety a low priority when

other needs seem more immediately important.

6.10.2 Current Situation in Lithuania

6.10.2.1 Road Safety

Lithuania is a small country of 65,000 km2 with a population of 3.7 million. It became independent from the

Soviet Union on 11 March 1990, and is now going through a considerable period of change, with rapid

privatisation and an economy that is gaining in strength sufficiently to encourage an optimistic view of the

future.

As far as motorization is concerned, there were just over 1 million licensed vehicles in 1997: 0.28 per head of

population.

There were 725 fatal casualties in 1997, compared with 765 in 1994, but there was a large increase in injuries

between those two years from 4,146 to 6,198. Trends in casualties over recent years can be seen in Fig 6.10.1.

Figure 6.10.1 Trends in casualties

The casualty rate, compared with best performing countries, is high with a fatality rate of about 20 deaths per

100,000 inhabitants per year. This compares with about 7 for the UK or Sweden. Fatalities per 10,000 vehicles

are also high at about 7.5 compared with 1.5 in Sweden and the UK. Injuries per 10 000 vehicles were 60.1 in

1997. The number of injuries per 100 000 population is 168.

About one third of the casualties are pedestrians (representing 38 per cent of deaths) and 72 per cent of

pedestrian deaths occur in the hours of darkness.

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997

Accidents, injuries and fatalities in Lithuania 1989- 1997

Accidents Injuries Fatalities

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6.10.2.2 Result of 1999 Phare Mission to Lithuania

As part of the Phare MCTP, several of the specialists from EU countries were scheduled to visit Phare countries

to assess the current road safety situation. This document is the report from the two-day visit by Archie Mackie,

of the Transport Research Laboratory, UK and Per Studsholt from North Jutland, Denmark. The visit took place

in January 1999, and meetings were held with key government organisations and the Transport and Road

Research Institute.

1. There is much opportunity for applying low-cost safety engineering, such as signs, white paint markings,

turning lanes, central refuges, pedestrian crossings, and narrowing the space for urban traffic etc. This could

be applied as accident black-spot treatment, as well as more generally;

2. Speeds should be managed by the use of engineering (traffic calming, narrowing, breaking up the routes

with roundabouts etc) as well as by police enforcement;

3. More education in schools especially for young pedestrians is desirable, and could perhaps be linked in to

the general curriculum;

4. Accidents in darkness present a particular problem. Better street lighting would help to reduce this type of

accident;

5. Reflective clothing for pedestrians would also help to prevent night-time accidents;

6. Safety needs a higher priority in Local Authorities, possibly aided by specific funding from central

government;

7. Accident reduction teams, with a specific role in accident reduction are needed by Local Authorities;

8. Similarly, target setting for accident reduction, both nationally and locally can encourage activity;

9. Better training for safety engineers would assist the profession to make a bigger contribution to accident

reduction;

10. More materials and information should be provided to parents so that they can play their part in creating a

better safety culture.

6.10.3 Action Plan





and 18th

of June 1999. This









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Opportunities identified in the mission report form the basis of the two-year action plan with costing as follows.



Table 6.10.1 Measures to improve road safety.

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6.11 Poland

6.11.1 Introduction

In 1992 a WB/EU mission to Poland resulted in the report “Road Safety in Poland”. This report was written a

few years after the start of the transition period in Poland, at the end of the 1980s. A sharp increase in the

number of casualties in road accidents was observed leading to an all-time high of 7,901 people killed in 1991.

The road safety situation in Central and Eastern Europe was adressed in a WB/EU Policy Seminar in 1994. The

seminar concluded that it would be possible to reduce the number of road accidents significantly, by

implementing an effective road safety policy. Short-term and long-term objectives were identified.

This Action Plan, to improve road safety in Poland is based on input from several sources: information collected

in the framework of the Phare MCTP, Polish documents on road safety, and discussions with Polish experts.

Several publications are used as a background for this study, in which justification can be found for the

estimations of the effectiveness of different actions, measures and activities to improve road safety. Obviously,

the validity and correctness of these estimations can only be assessed by actual implementation under Polish

conditions. However, the quality of the sources used in this study could put confidence in the results of this

study.

6.11.2 Current Situation in Poland


The sharp rise in motorised traffic in the 1990s, combined with changes in Polish society, has led to about

56,000 fatalities on Polish roads between 1990 and 1997. In 1997, the fatality rate was 18.9 per 100,000

inhabitants. This is two to three times higher than in the safest countries in the EU. In Poland, the number of

fatalities per 10,000 vehicles was 6.5 in 1997. This is four times higher than in the safest EU countries.

6.11.2.2 Results of WB/EU report (1992) and Budapest Road Safety Seminar (1994)

An expert group of the WB and the European Community carried out a study on road safety in Poland (1992).

This expert group made a qualitative analysis of road safety in Poland, identifying the main strengths and

weaknesses. They presented several recommendations for further improvement. The Road Safety Policy

Seminar in Budapest in 1994 discussed the results of six countries studied (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary,

Poland, Romania and Slovakia).

Besides many smaller road safety actions and initiatives, three important initiatives were taken in Poland, which

were also triggered by the report and seminar. Initially, the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) was

established in 1993. Regional Road Safety Councils were also started, but due to recent major administrative

reforms, this structure is not fully present and active anymore.

Secondly, the GAMBIT initiative was established, and a report entitled “Integrated Programme of Road Safety

Improvement in Poland” was prepared in 1996. In the GAMBIT study seven major problems were identified,

which are all relevent to the road safety problems in Poland:

Speeding;

Intoxicated drivers and pedestrians;

Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists);

Young drivers;

Accident severity;

Passage of roads through small cities and villages;

Black-spots.

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Additionally, GAMBIT developed several regional road safety programmes (Gdansk, Elblag, Warsaw,

Suwalski, Katowice and Bydgoszcz). GAMBIT brought many road safety experts to Poland, aiming to inspire

and support local experts, policy makers and politicians, to further improve road safety in Poland. The National

Road Authority (GDDP) initiated international cooperation as well.

Thirdly, road safety components were part of two WB loans. With this funding, several (rather isolated)

investments were proposed and carried out such as the improvements to roads through some villages, and to

police equipment.

6.11.2.3 Results of 1999 Phare Mission to Poland

A professional visit was made to Poland, in the framework of the Phare MCTP, in the first week of February

1999. Meetings were held with key persons in the field of road safety in Poland including government figures,

the police, and researchers, amongst others. Part of the visit was spent in Gdansk in order to study regional

activities. The Country Report has a more detailed description of these.

The accident situation in Poland together with the observations related to road safety policy, suggest that a

fundamental re-orientation of Polish society is needed to reduce the fatality rate. All three political powers in

Poland (presidential power, parliamentary power and governmental power) should play a role in such a process.

Some recommendations related to this are discussed in the Country Report.

Together with the Polish experts, ten recommendations were formulated during this visit and when drafting the

Country report. These ten recommendations were selected out of dozens of more detailed recommendations:

1 Tackle the lack of awareness in Polish society about the severity of the road safety problem;

2 Develop a strategy to improve road safety, and carry out a road safety action plan;

3 Improve transfer of national knowledge and expertise to practitioners and to the regions and communities;

4 Increase staffing of agencies dealing with road safety and create a powerful 'National Unit' as initiator, co-

ordinator and binding factor for improving road safety;

5 Establish a National Road Safety Research Institute and structure knowledge transfer and training

programmes between this institute, and a few 'Safety Centres', and practitioners all over the country;

6 Pay special attention to the following three categories: car occupants, pedestrians and cyclists (especially

children and aged people) and young motorists;

7 Give priority to reducing driving with excessive speed, and drinking and driving or walking;

8 Give explicit attention to road safety considerations in road infrastructure investments and programmes;

9 Revise and update education programmes of schoolchildren; improve management of police enforcement,

and discuss the minimum age of driving or riding a motorised vehicle;

10 Create awareness and issue a call for shared responsibility in all government departments.

There were several promising reactions from Poland towards the Country report. For example, there was a road

safety initiative by the National Security Bureau, and there have been initiatives to coordinate road safety

research. Local initiatives were begun after the administrative reforms in Poland, interest has been expressed by

the police to intensify police enforcement, and the February visit was given media attention.

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6.11.3 Action Plan


A large amount of information is available to help to decide which measures and activities could be included in

the Polish Road Safety Action Plan. The results from the Phare Multi-country Road Safety Project, especially

the Country Report for Poland, and also the “best practice” reports are available. Furthermore, work done in the

framework of GAMBIT should not be duplicated, but could serve as a firm basis for future developments.

Finally, discussions took place with several experts in Poland about the contents of a Road Safety Action Plan.

The measures listed in this Road Safety Action Plan are expected to be implemented in 2000 and 2001. Two

categories of measures could be distinguished.

The first category comprises those measures which could be developed and implemented in the coming two

years and which are expected to reduce the number of casualties. These measures include legislative actions

combined with police enforcement, and a mass media information and publicity campaign. Small scale

improvements of the road infrastructure are also possible. Estimations are made about the effects and the costs

of these measures. The safety effects are based on documentation in formal (meta-analyses) and informal

literature-surveys.

The second category of measures and activities are those which create better conditions to improve road safety

in the future, but which do not directly affect the number of casualties in the coming two years. Estimations

about the accident reduction potential of these measures and activities are therefore not made.

To predict the expected reduction in fatalities and injuries, an estimation is first made of the size of a road safety

problem to be affected by a certain measure. Then an estimation is made of the casualty reduction when

countermeasures are implemented. When 'size' and 'reduction percentage' are multiplied, the number of

casualties to be prevented can be calculated. This is done for all 'calculable' measures. To predict the total

reduction in fatalities and injuries of a number of countermeasures, it is incorrect to merely sum each of these

totals. A correction has to be made to prevent double-counting.

As a starting point for the calculations for Poland the total number of fatalities and injuries to be prevented are

7,000 and 80,000 per year respectively.

At this stage of preparing an Action Plan it is only possible to suggest indicative costs. There are a number of

different ways of presenting these:

cost-effectiveness information to rank measures;

cost-benefit (multi-criteria) information to establish the welfare effects for the society.

It is advised to use cost-effectiveness as a criterion at this stage of policy preparation.

It is important to consider which costs to include. For example, if daytime running lights (DRL) are to be

introduced, part of the costs (fuel costs, car costs, bulb costs) have to be financed by the vehicle-owners or users,

and part of the costs are environmental costs (due to extra fuel consumption). These costs have to be taken into

consideration when deciding whether or not to introduce the measure. However, introducing DRL leads to

almost no additional costs for the Government, besides the costs of a publicity campaign.

The choice has been made to indicate only those costs which are additional expenses for the government for the

two year period.

6.11.3.2 Road Safety Action Plan 2000 and 2001

The following measures are regarded as the most effective measures which could be implemented in the coming

two years:

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Category I Actions to reduce the number of casualties in 2000/2001

1 Introduction of the obligatory use of DRL all day and all year

legislative actions

publicity campaign

A positive road safety effect is expected when introducing DRL in daylight hours. A meta-analysis of

independent DRL evaluations suggests that the effects of DRL are a 25 per cent reduction in the number of

fatalities in multiple daytime accidents and a 20 per cent reduction in injuries in multiple daytime accidents. It is

assumed that 50 per cent of all reported accidents in Poland occur when DRL effects apply: the same per

centage as was assumed for EU countries.

Number of fatalities to be prevented: 7,000 x 0.5 x 0.25 = 875 fatalities per year.

Number of injuries to be prevented: 80,000 x 0.5 x 0.2 = 8 000 injuries per year.

2 Introduction of the 50 km/h speed limit in built-up areas

awareness campaign

legislative action

publicity campaign

police enforcement

Poland is one of the few European countries with a speed limit of 60 km/h in built-up areas, rather than 50 km/h,

which is the average in European countries. Excessive speed is reported to be a major cause in 22 per cent of all

road accidents in Poland. From the accident analysis it is evident that about 50 per cent of all injury accidents

and 30 per cent of all fatalities come from urban accidents.

As a rule of thumb it is estimated that a 1 km/h speed reduction will lead to a 5 per cent reduction in fatalities

and serious injuries, and a 3 per cent reduction in accidents and light injuries. When introducing lower speed

limits, a 20 per cent reduction in fatalities, and a 12 per cent reduction in injuries in urban accidents is

predicted.

Number of fatalities to be prevenetd: 7,000 x 0.3 x 0.2 = 420 fatalities per year.

Number of injuries to be prevented: 80,000 x 0.5 x 0.12 = 4 800 injuries per year.

3 Prevention of drinking and driving or walking

purchase of police equipment

improving enforcement strategies of the police

publicity campaigns by mass media

implementation of measures

In Poland an intoxicated person (whether a driver, rider, or pedestrian) was involved in about 20 per cent of all

accidents. This may be an underestimation, since this figure comes from police accident statistics, which do not

incorporate all accidents. Action is required world-wide to tackle the problem of drinking and driving: adequate

legislation, law enforcement, and mass media campaigns to make drinking and driving or walking less

acceptable socially. Doubling police enforcement may result in a 5 to 10 per cent change in the number of target

injury accidents. The estimations made here are moderate compared to the reductions reported in some studies.

Sound monitoring of the effects of certain police efforts on road user behaviour might be used in an optimisation

strategy.

Number of fatalities to be prevented: 7,000 x 0.2 x 0.1 = 140 fatalities per year

Number of injuries to be prevented: 80,000 x 0.2 x 0.1 = 1 600 injuries per year

4 Black-spot elimination programme

building a country wide accident database

training of experts on all levels

implementation of measures

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Elimination of black-spots can be considered as a rather effective and efficient means of preventing accidents

and casualties: reductions of 30 per cent could be reached. A black-spot elimination programme is already on its

way in Poland and it is suggested that its implementation is speeded up, and the programme broadened. It seems

reasonable to tackle 500 black-spots in Poland within the two year time period. Based on Polish experience we

assume there to be 330 fatalities and 2 500 injuries per year on these black-spots.

Number of fatalities to be prevented: 330 x 0.3 = 100 fatalities per year.

Numer of injuries to be preveneted: 2,500 x 0.3 = 750 injuries per year.

5 Regional demonstration projects

optimal implemenation of safety policies in two Polish regions

When starting the implementation of road safety countermeasures it is useful to look for optimal regional

application of effective measures. In Poland, this will not involve the introduction of new measures, high-quality

implementation leading to higher effectiveness of measures which already exist somewhere in Poland. Highly

qualified staff have to be involved together with local experts. The results of some of the regional GAMBIT

activities could be used. It is suggested to begin with two regions (out of the 16 'new' regions) and to implement

the urban speed limit, the black-spot programme, and the prevention of drinking and driving or walking. It is

assumed that one eighth of the total number of casualties would happen in these two regions, and that there is a

higher effectiveness of all three measures of 10 per cent.

Number of fatalities to be prevented: 47 fatalities per year.

Number of injuries to be prevented: 730 injuries per year.

The positive effects of these 'demo projects' cannot just be calculated in the way this has been done here. It is to

be expected that these projects will have an indirect positive effect on Category II actions (below) in these

regions, and on the quality of implementation of all measures in the 14 other regions as well.

Category II: Actions to create better conditions to improve road safety effects which cannot be measured

in terms of accident reduction (in the period 2000/2001).

6 Staffing of national agencies, establishing a powerful 'National Unit' and re-establishing Regional

Safety Councils for better co-ordination

It is easy to understand that strengthening organisation on a national and regional level is needed to create

conditions for more and better road safety policies in Poland. The recent administrative reforms offer an

excellent possibility for this. Additionally, more qualified staff are needed on a national level to cover the wide

and complex field of road safety policy. In the Country Report, some ideas are offered to decision-makers.

7 Establishing a National Road Safety Research Institute

Several institutes and universities are active in the field of road safety research, but only limited manpower is

active in this field. A comprehensive research programme is needed, coordinated by a National Research

Institute and implemented in close cooperation with other institutes and universities. A suggestion might be to

establish regional Safety Research Centres and to give these centres a task in the dissemination of knowledge

and expertise, and in the training of road safety professionals. The national institute needs to have adequate

facilities and resources such as a database information system. Furthermore, it is suggested that this new

institute works closely with research institutes in other Phare-countries, with the rest of Europe (FERSI/ 5th-EU

Framework programme) and the world.

8 Road safety awareness campaign

The lack of awareness in Polish society about the severity of the road safety problem complicates all efforts to

improve road safety. Effective measures to reduce the road accident toll are available, and people need to be

made aware of this. For this reason it is suggested to use mass media to bring this message to the public and to

all levels of government. Foreign and local experts should design a campaign to be run over two years.

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9 Development of road safety programmes for children and young drivers

Children and young drivers are vulnerable road users. Both groups are acknowledged as groups which deserve

special attention when improving road safety. Young drivers account for 20 per cent of all drivers involved in

road accidents while they constitute only 10 per cent of the Polish population. More than 30 per cent of all

fatalities are registered 7 to 24 age group.

However, it is not easy to develop and implement policies to reduce the risks for these age groups, and it is not

easy to see how potential policies (for example improving school education and driver training) could be

implemented in the coming two years. For this reason it was decided to transfer this measure from Category I to

Category II.

It is advised to develop, for both children and young drivers, new and effective policies in the coming two years.

Polish experts, together with experts from abroad could cooperate in this field.

6.11.3.3 Training programmes for practitioners

High-qualified and renowned experts in the field of road safety are working in Poland and they do have contacts

with experts from all over the world. Facilities could be created to increase these contacts. A major problem

which needs to be addressed is the communication between the experts and the practitioners in the regions,

towns and villages, teachers in schools, police officers and public prosecutors, road designers, traffic engineers,

and staff dealing with driver training, etc. It is therefore recommended that training programmes for all relevant

groups are developed.


In the following table 6.11.1 all ten measures are listed with an estimation of the reduction in fatalities and

injuries per measure based on the assumptions as indicated in 6.11.3.2. As indicated in 6.11.3.1, only those

measures in Category I allow estimations to be made regarding effects and costs.

Table 6.11.1. Ten measures in Road Safety Action Plan 2000 and 2001

Reduction in

fatalities

Reduction in

injuries

Costs in million

Euro

Daytime running lights 100 914 0.5

50 km/h speed limit 720 8229 1

Drinking and driving or walking 365 4171 1

Black-spot programme 350 2625 5

Regional demo-project 100 1460 0.5

Improving Co-ordination 1

National Research Institue 3

Awareness campaign 0.3

Children and young drivers 0.2

Training programmes 0.5

Total 1635 17399 13.0

* corrected for double counting as indicated in 6.11.3.1.

6.11.4.1 Summary

The five indicated measures could lead to a reduction of 1,475 fatalities per year and about 15,000 injuries per

year. This means 21 per cent less fatalities and 19 per cent less injuries.

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6.12 Romania

6.12.1 Introduction

Romania is one of the largest of the former centrally planned economies in the Central and East European

countries (CEEC's) with a land area of 238,391 km2 and a population of 22.7 million, second only to Poland.

Per capita income in 1995 was estimated at about 1,320 euro. The country has a wide range of natural resources,

including a fertile agricultural base, deposits of coal, lignite, oil, natural gas and other minerals. Long a major

food producer, Romania was a large exporter of agricultural products until the early 1980s.

Following the political changes in 1989, the Romanian economy has undergone major reforms and transition to

the market economy, consisting of the privatisation of enterprises, their decentralisation and autonomy, and so

becoming state-owned, private and mixed companies.

The transport system has relied primarily on the railways, which have a well-developed network of 11,000 km,

of which 36 per cent is electrified and 26 per cent is double track. As in other centrally planned economies,

Romania's transport sector has been heavily rail oriented.

The road network totals 73,000 km, of which 20 per cent are national roads carrying 60 per cent of the traffic.

Road density, with regard to both population and land area, is the lowest among all CEEC‟s. The road

infrastructure in Romania, consisting of 113 km of motorways, 14,570 km of national roads, 27,035 km of

county roads and 31,141 km of department roads, is highly deteriorated due to insufficient funding for required

reconstruction and rehabilitation. Budgetary constraints have lately continued to reduce the resources allocated

to roads which has also led to a growing backlog of the national and local road network maintenance.

Traffic performance is growing steadily due to increased need for domestic transport of goods, growth of transit

traffic and increased car ownership (8 to 9 per cent annually). A total amount of 3 million vehicles and 332,034

motorcycles and scooters are registered. The amount of vehicles is still very low seen against a population of

some 23 million and leaves plenty of room for additional growth in the number of cars.

Non-motorised transport is almost totally absent in cities, but both bicycles and horse drawn vehicles are

significant in and around the linear villages.

Traffic by all modes has been adversely affected by the large downturn in the economy, compounded by the

restructuring of the economy away from heavy industry, which was traditionally a large user of transport. Since

1990, GDP declined by nearly 30 per cent, industrial output by nearly 52 per cent, and exports fell by nearly 55

per cent, real wages declined by about 30 per cent, investment by nearly 60 per cent, and unemployment reached

10 per cent of the labour force by the end of 1995 from near zero in 1989. The share of industry in GDP

declined to 40 per cent from 54 per cent in 1989, and that of agriculture has risen to about 24 per cent from 14

per cent in the 1980s, while trading activities have almost doubled since 1989. Modest growth was recorded in

1994 and in 1995.

6.12.2 Current Situation in Romania


The traffic safety situation in Romania is very poor by international standards. A total of 115,103 accidents

were recorded in 1995 and 9,334 of these were rated as serious; causing fatalities or injuries to the victims. The

fatality rate is high: 9.4 fatalities per 10,000 vehicles, 37 fatalities per 100 injured and 1.22 fatalities per 10,000

inhabitants.

The traffic casualties are estimated to accumulate total costs rising close to 2 per cent of the GDP. A substantial

increase (+ 37 per cent) in the total amount of traffic casualties was recorded in 1995 compared to 1994,

although the amount of serious casualties was slightly reduced (- 3 per cent). The number of traffic casualties is

likely to continue increasing, due to growing traffic volume, unless steps are taken to improve systematically the

traffic environment and reduce all other main causes of traffic casualties within the framework of a long term

Traffic Safety Plan.

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6.12.2.2 Results of the Budapest Road Safety Seminar (1994)

Romania was one of the six countries studied by the WB, prior to the Road Safety Policy Seminar in Budapest

in 1994. The Budapest seminar initiated the establishment of an Interministerial Council for Road Safety

(ICRS) in September 1995 (Gov. decision 437) which was set up as a consultative structure of government

under the Co-ordination of the Prime Minister with the Minister of Transport as Executive President. The

Council has eleven ministers as members, together with the Mayor of Bucharest. The ministers are responsible

for Education, Home Affairs, Justice, Finance, Health, Land Planning, and Industry. Research is now an agency

of the Ministry of Education. The Council meets four times a year and has a permanent staff board, organised on

the lines of a department in the Ministry of Transport (comprising a director and four experts).

In addition, five Special Road Safety Commissions have been appointed for individual activities within the road

safety field.

At present there are no Local Road Safety Committees, but there is a network of specialists throughout the

country. Romania is divided up into 40 counties (plus Bucharest). These 40 counties are sub-grouped into seven

local administrations (Regional Directorates) for national road type. Each county has a police representative and

a two-way communication exists between the police and the NRSC.

The improvements as a result of the WB report are:

1 The establishment of a NRSC with Road Traffic as a separate issue from other forms of transport;

2 The development of accident analysis in order to provide cost/benefit analysis of casualties, social costs and

economic value;

3 A safety programme underway with funding from the WB;

4 Improvements in legislation (i.e. seat belts and penalties for traffic offences);

5 The development of a Traffic Code (Highway Code) currently passing through Parliament;

6 The production of a casualty report form;

7 Speed limits: the adoption of an urban 50km/h limit;

8 The commencement of a black-spot programme.

6.12.2.3 Result of 1999 Phare MCTP Mission to Romania


scheduled to visit Phare countries to assess the current road safety situation and with respect to the 6 countries,

make an assessment of improvements following the Budapest Conference. Mike Winnett, of the Transport

Research Laboratory, visited Romania between the 17th and 22nd of January 1999 and meetings were held with

key government organisations and the Incertrans Institute.2

The following issues were identified as a result of the assessment for action to improve the road safety situation

in Romania (these are not listed in order of priority).

1 Insurance. The system requires improvements to take into account the experience and safety record of

drivers and reflect this in the premiums. Casualty costs might also be recovered through insurance to

improve the emergency services;

2 Emergency Services. Improvements to the casualty emergency services could be provided through better

equipment and training for the fire brigade;

2 See Interim Report I, Volume I, Country Reports Part 2 February 1999

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3 Safety Auditing. An independent body is required, with the authority to ensure that commercial interests

do not jeopardise road safety. Training Traffic Police in safety auditing would also increase the rate of

identification of traffic hazards;

4 Publicity. Co-ordinated and regular publicity (television, newspapers, and radio) is required to heighten

public awareness and educate people in road safety issues;

5 Road Safety Campaigns. There are currently no road safety campaigns in Romania. This aspect could be

linked to the general safety publicity;

6 Child safety. The current development of a methodology for an educational strategy requires funding in

order to be part of every school curriculum;

7 Vehicle safety. In view of the high number of vehicles that failed random police checks, consideration

should be given to a suitable penalty system that would encourage drivers to maintain their vehicles;

8 Police patrols. It is suggested that there are insufficient resources (in particular vehicles) to adequately

patrol the road network;

9 Enforcement. Speed enforcement and drink driving enforcement cannot be accomplished efficiently with

antiquated equipment. The enforcement strategy should be developed and the equipment requirement for

this programme identified;

10 Traffic monitoring. In order to obtain a detailed picture of traffic flow and speed along the network

suitable instrumentation is required. This information could be linked to the accident database to improve

the identification of black-spots or hazardous locations.

6.12.3 Action Plan



Safety situation in the different countries since September 1998. In order to further disseminate this information

and to develop a strategy for the future, a seminar was held in Stupava, Slovakia, between the 17th

and 18th

of

June 1999. This was structured to include presentations on a global perspective on road safety, the EU situation,

and a summary of the country reports, followed by three parallel workshops. The workshops were conducted as

an open forum where views and ideas were exchanged in order to develop future plans for each country. The

workshops were:





Workshop 3. Country Reports and Action Plans.




The two-year plan is based upon information supplied from Romania and incorporates the issues identified as a

result of the country mission (see above).

1. Law enforcement. 80 per cent of the accidents registered in Romania are due to the misbehaviour of road

users and so it is considered that the Traffic Police have an important role to play in reducing the number

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and severity of these accidents. It is essential, therefore, to equip the Police with the necessary tools to

perform their duties.

This action requires the purchase and distribution of equipment for Traffic Police (speed measurement

equipment, alcohol testers, computer network, communication equipment for proper enforcement of traffic

regulations, and an accident database). This equipment is required to improve the quality and rate of

enforcement.

The benefits of law enforcement and the associated deterrent effect are expected to contribute significantly

to the general reduction in casualties.

2. Safety audit. The traffic environment can be very stressful for road users, particularly where there are

inconsistencies in design and layout. In order to improve road safety and the traffic environment, formal

inspections of the safety features of the roads are required. It is considered that it is the duty of the State

Authorities to establish a sustainable strategy for this type of activity.

Safety auditing at all stages (i.e. 3 phase audits) will become an important aspect of all projects in the

future. The system for training and authenticating auditors is currently being developed. Initially a specialist

group of trainers will be developed. These persons will act as trainers in specially approved schools (Audit

Schools). The National Committee for Audit agreement will issue a diploma to successful trainees.

The action requires the phasing in of a safety audit system to improve general road safety at all stages of

design, construction and maintenance of the highway infrastructure. A programme will be developed to

train Safety Auditors and establish a Safety Audit School (this could be a source of financing other safety

activities). The programme will require funds for initial training and organisation. There will be two

persons within the Secretariat to implement the system.

Safety auditing will be a major contributory factor towards casualty reduction.

3. Insurance. It is estimated that about 60 per cent of motorists have the basic third party liability cover.

Politically, premiums are based on GNP, but socially upon what the market will stand. Although the

insurers (i.e. ASIROM) have shareholders, the Government, not the shareholders, fixes premiums.

Additionally, the Government gets no part of the premium. The administrative overhead is quite high at 60

per cent of the premium.

The insurance system does not take into account age or casualty record. If, however, a driver has been

found with alcohol in their blood after an accident, the insurance is withdrawn. The third party will be

indemnified but the claim will be recovered from the guilty party in a civil court. Repayments may be

collected directly at the rate of one fifth of the annual salary for judicial settlements. There are also no

premium reductions for advanced driver training.

The Secretariat of the ICRS proposes the Finnish insurance system is adopted as a good model for

Romanian insurance schemes. If the Government sets the premiums, the insurers are obliged to hold

premiums down, and to do this they will have to make a considerable effort to reduce the accident rates by

providing research and safety information to their customers.

The creation of a profitable insurance system would provide the future means of revenue generation to

support safety research. Casualty benefits would arise from the contribution to road safety.

4. Safety standards. According to the findings of the secretariat of the ICRS (SIRCS), the Romanian

technical standards for road safety are incomplete and certain aspects are not treated at all. Improvement of

safety standards and the implementation of a safety audit to encourage the adoption of common (EU) road

standards are essential processes towards European integration. The Infrastructure Commission would

undertake a review and update of technical design standards employing European best practice.

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5. Integrated database. A database is required that can be used for all professionals. This will contain

information on traffic flow and accidents in order to assist in the analysis of black-spots, and to assist

researchers to develop collision counter-measures. There is a requirement for equipment and software in

order to link NAR, the Police and the Secretariat.

6. School safety education. This is a continuing and developing strategy to provide road safety education as

part of the national curriculum for all ages of pupils.

Road safety education is not a compulsory subject in the national curriculum. Schools do, however, attempt

to provide about four hours of road safety education each semester involving practitioners such as the traffic

police. There is also little literature generally available on the subject of road safety. In order to improve the

current situation, the ICRS, Human Factor Commission has developed a pilot project for road safety

education.

The pilot will facilitate the start of traffic safety education in 10 schools. The safety education will be

provided to the pupils attending three separate levels, starting from the youngest group of pupils. One part

of the pilot would be to prepare for future drivers‟ training to be obtained voluntarily in connection with

public education. The aim of the pilot would be to develop traffic safety education for children in order to

improve children's behaviour in traffic and reduce the amount of collisions involving children and new

young drivers. This will be extended to all schools.

7. Publicity. Co-ordinated and regular publicity (television, newspapers, and radio) is required to heighten

public awareness and educate people in road safety issues. Publicity is limited to two prime time television

slots a month (10pm broadcast). The newspapers also disseminate information supplied by the police. There

are no local safety campaigns in Romania.

There is a need for a regular information brochure, and this might be funded from sponsorship with free

distribution. The publicity should concentrate more on practical rather than theoretical issues.

8. Driver training. The police primarily control the process of obtaining a driving licence. The traffic police

are responsible for training and authorising driver trainers and driver instructors who receive official

certification. Driving schools are certified or registered by the police.

Before commencing training, the new driver is required to undergo a full medical examination (heart, eyes

etc) by a panel of doctors. Psychological tests are also undertaken. Training in theory precedes the practical

examination, which is conducted by a policeman. The test lasts about 30 minutes. The medical test is

required every 5 years for the renewal of the licence.

The driving behaviour of novice drivers is, however, considered to be poor and as a consequence additional

measures are required in order to encourage higher standards. The Finnish system with a two-part test or the

UK points system, which gives new drivers a lower penalty threshold, may be considered appropriate.

For new drivers a two-stage system for obtaining the licence would be adopted.

Step 1. The driving schools deliver a provisional licence for 6 months.

Step 2. If the new driver commits an offence during this period the licence is revoked and the

driver returns to the school for further tuition, otherwise the police issue a permanent

licence.

9. Safety training for professionals. Driving standards among "professional" drivers (i.e. drivers of Heavy

and Light Goods Vehicles) are considered to be poor. There is a need for higher standards and quality of

training.

Expert training in the field of traffic safety should also become more widely available for the practitioners

(highway engineers, police, education, and research). Currently there are very few experts in the safety

field.

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10. Research and development. Research into all aspects of transport (driver behaviour, psychology, traffic

engineering, highway design etc) is considered essential to improve and sustain the developing transport

system.

It is proposed that a research programme be developed by the SICRS. This will prioritise the safety issues

and outline the work programme required.





Improvement Measure Euro

Reduction in

fatalities

Reduction in

injuries

Reduction in

accidents

1 Law enforcement

Equipment

Database

2 500 000

1 500 000

10 % 15 % 20 %

2 Safety Audit

Organisation

Training

50 000

150 000

10 % 10 % 15 %

3 Develop insurance schemes 200 000 5 % 5 % 10 %

4 Safety Standards

Review and update

Implementation

Training

200 000

150 000

150 000

5 Integrated Database

Develop data base

Hardware

Training

300 000

400 000

100 000

6 School Safety Education

Pilot project

Equipment

Development of national

scheme

200 000

50 000

250 000

7 Publicity

National campaigns

Publications

300 000

200 000

10 % 10 % 10 %

8 Driver Training improvement

scheme

100 000

9 Safety Training for Professionals

Development of standards

Training experts

150 000

150 000

10 Research

Development of programme

Technical assistance and

training

Research programmes

300 000

100 000

2 600 000

Total 10 100

000

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6.12.4.1 Summary:

Law enforcement:

• Purchase and distribution of equipment for Traffic Police (speed measurement equipment, alcohol testers,

computer network, and communication equipment for proper enforcement of traffic regulations);

• Development of an accident database.

Safety audit: • The State authorities will establish a sustainable strategy for this type of activity;

• Funds for initial training and organisation. There will be two people within the Secretariat to implement

the system;

• Provision of training for Auditors and a Safety Audit School (this could be a source of financing other

safety activities).

Insurance: • Introduction of the Finnish system as a good model for insurance schemes.

Safety standards: • Improvement of safety standards, and the implementation of safety audit to encourage the adoption of

common (EU) road standards, are essential processes towards European integration;

• The Infrastructure Commission will undertake a review and update of Technical design standards

employing European best practice.

Integrated database: • Develop a traffic database that can be used for all professionals;

• There is a requirement for equipment and software in order to link NAR, the Police and the Secretariat.

School safety education: • Implement pilot project for road safety education.

Publicity: • Develop road safety campaigns in Romania;

• The production of a regular information brochure, with free distribution.

Driver training: • Development of improved driver-training schemes.

Safety training for professionals: • Development of training standards for professional drivers;

• Development of expert training in the field of traffic safety.

Research and development • The development of a research programme by the SICRS. This will prioritise the safety issues and outline

the work programme required.

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6.13 The Slovak Republic

6.13.1 Introduction

This short-term action plan incorporates information from several sources. As a part of the Phare MCTP an

expert visit was made in Slovakia (Interim Report, Country Reports). The recommendations and observations

from the visit are combined here with the list of measures recommended by the Slovakian experts in connection

with the Bratislava Seminar (Seminar report). Additionally, the reports on best practices (Interim Report II, Best

Practice Reports) are kept in mind in making choices for measures.

6.13.2 Current Situation in Slovakia

Slovakia is a country with 5.4 million inhabitants, an area of 49,036 km2 and borders with Austria, Czech

Republic, Poland, Ukraine and Hungary. The development towards a political and social market economy has

been intensive, and it has also characterised the development of traffic culture.

Slovakia is a parliamentary democracy. A one-house parliament, called the National Council, makes the

country's laws. Voters elect the 150 members to four-year terms. A president serves as head of state. The

parliament elects the president to a five-year term. The president appoints a Prime Minister, who serves as head

of government. The Prime Minister is usually the head of the party with the most seats in parliament. The

president also appoints a cabinet on the advice of the Prime Minister. The cabinet helps the prime minister carry

out the executive functions of the government. The Prime Minister has executive authority in the government.

Most of Slovakia's people live in towns and cities. The largest cities are, in order of size, Bratislava, Kosice,

Trnava, Nitra, Presov, and Zilina. Slovakia has a shortage of housing, and many urban residents live in high-rise

apartments. Most rural families live in single-family houses. The standard of living is higher in Slovakia than it

is in many other formerly Eastern European countries. Most families own cars, refrigerators, televisions, and

washing machines, and many city families have weekend cottages in the country.

The lifting of political controls and the opening of borders after the end of previous government has caused an

increase in crime and drug abuse. Air and water pollution is serious in many parts of the country.

Slovakia, which had been an agricultural region for most of its history, became industrialised under State rule.

Czechoslovakia's government centralised the economy after it came to power in 1948, taking control of almost

all of the country's land and businesses. It emphasised heavy industry, such as the manufacture of machinery

and steel. Slovakia became the centre of Czechoslovakia's weapons industry. Other industries that developed in

Slovakia were ceramics, footwear, petroleum refining, timber, and textiles.

After the government left office, Czechoslovakia's new leaders began to take steps towards establishing an

economy based on free enterprise: businesses operating without extensive government control. Many private

businesses were established in Slovakia. Most of them were in construction, manufacturing, and retail trade and

other service industries. Additionally, many state-owned businesses became privately owned. Today, about 65

per cent of all businesses are privately owned. However, the economic changes produced hardship in Slovakia,

including rising unemployment. Service industries and manufacturing are the mainstays of Slovakia's economy,

with service industries employing about 44 per cent of the country's workers, and about 33 per cent of the work

force holding jobs in manufacturing. Agriculture employs about 12 per cent of the workers.

Current road safety level in Slovakia is poor: in 1998 more than 150 people per one million inhabitants were

killed (health risk), and if traffic deaths are related to the number of vehicles (exposure) the ratio nearly (nearly

6 per 10,000 vehicles) is high. Compared with the Nordic countries of same size, the health risk in Slovakia is

twice as high, and the traffic risk is more than three times as high as the corresponding indices in the Nordic

countries. Moreover, in Slovakia, the accident figures have increased regularly in recent years.

Traffic safety work has both strengths and weaknesses. These were summarised in the country report:

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The individuals and organisations with main road safety responsibilities in Slovakia are well qualified in their

own fields of responsibility. Many issues are managed in a highly professional manner such as planning and

constructing new motorways, identifying black-spots in the road network, and planning remedial measures.

Organising the use of available resources in road maintenance and in traffic enforcement, as well as taking care

of traffic education in primary schools is also well planned.

There are extensive arrangements for data production from accidents and safety research is of high quality,

although quantitatively there is little research activity.

A lack of adequate funding is often presented as the main constraint. Many of the plans are not implemented,

and many ideas are not cultivated due to the scarcity of resources.

However, this unsatisfactory situation should not be accepted, but critically scrutinised in order to establish

whether improvements could be made in the distribution of existing resources and, of course, in order to

produce a better case for improved funding.

The first weak point in Slovakian road safety work is the lack of overall co-ordination. Each of the responsible

organisations takes care “of their own business”, but none has total responsibility, nor is there a co-ordinating

body. It may be the case that a senior expert in one sector considers that the three ministries have equal

responsibility in road safety work. Many issues remain somewhere in between with no one accepting

responsibility for them.

One such issue is the knowledge of traffic behaviour. The use of seat belts is obligatory, but there is no

knowledge about usage. Our observations on some hundred drivers showed that in urban traffic only about one

in five drivers was wearing a seat belt. It is therefore likely that the greater proportion of victims in fatal

accidents were not wearing seat belts. Considering that about 50 per cent of victims who were not wearing seats

could have been saved if they had worn them, it is an urgent task to increase the usage of seat belts.

A lack of knowledge is also typical in the case of drinking and driving. It is not registered as a cause of

accidents even though all drivers involved in accidents should be tested. Opinions about the role of alcohol as a

direct or indirect factor leading to accidents vary widely among the road safety authorities in Slovakia.

Possibly related to the lack of exact knowledge is the fact that political support for road safety work is weak.

An example of this is that the parliament rejected recently the proposal to decrease the general speed limit in

urban areas from 60km/h to 50km/h.

There also appears to be a lack of safety considerations when decisions are made regarding investments in the

road network. The need for motorways surpasses the needs of pedestrian and cycling paths. However, on

ordinary roads through small towns and villages, there are practically no pavements. Pedestrians and cyclists

are obliged to use the main carriageway along with motor vehicles. As can be expected, the proportion of

pedestrians and cyclists are exceptionally high in the accident statistics.

6.13.3 Action Plan


In the country report, it was recommended that the measures included already in the earlier EU/WB report

(1993) would be immediately applied in Slovakia and some also some new recommendations were given.

The list without any priority so far, was the following:

Create an inter-ministerial organisation to define a consistent road safety policy;

Make a decision to appropriately finance the Road Safety Plan;

Reduce the highest speed in urban areas to 50km/h;

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Adapt a systematic approach to traffic safety work. Causation of accidents would be evaluated mainly as

defects in the system, not only as guiltiness of the road users;

Systematically apply the principle that motorised traffic should be separated from pedestrian and bicycle

traffic. The priorities in road investments should be revised if necessary;

The establishment of a voluntary traffic safety association should be supported. Such a body may level out

contradictory interests and keep traffic safety issues in the public agenda and the media. In turn this may

provide support for other activities in the promotion of road safety.

6.13.3.2 Outcomes from the Stupava Seminar Exercise

The list given by the local experts in the Bratislava seminar was:

1 Decreasing the speed limit in urban areas from 60 km/h to 50 km/h;

2 Development of the National Road Safety Council;

3 Road section traffic reconstruction or reorganisation to reduce number of accidents.

The list is short, and the highest priorities are taken from the recommendations of the EU/WB project in 1993,

as was done in the recommendations of the Country Report. There is agreement between the lists so far. The

third measure is somewhat complicated: it may refer to traffic calming activities, or to the separation of the

motorised and non-motorised forms of traffic, or possibly to some other arrangements in the traffic environment.

6.13.3.3 The Common Priorities

It is easy to compile a common list that incorporates the main proposals from both of the sources.

1 Reducing the general speed limits in urban areas to 50 km/h.

2 Establish a national traffic safety council, where the responsible ministries and road safety bodies from

main sectors are represented. The council should have appropriate staff for secretarial work. It produces and

recommends the road safety plan, co-ordinates the activities of different sectors, monitors the work and

evaluates the results. It reports to the Ministry of Transport about the needs and achievements, and

delegates the responsibilities to the sector organisations if necessary.

3 Creation of a sub-programme for safety improvements in the road environment. In urban areas, traffic

calming activities should be applied; in sub-urban areas, separation of motorised and non-motorised traffic

is the leading idea; and in rural areas, building appropriate pavements for non-motorised traffic is the rule.

The Slovakian experts realistically assess that reduced speeds in urban areas alone would reduce the accidents

by 20 per cent. General experience shows that most serious accidents are reduced more than the damage-only

accidents, when speeds are regulated. Specifically, we estimate that there would be a 20 per cent reduction in

fatalities, a 10 per cent reduction in injuries, and a 5 per cent reduction in material accidents (these percentages

coming from accidents data collected in urban areas). This means that from the total amount of accidents, the

corresponding percentages are 8 per cent, 5 per cent, and 3 per cent.

The establishment of a Traffic Safety Council does not yield immediate results in terms of accident reduction,

but does create a better foundation for the work in the long term.

The sub-programme for traffic environment can achieve fairly large effects: 20 per cent reduction in all

fatalities, 15 per cent in injuries, and 10 per cent in material accidents.

The costs of speed reduction are minimal, but better flow of traffic and lower fuel consumption may more than

compensate the costs. Accordingly, the safety improvements are pure profits.

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The programme for improving road environment is rather expensive, but it produces permanent safety

improvements and also improves traffic flow. The investments of about 5-10 million Euros per year in the

course of five years would create fairly good results.


In the table below measures are included from both of the lists. The three priority measures are those included in

both lists of proposals. Also other measures mentioned in the lists are given.

Table 6.13.1 Measures to improve road safety.

Improvement Measure

EURO

Reduction in

Fatalities

Reduction

in Injuries

Reduction in

Crashes

1 Reduction of urban speeds to 50 km/h 100 000 8 % 5 % 3 %

2 Establishment of traffic safety council 50 000 - - -

3 Traffic calming programme 5 000 000 8 % 5 % 5 %

4 Separation of transport modes 8 000 000 5 % 5 % 3 %

5 Construction of pavements 2 000 000 3 % 3 % 2 %

6 Financing system, management costs 50 000 - - -

7 New approach for interpreting accident - - - -

8 Seat belts usage promotion 500 000 5 % 5 % 2 %

9 Voluntary organisations, NGOs 500 000 3 % 3 % 5 %

10 Rising awareness of decision makers 50 000 - - -

Total 16250 000

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6.14 Slovenia

6.14.1 Introduction

Slovenia is a small country with a population of around two million. It was part of the former Yugoslavia and

attained independence in 1991. Politicians are reported to be concerned about the cost of accidents to the

economy, but road safety is not yet a political issue.

Prior to independence around half of the cars were made in Yugoslavia. Now many vehicles are available,

including large and fast cars. Although it can be argued that such vehicles are safer, there has been a perceived

increase in speeds.

Data supplied by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) show that the traffic volume is steadily

increasing at an average rate of around 4.5 per cent per annum.

6.14.2 Current Situation in Slovenia


The 1997 fatality rate of around 3.9 deaths per 10 000 vehicles is around twice as high as the fatality rate of 1.5

to 2 in other industrialised countries, such as the UK. The main causes of road accidents are thought, by those

consulted, to be speed and drink driving.

The three organisations with the main responsibilities in road safety at national level are the MTC, Ministry of

Interior and the Slovene Road Safety Council (SRSC). One of the major changes in recent years has been the

introduction of new traffic legislation.

The individuals and organisations with main road safety responsibilities in Slovenia are well qualified and there

is no lack of knowledge. The main constraint in most of the sectors of activity is lack of adequate funding. For

example, the engineering practices used are good, data is analysed, hazardous locations are identified and

remedial schemes are developed, but are often not implemented due to budgetary constraints.

6.14.2.2 Results of 1999 Phare Mission to Slovenia

As part of the Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project, visits were made to the Phare countries to assess the

current road safety situation. Kim Smith, of Ross Silcock Limited, visited Ljubljana between 16 and 18

December 1998 and met with key organisations .3

The following issues were highlighted, by the EU specialist, as necessary to improve the road safety situation in

Slovenia.

1 Co-ordination: Although there is some degree of co-ordination, this was highlighted as a weakness by

several of those consulted. A road safety plan, involving all the relevant organisations, will assist in

strengthening co-ordination.

2 Slovene Road Safety Council: Inclusion of a representative from the private sector on SRSC would help to

encourage ownership of the problem and may enable extra sponsorship to be obtained for specific activities.

3 Accident Report Form: Although some information on accidents is included on the standardised police

accident/casualty report form, it is not made readily available to practitioners through the database. For

example, to determine causation factors at a hazardous location, engineers must go back to the original

report form. It is essential that data is useful to the end user and made readily available.

3 See Interim Report I, Volume I, Country Reports Part 1, February 1999

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4 Research Programme: A structured research programme should focus on research into road user

behaviour and accident costing. The latter is essential to allow the overall losses to the economy to be

determined and also to allow for the introduction of cost/benefit analyses in prioritising interventions.

5 Safety Audits: It is recommended that a formal road safety audit system be developed and implemented in

Slovenia. Eventually all new and rehabilitated roads should be audited to ensure that safety is engineered

into the scheme.

6 National Publicity Campaigns: It is recommended that funding for annual national campaigns are sought

as a matter of priority. Ideally funding should be secured via a source that increases with the number of

vehicles on the road, for example through a levy on fuel or insurance premiums. It is important that

publicity campaigns are data-led: that is, that casualty data is used to determine the target audience and

behaviour that needs to change. Monitoring and evaluation should also be built into the campaign plan

from the outset.

7 Road Safety in the National Curriculum: Include road safety into the curriculum during the current

review to integrate road safety education into the primary curriculum.

6.14.3 Action Plan


The following required actions have been developed by the EU specialist based on the findings of the mission to

Slovenia in December 1998, and on discussions held with Slovenian delegates at the Seminar in Bratislava, held

in June 1999. Where required, training needs are included in the text. The actions are intended to reflect

priority areas for improving road safety over the next two years, but are based on practicality and the reality of a

lack of serious funding for improvements. The Slovenian specialists have already developed a road safety plan

for government, and this document is intended largely to support that. Project constraints mean that the actions

are not developed in detail. Ideally, for an external consultant to develop a detailed road safety action plan, they

need to be in country for a period of at least several weeks.

1. Improved Co-ordination. One of the problems is that no single Ministry in Slovenia has overall

responsibility for road safety. However, the SRSC is comprised of members from government organisations

(Ministries of Interior, MTC, Education, Public Heath, and the police), non-governmental organisations, such as

the Slovenian Auto Club and the Red Cross, and representatives from Universities and Institutes. SRSC receive

half of their funding from the state budget and raise the remainder through sponsorship. The main sponsors are

from the insurance and auto industries and oil companies. The budgeted amount is in the region of 204,617

Euros4. In many countries the national Road Safety Council has overall responsibility for co-ordinating all road

safety activities. Currently, SRSC are responsible only for co-ordinating education.

2. There is a permanent Secretariat to the SRSC comprising of three members of staff (a Director, one officer

and a secretary). The SRSC and its Secretariat are mainly concerned with children‟s traffic education and there

is reported to be little co-ordination in other sectors of road safety activity.

3. There is a need to strengthen co-ordination between agencies with responsibility for road safety

improvements. SRSC is ideally placed to undertake a larger remit in terms of co-ordination and should, ideally,

become the lead agency for road safety throughout Slovenia. In order to achieve this, there may be a need to

change the regulations to give them more power, and to enable them to obtain greater funding. In other

countries this has been achieved through a mix of government budget, a levy on fuel or road tax and sponsorship

from private sector organisations. At present the private sector is not represented on the SRSC, but it is hoped

to change the regulations in the near future so that it is possible for members from the private sector to be

included.

4. Safety Audits. There is currently no safety audit system in place. Representatives from the State owned

engineering firm DDC (who currently hold one of the contracts for road engineering awarded by the Directorate

4 39 million Slovenian tolars. Based on exchange rate of 190.5994 (European Central Bank, 2 April 1999)

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of Roads) visited Denmark last year to learn about safety audit, but as yet have not implemented any audits in

Slovenia. The large highway construction programme currently underway could provide an excellent

opportunity to initiate formal safety audits in Slovenia.

5. It is suggested that training courses be set up in Slovenia, to train both public sector and private consultants

in the principles of safety audit, so that they know what to expect from the system. This is likely to require

input from an international consultant and is simply intended to give local engineers grounding in the

requirements for safety audit. This training should involve as many engineers as possible and should last for a

minimum of one day, but ideally should take place over two days.

6. A further two-week training course, with practical experience, is recommended for proposed safety auditors

(probably, although not necessarily, from Government). This would then need to be followed by a period of

practical experience. Safety auditors must be independent from the design process and this would be best

achieved by the setting up of a Safety Audit Unit within the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

7. Publicity and Information Campaigns. There is very little publicity work undertaken in the country. The

activity that does take place tends to be carried out by the police, who have strong connections with the media.

The SRSC see a need to run national campaigns and have prepared campaign plans for speeding, alcohol and

young drivers. Campaign materials have been designed, but the programmes are not implemented due to

funding constraints. No single organisation has overall responsibility for publicity, and the main constraint is

lack of funding.

8. Campaigns are needed to target behavioural issues, for example, rear seat belt wearing rates could be

improved by a combination of enforcement and publicity. It is also important to publicise any engineering

improvement scheme as the public may not know how they are supposed to behave when a new scheme is

implemented.

9. However, the main need in this sector is for funding. It may be possible to obtain some private sector

sponsorship, although government should also be encouraged to contribute. In fact, sponsorship has been

secured from an insurance company, but they require the government to put up the equivalent amount. There is

also a general need to raise road safety awareness. The existing arrangements with the media could easily be

developed to expand the topics covered and to give the public information about good road safety behaviour.

There may be an additional requirement for training SRSC staff in how to run national publicity campaigns;

however, this could best be achieved by implementing a campaign with some minor consultancy input to ensure

that best practice guidelines are followed from the outset.

10. Accident/Casualty Report Form Improvement. The police data system appears to be sophisticated and

well organised. A standardised report form is used and includes elements such as accident location,

environmental and road conditions, speed limit in operation and driver and casualty details. The data is reported

to be accessible via computer at the police headquarters one day after the incident. It is also accessible in some

other organisations such as the University of Maribor, although not at the SRSC.

11. The data is used to identify hazardous locations and to show casualty trends. Reports are produced

quarterly, half yearly and annually. The annual report also includes a plan of activity for the following year.

The report considers the causes of accidents (speed and alcohol dominate), highlights which are the most

dangerous roads, and includes analyses by factors such as driver age, and time of accident. It should, be noted

that while the basic accident data system appears to be of good quality, it lacks some of the information required

for the design of countermeasures. For example, engineers report that detailed accident causation information

can only be obtained by going back to the original accident report form.

12. It is recommended that, as a matter of urgency, the police report form is reviewed and amended so that it

meets the needs not only of the police, but also of other end users such as engineers and educationalists. This

could be achieved by employing a specialist consultant to work closely with the police, and then consulting with

the SRSC, so that all end users are involved in the consultation process. Depending on the changes made, there

may be a requirement for additional training of police staff.

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13. Strategic Research. No research has been carried out to determine the real costs of accidents to the

economy. For the purposes of calculation, officials tend to use the German estimate for a fatality. There is an

urgent need to determine the costs of accidents and casualties by severity. This will enable cost/benefit analyses

to be calculated to assist in the prioritisation of implementation of safety measures. Calculation of the total

financial losses to the economy from road traffic accidents is also useful in raising awareness of the problem

with politicians and public alike.

14. There is currently very little research undertaken into road safety in Slovenia. The Universities of Maribor

and Ljubljana are both involved, to some extent, in research into development of practical engineering solutions.

There is a need for strategic research, especially in the field of road user behaviour and psychology. As an

initial step, a review of current and previous work is required and a programme of research developed. It is also

recommended that there is a degree of co-ordination with other research institutes throughout the region to

ensure that there is no duplication of effort and wasting of scarce resources.

15. Speed Management. The urban speed limit has recently been reduced under new legislation from 60 to 50

km/h. This also brought in stricter penalties (previously the fine for speeding was in the order of 10 - 15 DM,

but is now between 100 and 300 DM, depending on the offence). The police have radar speed equipment, both

hand held and mounted in-car. The reading can be used in evidence and the driver must sign if he/she agrees

with the reading.

16. Some low cost remedial measures have been designed and implemented, within the limited budget

available, including measures to tackle speeding. A greater programme of traffic calming is recommended as

pilot projects in urban areas, especially in areas with high levels of pedestrian traffic and collisions.

17. It is suggested that a demonstration town is chosen, for example Maribor, and a variety of speed

management measures implemented to allow effectiveness to be monitored, and to demonstrate the

effectiveness of a package of measures. The Technical Director of the GRSP has already indicated some

interest in the idea of such a demonstration town. In order to progress with this concept, it is necessary for an

organisation in Slovenia (MTC or SRSC) to identify funding sources and potential partners. GRSP involvement

could aid identification of additional partners once the basic project has been set up. Several EU countries may

be interested in working in Slovenia, but a request to an aid agency must come from Slovenia.

18. Road Safety Education. A new national curriculum has recently been prepared and is reported to include

road safety education as an integrated topic. Road safety is not included in the secondary curriculum, although

some schools are reported to provide pre-driver training under their own initiative. The SRSC Secretariat

prepares around 10 to 12 programmes annually for kindergartens and primary schools. This generally involves

the distribution of materials and information for teachers. SRSC are trying to encourage every primary school

to have a road safety co-ordinator in place. There is little activity in secondary schools which are traditionally

more difficult to access in most countries.

19. It is recommended that road safety is included in the curriculum for initial teacher training. Existing

teachers are required to attend in-service training every year, without which their salary is not increased. Road

safety is one of the options they can choose. The training occurs in work time, so they are paid to attend. If

possible, the number of teachers choosing road safety needs to be increased.

20. Local Community Training. There is an individual in both Ljubljana and Maribor who is employed by the

local authority to undertake road safety locally. It is understood that they largely work independently. There

are a few Local Road Safety Councils (LRSCs), but not in all areas. It is recommended that LRSCs be

established throughout Slovenia with sufficient funding to enable them to undertake activity. This may require

legislation, and would certainly require the commitment of the local authorities. LRSCs would be responsible

for supporting national (SRSC) campaigns at a local level but would also be able to initiate campaigns to target

specific local problems.

21. One approach that has had some success in other countries is the use of Safer Routes to School projects.

This requires a holistic approach to a community‟s road safety requirements and can also involve training of

road users, usually through schools.

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22. Once accurate and reliable casualty data is available, it may be possible to identify specific communities for

behavioural interventions. If, for example, a particular community has a pedestrian casualty problem, remedial

measures could include practical pedestrian training through community groups. SRSC should support the

LRSCs. One way in which they could do this is to hold regular training seminars to disseminate knowledge and

skills that they have obtained. This would also encourage sharing of information and co-ordination.

23. Vulnerable Road User (VRU) Education. SRSC encourages teachers to undertake practical exercises

rather than relying on classroom based work. As part of this approach, SRSC offers cycle examinations for 10

year olds. It is the responsibility of the school to prepare the programme and undertake the training. The exam

consists of a theory test, off-road and on-road exercises. The parents must also sign the “licence” so that they

take responsibility for their children‟s road use.

In a similar way, pedestrian training could be initiated through schools or community groups, such as the

scouting movement. In the initial plan period, a practical training programme should be developed, piloted and

evaluated before being included in ongoing road safety education.

6.14.4 Summary

6.14.4.1 Summary of Actions

The following is a summary of the recommended measures that are required to improve road safety in Slovenia

over a two-year period.

Improved Co-ordination

Include private sector representative on SRSC;

Review/amend regulations to increase remit of SRSC;

Investigate options for funding safety, including levy on fuel or road tax

Safety Audits

Establish a Safety Audit Unit at MTC;

Initial training of engineers in safety audit (minimum 1 day);

Detailed training of safety auditors (2 week course);

Initiate requirement for safety audit on all new/rehabilitated roads.

Publicity and Information Campaigns

Increase remit of SRSC Secretariat to include publicity;

Obtain government/private sector funding to run national publicity campaign;

Run data-led campaign targeting speeding.

Accident/Casualty Report Form Improvement

Review existing report form to include information for educationalists and engineers;

Increase dissemination of annual statistical reports;

Train police personnel in completion of new form.

Strategic Research

Review current and previous research activity;

Co-ordinate with research organisations in the region;

Develop prioritised research programme;

Undertake accident and casualty costing by severity.

Speed Management

Initiate demonstration project in one town/city in Slovenia;

Implement traffic calming, enforcement and publicity measures in demonstration town;

Procure additional police equipment;

Monitor effects of demonstration project and disseminate results.

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Road Safety Education

Include road safety education in initial teacher training curriculum;

Train trainers to teach road safety in colleges;

Train trainers to run in-service seminars for teachers.

Local Community Training

Establish LRSCs, with adequate funding;

Identify target communities, based on casualty data;

Develop pilot Safer Routes to School type projects.

VRU Education

Expand the existing cycle training programme;

Initiate pedestrian training programme through schools and community groups.

6.14.4.2 Estimated Costs

An estimate of likely costs is included in Table 6.14.1. It should be noted that these costs are indicative only,

and that it is not possible to verify them without further information.

Table 6.14.1: Estimated Costs of Safety Measures in Slovenia

Measure Estimated Cost

(Euros)

Organisations

1 Improved Co-ordination 15 000 SRSC

2 Safety Audits 100 000 MTC, consultants

3 Publicity and Information Campaigns 80 000 SRSC

4 Accident/Casualty Report Form Improvement 60 000 Police

5 Strategic Research 10 000 Universities/Institutes

6 Speed Management 180 000 MTC, Police, SRSC

7 Road Safety Education 45 000 SRSC, MoE

8 Local Community Training 20 000 SRSC, LRSCs

9 VRU Education 10 000 MoE, SRSC

TOTAL 520 000

6.15 Conclusions

The Action plans are generally consistent among the countries with regard to the general requirements. Funding

is however, the main issue and this is discussed in detail in Chapter 8 of this report together with suggestions on

developing and obtaining funding.

If this Safety Project as a whole is to become of any lasting value to the CEEC community, then funds must be

found to implement the programmes outlined. The EU should also consider whether it is a responsible act to

start a Project such as this without any contingency for following up the findings at a practical level. This

merely raises the expectations of the participants and ultimately disappoints them.

Funding will encourage the implementation, but it is also imperative to follow the programmes and assess the

value of the work undertaken. This may be achieved by a regular appraisal using the DEE framework

assessment

The Actions plans have many similarities and there are common requirements for future activities. These are

summarised as follows:

Accident casualty reductions. There are a number of areas where simple measures will have a direct impact

upon the level of accidents. The measures may require some legislation to coerce the public into accepting them,

but with time the measures will become accepted as good practice by motorists. They are:

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The use of seat belts;

The use of child restraints;

The use of daytime running lights;

The use of pedestrian facilities;

The use of winter tyres (when appropriate).

In addition there are other issues which impact on casualties:

Drink driving;

Poor street lighting;

Poor parking facilities;

Poor road markings;

Failure to use reflective clothing.

Speed management. This is an area where the experts, the police, are under-resourced. Speed management

involves a number of elements:

Police training in enforcement strategies;

Training in the use of equipment;

Provision of funding for equipment (lasers, patrol vehicles etc);

Professional and public driver improvement schemes;

Application of suitable engineering standards;

Education and publicity campaigns.

Education. This is not limited to schools but is rather a part of the wide process of lifetime education and self-

improvement. It covers:

Publicity in the press and television;

Safety Campaigns;

Provision of suitable educational material, particularly in schools;

Bicycle proficiency training;

Vulnerable road user training (Pedestrians, children and cyclists).

Structured approach to safety. There was still need in some cases to implement a Road Safety Council. Co-

ordination also required more attention, particularly in the following areas:

The development of National Institutions specialising in safety;

The development of road research facilities;

The development of national safety pilot projects, properly monitored and researched;

Professional training for safety specialists;

National black-spot analysis programmes;

Development of national accident data bases accessible to safety engineers;

Immediate implementation of Safety Audit at a national level;

Development of Education programmes;

Development of national Highway Codes (Documentation and advice to the public).

Legislation. Legislation is required in a number of areas to bring home the seriousness of the problem,

provide a deterrent and to give the police power to enforce safety measures. Improvements would cover:

Improved insurance schemes (together with some hypothecation of the premium to fund road

safety);

Vehicle testing requirements and procedures;

Traffic laws

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7. Regional Plan

7.1 Background to Regional Plan

The Regional Plan is a general overview of road safety measures as may be applied to the whole of the CEEC

region, as opposed to the action plans which are very much country specific. It is a summary of best practices.

The Regional plan is based upon the knowledge gained by the consortium from its world-wide experience. This

concentrates on the three basic areas of road safety:

1. Engineering;

2. Enforcement;

3. Education; together with

4. Research.

There is a clear need for co-ordinated action as the effectiveness of road safety activities in any one sector is

often dependent upon complementary supportive activity being carried out in other related sectors. Absence of

such complementary activity can diminish effectiveness. Conversely, co-ordination across several related sectors

can result in substantial synergy occurring, where the effect is multiplied and the effectiveness of all the

measures becomes enhanced. Interventions will therefore be required in each road safety sector to ensure that

all sectors are contributing effectively towards the overall improvement of safety. Given the wide range of

sectors, which can influence road safety, it is essential that such activities are co-ordinated and harmonised to

achieve the maximum effect. Experience in industrialised and developing countries demonstrates that road

safety improvements can only be achieved by carrying out activities in all sectors affecting road safety and that

this is best done within a comprehensive, co-ordinated road safety plan.








7.2 Engineering

7.2.1 Introduction

Engineering is one of the three “E”s, Enforcement, Education, and Engineering (Environment) that are

important in improvement of road safety in general. In this case safety engineering in automobile design and

construction is excluded, only environmental and infrastructure related engineering measures are considered.

This chapter deals with actions to be used in engineering to improve road safety in the 13 countries that are the

targets in the Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project.

Reference to the country reports (Interim Report I, Volume I, Parts 1 and 2, April 1999) shows that there are

great variations in the level of engineering road safety activity throughout the region. Although in all countries

highways and roads are designed and constructed, road safety is not yet any important issue in some of them.

However, the effect and costs of engineering improvements in road safety work have been recognised and

studied in the world so well, that it is easy to justify the benefits and feasibility of them in any country.

However, it must be stated already in the beginning that only a comprehensive approach in which all three “E”s

are tackled simultaneously can produce good and sustainable improvement in road safety. If some engineering

measures are not supported by enforcement, the aimed improvement effect may turn to the opposite, and the

road safety situation may worsen.

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The following summary of the DEE Framework Assessments of the engineering sector shows that although the

scores are generally high there are also differences.

Table 7.2.1 DEE-comparison of Engineering among Phare Countries

In most of the accidents there are three factors involved, the person, the vehicle and the environment. According

to the studies of the Accident Investigation Boards in Finland, environmental (engineering) defects, usually

road, road furniture, weather etc. is a direct cause in 6 per cent, and a background factor in 30 per cent of the

accidents. For comparison, technical faults in the vehicle are the direct cause in 5 per cent and background

factor in 10 per cent, of accidents, and human error is the direct cause in 89 per cent and contributory factor in

60 per cent of the accidents. In total it has been estimated that human error is somehow involved in 95 per cent,

a vehicle factor in 22 per cent and an environmental factor in 45 per cent of all accidents.

Because human error is involved in almost all accidents, roads should be designed so that they do not cause

human errors. However, if human error occurs, the road and environment should prevent the accident, or at least

mitigate the severity of the consequences.

7.2.2 Planning and design

The good design of roads and road networks can improve road user behaviour either by preventing them from

risky behaviour, or by minimising the numbers and severity of accidents. In addition to safe driving and

prevention of collisions between vehicles, minimising conflicts between motor vehicles and

pedestrians/bicyclists must also be taken into account.

In order to maximise the impact of engineering on safety problems, it is necessary to apply measures at various

stages of road network development and road planning/design. By incorporating safety conscious design

principles from the beginning it is possible to avoid many road safety problems in advance. After construction it

will usually be very expensive (or impossible) to correct poor designs or mistakes made in planning and design.

Comparison of countries

DEE Indicator = ENGINEERING

10

18

64

60

66

73

85

85

56

74

89

76

68

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Bosnia

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland

% of desired minimum level

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The main components in a good planning process are:

Classification of roads in road network (hierarchy);

Safe transport policy;

Planning of land use and road network;

Traffic management and access control;

Safety conscious planning and design.

Because it is not possible to tackle all of these components in this project, the main emphasis will be on safety

conscious planning and design.

7.2.2.1Classification of roads

The roads in a network should be clearly classified. The aim of the classification is to differentiate the roads and

streets by traffic quality and speed, trip length and need of access. Another aim is to separate different

transportation modes from each others. This means motor vehicles from pedestrians and cyclists, high speed

traffic from slow moving vehicles; long distance traffic from local traffic etc. Usually there is a classification

system available (technical instructions, regulations etc.) for public roads and urban roads separate in the

national road design standards.

7.2.2.2 Transport policy

Transport policy depends greatly on economic, geographical and the political conditions of the country. It has a

lot of influence on road safety especially through attitude towards public transport and investments in road

safety. Public transport is usually cheaper and safer but also less flexible to satisfy the transportation and

moving needs of the people.

7.2.2.3 Planning of land use and road network

In land-use and road network planning two things are important; to avoid conflicts between motorised road

traffic and pedestrians/cyclists as far as possible, and to minimise the need for travel. This can be done by

locating shops, places of work, schools and public places which create a lot of traffic, so that the distance from

homes is minimised. For that reason urban planners should also be trained in basic traffic engineering and

especially in road safety.

7.2.2.4 Traffic management and access control

Traffic management means practices and procedures, systems and solutions etc., which are used to get

maximum capacity and safety from the existing transport infrastructure. Good traffic management can have a

very positive influence on road safety, and vice versa. A short, incomplete list of traffic management issues and

measures connected with road safety follows:

Parking facilities and restrictions;

Traffic actuated signal control;

Arrangement of special lanes for busses and cyclists;

Central refuges, junction channelisation;

Pedestrian crossings ,bridges and tunnels;

Monitoring of traffic conditions;

Arrangement of bus stops, rest areas etc.;

Elevated zebra crossings, rumble strips etc

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In city centres, priority should be given to the safety arrangements of pedestrians by speed and driving

restrictions; while on major through roads emphasis should be on uninterrupted, safe traffic flow.

Both in urban and especially in rural areas, where the driving speeds are high, main attention should be given to

access control, i.e. junctions, intersections, interchanges, agricultural accesses etc. through which it is possible

to enter the road. These accesses create road safety hazards and their number should be minimised and locations

and forms carefully considered and planned.

7.2.2.5 Safety conscious planning and design

The development of a safety conscious planning process requires the necessary legislation, appropriate planning

standards and instructions, adequate resources, and good cooperation between the agencies concerned. In most

cases special training has to be arranged in road safety issues. Use of the standards and norms usually produces

a certain level of road safety. However, special attention to road safety, the use of best practice reports, and

safety audits etc. is necessary to reach the best possible road safety solutions.

7.2.2.6 Accident black-spot improvement.

On old roads one of the most efficient and cost-effective measures to achieve quick and real road safety

improvements is an accident black-spot improvement programme. For commencement of the programme there

must be data of accidents preferably from several years. If there is no accident data register which includes

detailed data of the locations and causes of accidents, condition of the road, and the weather etc. these must be

collected from the police accident reports. This data will be used in analysis of the accident causes, and

identification of improvements, which form a basis for planning and design. After implementing the

improvements, monitoring of the accident situation should be carried out for a few years to find out whether the

road safety has improved permanently. Best results will be achieved when engineering improvements are

supported by adequate information and enforcement.

7.2.3 Action Plan

It is not possible to include in the action plan engineering improvement measures which tackle all the possible

aspects of road safety. For practical reasons, the action plan will concentrate on certain important issues in

which real results can be achieved quickly. These selected issues are:

Cooperation to harmonise safe design standards and practices;

Accident black-spot improvement;

Safety audit.

These issues came out as a result of discussions held in the Phare Road Safety Seminar in Stupava in June 1999,

which was attended by a wide audience from CECs and EU countries. They will, from a road safety point of

view, all aim at the same objective; harmonisation of road related designs and traffic engineering solutions,

which are of vital interest to the EU.

7.2.3.1 Cooperation to harmonise safe design standards and practises

To start with the countries should arrange a meeting of two days, in which the engineers in charge of road

design would go through the important road safety components in the planning process and design standards of

roads. These components would include:

design elements of road alignment and profile;

sight distances;

cross section;

design speeds and speed limits;

drainage and superelevation;

road signs and markings;

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roadside obstacles and fencing;

medians and barriers;

pedestrian and bicycle facilities;

junctions and intersections;

lighting;

bus-stops and rest areas etc.

In the same meeting the training of traffic and highway engineers in safety audit and accident black-spot

improvement could also be discussed. A working group and a steering committee, with representatives from all

participating countries, should be established. They would then commence a project to harmonise the standards.

7.2.3.2 Accident Black-Spot Improvement Training

The aim of the action could be to start accident black-spot improvement programmes in all Phare countries,

which have the same principles and practices. Training courses could be arranged so that, for example, the

Baltic States and the northern part of Poland could form one geographical area. The southern part of Poland,

Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary and Slovenia could be a second entity and Romania, Bulgaria, the

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania could form the Balkan group of

countries.

The contents of the training courses would need to be both theoretical lessons on road safety and practical

exercises and cases as follows:

Theoretical part -

The three “E”s;

International comparison;

Definition of an accident black-spot;

Main problems and causes of accidents;

Road safety and road geometry;

Road safety and traffic engineering.

Identification of accident black-spots -

Accident data collection;

Preliminary analysis (road sections):

Accident Rate;

Accident Density.

Accident analysis -

Collision diagram;

Checklists;

Field studies.

Accident preventive countermeasures.

Plans and designs -

Improvement alternatives;

Cost/benefit analysis;

Final designs.

Monitoring.

For practical exercises and cases, the participants of the host country would need to collect data for one of two

accident black-spots, which would be near the course site so that they could be visited and used as practical

examples in training.

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After the training, the experiences could be collected in a report and a manual, which the participants would be

able to use as guidelines in practical accident black-spot improvement work in their country.

7.2.3.3.Training in safety audit

The aim of the training in the safety audit would be to develop a system of safety auditing, and to form a group

of safety auditors in all participating countries. Because they have the same training, the safety auditing of an

international road that goes through several countries would produce uniform engineering solutions throughout

the whole route. The auditors could be authorised by the organisation that would arrange the training. The same

geographical distribution of countries could be used in organisation of the courses as in case of accident black -

spots above.

The contents of the training could be as follows:

What is road safety audit?

Concept, benefits and consequences;

Procedures and practice;

Managing safety audit;

Safety principles;

Use of checklists;

Feedback and monitoring.

There are several international safety audit guidelines which could be used to start the training. Later it would be

advisable to compile own guidelines for Phare countries that could be used by the auditors in practical work in

their countries.

7.2.4 Cost Estimate

The costs of the above mentioned actions would be as follows:

Co-operation to harmonise safe design standards and practices

Action Costs in Euro

Meeting 10 000

Harmonisation project 40 000

----------

Total 50 000

Accident black-spot training programme

Training , 12 courses 250 000

Guidelines and manual 100 000

------------

Total 350 000

Training in safety audit

Training , 12 courses 250 000

Guidelines and manual 100 000

------------

Total 350 000

The total cost of the engineering action plan is 750 000 Euro. Because of all the components of the action plan

aim at harmonisation of the practices and systems of the Phare countries to correspond with the EU practices,

financing should be arranged to implement the action plan within EU programmes.

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7.3 Enforcement

7.3.1 Introduction

This report deals with the legislation and enforcement issues arising from the Phare Multi-Country Road Safety

Project.

Following an examination of the country reports and the list of priorities highlighted by each country, the Co-

ordination of three main areas of police activity is seen as the key to better traffic police departments. The

majority of Phare countries have highlighted improvements and investment in the police services as a key

requirement.

Support to police forces in Phare countries can be divided into three main areas:

1. Training Assistance;

2. Cooperation;

3. Information and Intelligence Exchange.

7.3.2 Central Organisation

To achieve these three aims, a method of co-ordination is necessary. This can best be achieved by the

establishment of an independent organisation, supported by national governments, with the objective of co-

ordinating and organising activities across Europe.

This organisation would have responsibility for working with each country that in turn would arrange a

coordinating mechanism. Currently, the organisational structure of roads and traffic policing varies in different

countries. Some countries have a national force whilst others are organised regionally. Whilst there are

arguments for both structures, the effective and efficient delivery of the services is the most important element.

Therefore each country must have a structure that allows for effective communication and Co-ordination. A

national co-ordinator should be established to work with the new central organisation, coordinating activities at

an international level. This is recommended to be based at the headquarters of the roads and traffic police in an

operational liaison role.

A common process to monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of the work of the roads and traffic police needs

to be established:

A strategic action plan for each country with defined objectives, necessary resources and a means of

measurement should be drawn up;

A method of monitoring using both the quantitative and qualitative approach is necessary;

The services of an organisation such as the European Foundation for Quality & Business Excellence could

be utilised;

A model for business excellence should be introduced;

The central organisation could have the responsibility for measuring benchmarks and inspecting

compliance;

7.3.3 Current Country Situation

In all countries, law enforcement is seen as paramount to improved road safety. In the list of ten measures to be

implemented within the next two years, a number of the measures require positive police action.

Albania listed law enforcement relating to police powers, speed enforcement, alcohol and seat belts as the most

important priority. Better accident data and the identification of accident black spots also featured as a priority

together with better police resources and training.

The Czech Republic identified the need to accurately identify accident black spots and contributory factors. The

introduction of a penalty point system was their third priority, and the training of police personnel was also

identified. Better efficiency in police enforcement against speed, alcohol, red lights and drugs was identified as

a priority, as was the need for a traffic police information system.

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In Estonia, the introduction of a penalty point system featured highly, together with the enforcement of speed

limits, alcohol and seat belts. In common with other countries the identification of accident black-spots was

highlighted.

In Latvia the first three priorities related to police activities. Equipment and new procedures for alcohol and

speed were requested. Changes to enforcement legislation including higher fines were listed.

Lithuania highlighted the need to improve the road traffic legislation and implement a road safety programme.

The need for improvement to their accident data system was also recognised. They also identified the need for

better co-operation between EU road safety authorities.

The provision of a collision data system and a penalty point system was also a priority for Poland. The need for

an improved efficiency in the traffic police force was also identified together with the need for a traffic police

information system. Better equipment and training for the police was also identified.

In Romania, law enforcement was once again listed as the primary objective. The provision and training in

enforcement equipment for speed and alcohol was listed. An accident data system to improve the quality of

police activity was recognised as necessary.

The Slovak Republic felt that speed was an important issue and the need to decrease the urban speed limit was

necessary.

In Slovenia, better Co-ordination and the improvement of accident data recording were listed as priorities.

Speed management also featured in their list of ten measures.

7.3.4 The Action Plan

The action plan has been divided into three areas each with recommendations for improvements:

1. Training Assistance;

2. Cooperation;

3. Information and Intelligence Exchange.

The list of ten priority actions is summarised at Appendix E.

7.3.4.1 Training Assistance

This encompasses not only basic training for traffic officers but includes the following:

7.3.4.1.1 Police Driver Training

This includes the skills and attitudes required by police drivers, particularly emphasising the need to set

examples to other drivers. This is an important area to influence because collisions involving police vehicles can

among other things drastically reduce effectiveness. An accident will often result in the officer and the vehicle

being unavailable for further deployment for some time. In areas with limited numbers of officers and vehicles

this unavailability can have serious consequences.

All Phare countries should ensure that they have a police driver-training programme. The establishment of a

police driver training school should be considered. Instructors can be trained by attendance at police driver

training schools in non-Phare countries (Appendix G gives a survey of the recommended training programme).

7.3.4.1.2 Speed Enforcement

This includes providing assistance on the necessary procedures and safeguards to operate and correctly

prosecute speeding drivers. The inclusion of a type approval process for enforcement devices that complies

with local legislation should be developed. Phare countries would be introduced to the latest technology that

would assist them in the achievement of reducing casualties.

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The speed control should become one of the key target areas of traffic enforcement. Use of publicity to support

speed enforcement is essential. The Traffic Police should also set realistic and credible quantitative targets for

speed enforcement.

The use of automatic camera enforcement technology should be considered, although it is important to have the

appropriate backup facilities to process what is usually a high turnover in offenders. The vehicle registration

database needs to be accurate and complete.

7.3.4.1.3 Alcohol and Drugs

Drug recognition programmes, as currently being developed in EU Countries, should be extended to include

Phare countries. The various procedures in which alcohol enforcement checks are undertaken should be

standardised. The inclusion of Phare countries in the European Drink/Drive Enforcement campaign as

organised by TISPOL, the European Traffic Police Network, should also be considered.

The following actions are needed to increase the efficiency drink-driving enforcement:

Apply random breath testing as a leading principle for surveillance;

In addition to random breath testing, introduce selective testing as well. Make drink-driving control one of

the key target areas of traffic enforcement;

Set realistic and credible quantitative targets for the number of breath tests;

Equip every patrol car with a screening alcohol-level testing device.

7.3.4.1.4 Stopping and Inspection of Vehicles

This includes scene management and health and safety procedures. Common operating methods would take into

account best practices in stopping vehicles safely.

7.3.4.1.5 Investigation and Reconstruction of Collisions

The ability to investigate and reconstruct accidents is limited in many countries. Technology exists to help

considerably in this area and many European countries have expertise in this area which could be introduced.

Proper investigation of accidents assists with the identification of contributory factors which when collision

analysis occurs would greatly assist the deployment of remedial measures.

7.3.4.1.6 Safety Belts

The usage of seat belts, according to the Phare country reports, is very low, often below 30-40 per cent.

International research and experience has shown that the wearing of seat belts is one of the best methods to

significantly reduce the risk of death and serious injury in collisions. Police officers should set an example by

wearing seat belts at all times unless operationally not possible and this should be regardless of whether or not

the national legislation gives police an exemption from wearing seat belts.

Each country should identify the current level of compliance, then set an achievable target through education

and enforcement. This should be re-assessed at regular periods, and new targets set. Slow adaptation of use of

seat belt in Phare countries costs the lives of about 2000-3000 road users per year.

7.3.4.1.7 Training Co-ordination

It is suggested that each country appoint a national training co-ordinator that has responsibility for liaison with

the central organisation to arrange the necessary training. Where appropriate or desirable, regional co-

ordinators may be appointed within each country reporting to the national co-ordinator.

The importance of the national co-ordinator cannot be over stressed; therefore the post should have a level of

permanence. A period of at least five years in post is recommended.

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7.3.4.1.8 Training Teams on the Spot

A team of police officers with appropriate skills should be assembled from EU countries in order to deliver

training to Phare countries. A minibus or similar transport provided together with various items of enforcement

equipment and a trained team would visit the Phare countries to deliver the training. Enforcement equipment

would include:

Speed enforcement devices;

Alcohol testing devices;

Video enforcement equipment;

Reflective clothing, signs and cones;

Tachograph reading equipment;

Equipment to investigate and reconstruct collisions.

Four trainers and a co-ordinator would staff the training vehicles and it is envisaged that two such teams would

operate. When visiting a Phare country, the national training co-ordinator would join the training team. There

would also be a co-ordinator based at the central organisation who would have overall responsibility for the

programme. Training on location (in a police region) would consist of a theory and a practical course of

approximately one month‟s duration. The practical side of this training would be executed with enforcement

related to the above topics.

The total cost of this would be 781,000 Euro for one year (Appendix F shows a breakdown of the costs).

7.3.5 Co-operation

In this area, cooperation among countries is necessary to establish best practices and from this a guide to

common operating procedures can be developed. This includes; not only the best methods in handling situations

but also recommended standards for vehicles, equipment, clothing and communications.

To establish the cooperation programme and to work alongside the central organisation a conference of EU and

Phare countries involving traffic officers at a strategic and operational level should be organised. Here the

assistance of TISPOL should be sought (Appendix H gives an explanation about the TISPOL structure).

The conference should also involve politicians both at national and international level and could also include

commercial sponsors from fields such as enforcement equipment manufacturers (who may be persuaded to

contribute funds).

An important aspect to the success of any police enforcement activity is the collection and analysis of data. A

common database of accidents, including the measurement and success of police activity must be developed.

The involvement of European Research Institutes is necessary at this point to advise on the best methods to

gather data. The recording of accurate data has often caused difficulties for police officers, so it is important

that any common proforma introduced to record data is kept simple.

Access to all forms of accident data is essential. This includes the sharing of data between different

organisations. There are already examples of an exchange of data between police, highway authorities and

insurance companies, and this should be encouraged.

The continued approach to the harmonisation of community legislation should be extended to include Phare

countries. Those countries without a penalty point system should evaluate this area. Similarly, those countries

that operate an “on the spot fine” system should reassess the benefits of the system against fixed penalty notice

and penalty point system. Information on such systems can be obtained from most EU countries.

With the harmonisation of legislation, protocols for the use and regulation of enforcement equipment should be

considered. Consideration should also be given to drafting a speed enforcement policy for the police based on

the experiences of several EU countries that already operate such a policy. The current process for the

harmonisation of speed limits should continue.

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There are many areas in which the traffic police of all countries need to work together. These include:

1. Driver improvement courses for offenders, as an alternative to a penalty fine;

2. A reduction of police vehicle collisions programme;

3. Accident investigation and reconstruction;

4. Drinking and driving, drug enforcement;

5. Co-ordinated enforcement campaigns affecting cross border traffic (i.e. Goods Vehicles).

7.3.6 Information and Intelligence Exchange

The exchange of information between police forces is important for two reasons. Firstly, there is the exchange

of information that leads to a better way of undertaking the role of roads and traffic policing. Secondly, there is

the exchange of intelligence that directly assists the enforcement role, such as cross border traffic offences.

To achieve this, an electronic communication system between National Traffic Liaison Officers in each country

must be established. The communication system would be co-ordinated by the central organisation.

It must always be recognised, that no single organisation has a monopoly on good ideas, and that each country

always has some input to make. Even the most underdeveloped organisation has the capability of inventing a

good idea that can be adopted by others. It must also remember that some ideas do fail, and these should also be

recorded.

In order to ensure that best practice is shared among traffic police forces from all countries, it is suggested that

the central organisation maintain a database of best practice and also a database of research projects being

undertaken. In this way, duplication can be avoided because searches can be made of the databases to locate

previous work.

7.3.7 Key Costs and Benefits

Table 7.3.1 is a summary of the measures to improve law enforcement, together with an estimate of the costs

and associated reductions in fatalities, injuries and accidents.

Table 7.3.1 Measures to Improve Law Enforcement

.

Improvement Measure

Euro average

for each country

Reduction

in

fatalities

Reduction in

injuries

Reduction in

accidents

1 Training of the Traffic Police

Equipment

Vehicles

1 000 000

1 000 000

3 000 000

15 % 20 % 25 %

2 Co-operation on all levels 200 000 2 % 3 % 5 %

3 Information /intelligence change 500 000 5 % 7 % 8 %

Total 5 700 000 20 % 30 % 38 %

7.4 Education and publicity

7.4.1 Introduction

This chapter deals with road user education and publicity for the Phare region. Reference to the country reports

(Interim Report I, Volume I, Parts 1 and 2, February 1999) shows that there are great variations in the level of

activity throughout the region. Although there is some form of children‟s traffic education in all countries, the

degree and level of appropriateness (i.e. based on educational and developmental principles) differs. In terms of

road safety information and publicity for the general public, there is even greater variation. In some countries,

such as Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, road safety is not, and probably should not be, a priority and as a

result, no publicity campaigns are conducted.

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Human error plays a large part in road accidents, being a contributory factor in around 95 per cent of accidents.

Programmes, such as education, training or publicity, to change road user behaviour must, therefore, play a large

part in any strategy to reduce the number of crashes and casualties. However, it is a long term strategy that

needs continuous inputs.

Road safety education, training and publicity measures will never be wholly effective if used alone. A co-

ordinated assault on the road crash and casualty problem is required: combining inputs by educationalists,

engineers and enforcers. A National Road Safety Council, or similar organising body, can be crucial in ensuring

that such Co-ordination takes place. Regional initiatives in these sectors should, therefore, be combined

wherever possible, with engineering and enforcement schemes.

In order to change road user behaviour, each country should ensure that they have:

Adequate road safety education included in the National Curriculum as a separate topic or a cross curricular

theme, with incremental inputs based on sound educational practice;

Teachers who are trained in road safety education, through in-service training and initial teacher training

courses;

Effective classroom teaching materials, especially a teachers guide, with practical pedestrian and cycle

training as an integral part;

National and local publicity campaigns based on reliable data, targeting speed, drink driving and seat belt

wearing;

Monitoring and evaluation of all behavioural programmes and that the results are widely disseminated;

An effective driver training and testing regime with emphasis on safety skills;

An effective means of targeting offenders, especially those who re-offend, for example through a driver

improvement scheme.

Road safety education, training and publicity are the cornerstones on which other road safety interventions are

built and must be included as part of any long term road safety strategy.5

7.4.2 Children’s Traffic Education

7.4.2.1 Findings

Children in many motorised countries are more likely to die or be injured as a result of a road accident than

through any other cause. Road safety education (RSE) is needed to provide the necessary structure for the

acquisition of safety knowledge and skills. These include decision making skills, and the identification and

assessment of risk and strategies to reduce such risk. Such education attempts to prepare children for different

tasks at each stage of their increasingly independent use of the road network.

Attitudes developed in the earliest years largely define how the individual behaves on the road in later years.

Attitudes are very difficult to change once they have been formed. It is easier to teach good habits at an early

age than to break bad habits later. RSE has long-term benefits for the community in terms of road user

behaviour as it helps to develop positive attitudes and values. RSE should commence at an early age through

publicity initiatives aimed at parents and continue throughout life. Because it involves the development of safe

positive attitudes, RSE will always be a long term investment. It is also important to teach concrete behaviours

(for example, through pedestrian training) rather than focusing on traffic signs and abstract rules.

In the Phare region, road safety education is often taught either as part of a general subject or as a separate

subject included in the curriculum. Normally, the same teachers that undertake general education give this

tuition, but in some countries there are specially trained traffic teachers. Additionally, the traffic police often

participate, usually by giving talks to school children. However, it should be noted that it has been shown that

such “one-off” talks are not effective in improving road safety and that it should be taught as part of normal

5 See Interim Report II, Behavioural Aspects Report for more information.

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education activities. RSE in the region often commences in kindergartens and continues through primary and

secondary schools. However, many of the countries are under-performing in this area due to a shortage of

financial support.

7.4.2.2 National Activity

RSE is country specific. Each country has their own national curriculum that road safety must fit in with. It is

therefore not possible to undertake regional activity, as such, in children‟s traffic education.

There would, however, be benefit in organising a regional meeting to discuss this topic in greater detail and to

share examples from different countries. The meeting would last for at least one day and be hosted by one of

the NRSC‟s in the area. It would be useful to invite speakers on different RSE topics and to have a “market

place” where representatives from different countries would showcase their teaching resources. This would

allow other countries to get ideas for new resources or may even provide income generation for the originating

country. Demonstrations of practical pedestrian or cyclist training could also be incorporated.

7.4.3 Publicity and Information Campaigns

7.4.3.1 Regional Findings

Road safety publicity can be used to achieve various aims and objectives. In general terms, the aims of such

publicity are to change the behaviour, attitude or knowledge of road users in order to increase road safety.

One of the problems in using publicity measures is that on the whole, people are resistant to change, especially

when there is no apparent personal gain for them to do so. A road user who has operated a vehicle after

drinking alcohol on many occasions without incident does not perceive the reasons why he/she should not drink

and drive as urged by a poster or TV commercial. An additional difficulty to be overcome is that there is not

usually the opportunity for face-to-face interaction with the adults whose behaviour we are trying to change.

It is better not only to avoid general messages, but also to suggest desirable alternative behaviours. Clear,

specific and simple messages are better and positive appeals should be used rather than negative ones as they

have been found to be more effective. Simply showing an accident scene will not be effective, as unless they

have direct experience, or someone close to them has been involved in an accident, accidents are not relevant to

the majority of people. Showing any undesirable behaviours should be avoided, even as a comparison.

In general, it is better not to use fear, shock, horror or threat tactics. These should only be used carefully and

when there is enough information to be able to predict how the audience will react.

Using advertising or publicity alone will not result in desired change. It should be seen as only one part of a

wider campaign, involving enforcement, legislation, engineering and other strategies. The behavioural change

being aimed for should be realistic and not too large. However, publicity is an essential, but long-term, part of

any strategy to reduce the number of people killed and injured on roads.

In some countries in the region, publicity campaigns are implemented only during the annual road safety week,

while in others there are campaigns all year round. They often have seasonal themes (such as use of pedestrian

reflectors in the autumn). The themes tend to be the same in all countries and include speeding, drink driving,

use of safety belts and motorcycle helmets. One-off campaigns are generally not effective, and sustained

publicity initiatives are required.

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7.4.3.2 Regional Activities

One of the main reasons for insufficient activity in this sector, is a lack of funding. As many of the countries

have similar crash and casualty problems, it is recommended that sponsorship is sought from either international

funding institutions or from a multi-national company, with a view to developing campaign materials that can be

customised. With care, it would be possible to develop materials that are culturally sensitive to the needs of the

different countries and that could easily be amended (for example, by over-printing) by each country. This

would allow unit costs to be reduced and is something that a large company may well be interested in

sponsoring. It is recommended that the Global Road Safety Partnership6 is contacted to find out if any corporate

partners would be interested in participating in a regional publicity initiative.

In terms of the subject of such a regional campaign, the main priorities, based on available casualty data and on

professional opinion, are:

Speeding;

Drink driving;

Use of seatbelts; and

Pedestrian safety.

The first three of these are more appropriate as they do not require country-specific information (i.e. type of

crossings available). There is a common need, throughout the region, to persuade members of the public to

reduce their speed, refrain from drinking alcohol before driving, and to wear seat belts in the front and rear

seats.

In addition to specific campaigns, there is a need to raise awareness of the accident and casualty problem

throughout the Phare region. A concerted regional effort is likely to be more effective than individual countries

trying to tackle this problem alone. The Phare Multi-Country Road Safety Project has been instrumental in

raising awareness. However, it has largely involved professionals already working in the field. As part of a

general awareness raising and information campaign, it is recommended that, if funding allows, the EU Phare

programme organise a high level seminar (at Ministerial level) to engender political understanding and support

in the region.

6 GRSP Secretariat, c/o International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, PO Box 372, 7

Chemin de Crets, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland. E-mail: [email protected]

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7.5 Research

7.5.1 Introduction

Road safety research is needed to clarify the current situation in terms of priorities and problem areas, as

research provides the framework of knowledge against which policy decisions can be taken and countermeasures

devised. Accurate and comprehensive accident data is required to provide a base comparison for identifying

problems, evaluating any changes, and assessing the effectiveness of any countermeasures adopted.

Consequently, improving the accident database is frequently one of the first priorities when seeking to establish a

road safety research programme.

Due to the complex nature of accidents and the many different sectors involved in the operation of road safety,

local research is required to provide a scientific and objective approach to reducing the suffering and losses

caused by accidents. This is usually best carried out by specialist researchers in universities or road research

institutes, but can also be done by others with an interest in road safety. Much research has been undertaken

internationally in road safety and many of the findings of such research can be of value to researchers and

practitioners in all countries.

Efforts should be made to identify the factors involved in crashes and to monitor effectiveness of any

countermeasures implemented. Of particular importance is the development and monitoring of low-cost

engineering countermeasures so that immediate improvements can be made at known hazardous locations.

7.5.2 Priority Actions Needed

1. Identify and prepare a consolidated list of all road safety research undertaken in the country and the

researchers and institutes involved;

2. Target future research at accepted priority areas or in improving the crash data system if crash data is

inadequate to provide an accurate baseline assessment of the road safety situation;

3. Coordinate research with the NRSC and the lead road safety agency in the country to ensure road safety

research is relevant and findings can be applied.

7.5.3 The Importance of Road Safety Research

Road safety research is the scientific and objective study of road and traffic systems with the aim of reducing the

suffering and losses due to accidents. It has three main objectives:

1) Greater understanding of the situation and the identification of problem areas;

2) Development of countermeasures for problem areas; and

3) Evaluation of the effectiveness of any remedial action undertaken.

These sector guidelines outline why road safety research is needed, a possible framework for research, the stages

of development, and the benefits and examples of good practice.

The study of the causes and prevention of casualties is justifiable on humanitarian grounds, since accidents are a

major cause of death and injury. Additionally, there is an economic basis, as accidents are known to amount to

between 1 per cent and 3 per cent of a country's GDP per annum.

Excellent institutions exist in the Phare countries but funding levels are extremely low in many cases. Research

is often one of the first areas to be cut when government budgets are reduced. Long-term projects and greater

continuity in research should be acknowledged as beneficial to the overall safety programmes. The DEE

comparison, Figure 7.5.1, shows that research has one of the lowest scores of all the indicators.

Figure 7.5.1. DEE Comparison of Research among the Phare Countries.

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As motorization is increasing rapidly in the Phare countries, casualty numbers are bound to increase and the need

for road safety research will become stronger. Measures that have been successful in the European Union

countries may not always be as successful in Central and Eastern European countries because of the different

social culture and economic circumstances in developing countries. It is therefore necessary to carry out country

specific research to identify measures that may be useful in the localities.

7.5.4 Key Components

7.5.4.1 Programme Content

Road safety research in developed countries is usually carried out in a number of parallel streams. Typical

sectors of activity and their aims are usually as follows:

Crash data: to develop and apply crash analysis in order to improve the background knowledge that shapes

decisions relating to road safety and traffic engineering.

Road users: to develop and apply human performance characteristics and behaviour patterns in different traffic

situations in order to improve the background knowledge that shape decisions concerning vehicles and traffic

environment, and measures relating to road users, particularly drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists.

Roads: to develop and apply methods that will facilitate the achievement of the desired standard in the planning,

design, construction, and operation of roads.

Vehicles: to develop and apply methods for studying vehicles and vehicle components in different traffic

situations, in order to improve the background knowledge that shapes codes concerning vehicles, vehicle

components, and the traffic environment.

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The sectors covered in these guidelines are involved in virtually every transport problem and so offer a

convenient framework against which to develop comprehensive research and development programmes.

7.5.4.2 Staffing and Funding

A road safety research unit ideally needs several members interacting to ensure a critical mass working together

and maximising the researches potential impact on road safety policy.

University courses, short in-house courses and overseas training should cover training needs. A career path is

also needed to ensure road safety researchers are motivated to remain in the field. Several research institutes

around the world have been privatised in recent years and the uncertainty of continued work has consequently

affected workers' morale. Funding is synonymous with political support and is required to ensure appropriate

staffing and resources are available for road safety research. Funding must also be consistent and reliable to

allow research adequate development time.

In the United States, transport advisory boards argue that the road safety research budget should be increased by

50 per cent, since in terms of years of productive life lost, road safety research receives only one eighth that of

heart disease and only one seventeenth of that allocated to cancer.

7.5.4.3 Dissemination and Application

Road safety research is not an end in itself and findings need to be shared, discussed, and applied in order for the

full benefits to be realised. Failure can provide as many lessons as success and, despite the inevitable

disappointment and reluctance when such failures occur, research institutes should publicise all results. Most

research institutes publish annual reports that summarise the research and development work for the previous

year. Research findings can also be disseminated through seminars and training courses, and through

international conferences.

Research findings should also be integrated into transport policy, which requires a close working relationship

with the traffic police and road engineers.

7.5.4.4 Stages of Development

In order to develop an effective road safety research capability, a country needs to proceed through a number of

stages. The major milestones and the activity involved in the development of road safety research are typically

as follows:

Identify previous research conducted. Early road safety research tends to be conducted by individuals

from the academic or medical sector and will need to be centrally collected and organised. Individuals and

organisations, most likely engineering universities or teaching hospitals, should be listed on a central

database;

Target priority areas identified and ensure reliable crash database. An objective and scientific

approach to road safety requires an accurate and comprehensive crash database. Road safety research's first

objective of problem assessment requires examination of crash for accuracy before they can be used. While

the accident data system is being improved, other perceived key areas such as pedestrians or night-time

casualties can be addressed;

NRSC/lead road safety agency to guide research and promote dissemination and application of

findings. Road safety research needs to be incorporated into any action plan or strategy developed with

research focus reflecting the lead agency's priorities;

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Effectiveness of road safety remedial measures evaluated by road safety researchers. Road safety

research should be promoted and expanded by undertaking evaluation work of road safety remedial

measures, both foreign funded and locally financed;

Establish links with other road safety research institutes in other countries. While research findings are

not always transferable, the lessons learned and approaches used should help minimise instances of

"reinventing the wheel", which countries cannot afford. Annual research publications lists should be

circulated between research institutes, and twinning arrangements and exchange programmes developed.

Links with the European Union organisations, such as the European Road Safety Federation, EU

organisations and participation in activities such as the European Conference of the Ministers of Transport

should be encouraged.

Solicit private sector commissioned road safety research. Many of the Phare countries indicated no

central government funds were available for road safety research. Transport-related industries, i.e.,

insurance companies and automobile manufacturers, need to be targeted for research funding. Road safety

research will need to be directly relevant;

Establish (within an existing institute) a road safety research centre with fulltime researchers. Road

safety research will eventually need to be undertaken by specially trained professionals.

7.5.4.5 Benefits and Effects

Road safety research produces many benefits, which can be categorised into the following main divisions listed

below. Specific examples of these benefits are also provided.

7.5.4.6 Problem Assessment

Before developing any action plan, an accurate assessment of the road safety situation is required. Road safety

research objectively evaluates the data available and appraises the relative situation with respect to casualty

trends, high-risk road user groups, etc., while also identifying any data deficiencies. While the police will be

responsible for tallying reported road crash numbers and casualties, research should query the accuracy of such

figures and what they indicate about the national and local road safety situation.

Much of the early overseas road safety research work undertaken by TRL‟s Overseas Centre was instrumental in

documenting the harrowing problem of crashes in developing countries. Despite low levels of motorization,

casualty rates were found to be many times greater (per vehicle) than in motorised countries. Figure 7.5.2

showing the fatality rates of the Phare countries compared with the European Union makes a very strong case for

investment in road safety research.

Road crash casualties tended to affect the younger population to a much greater extent (partially due to the age

distribution) and pedestrians were found to comprise a much larger proportion of road crash casualties than in

countries with a much higher rate of motorised vehicle travel. These findings of high accident rates and the

vulnerability of pedestrians and children have influenced road safety policies around the world and helped

determine subsequent road safety research and policy in developing countries. Countries, provinces, or research

institutions can modify the standard data collected on each road accident according to their own needs.

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Figure 7.5.2 Fatalities per 10 000 vehicles (latest year for which data was available).

1.4

1.4

1.7

1.7

1.9

2.0

2.3

2.6

2.6

2.7

2.8

3.1

3.1

3.7

3.7

3.9

4.7

4.9

4.9

5.0

5.5

6.0

6.5

7.4

7.7

8.8

18.6

24.1

SWEDEN

UK

NETHERLANDS

FINLAND

ITALY

GERMANY

AUSTRIA

FRANCE

LUXEMBOURG

BELGIUM

DENMARK

BULGARIA

SPAIN

CZECH REPUBLIC

IRELAND

SLOVENIA

PORTUGAL

SLOVAKIA

ESTONIA

HUNGARY

FYROM

GREECE

POLAND

LITHUANIA

ROMANIA

LATVIA

BH

ALBANIA

FATALITIES/10000 vehicles

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7.5.4.7 Development of Countermeasures

A good accident data system also enables safety authorities to plan effective counter measures and campaigns. It

also serves as a research aid to enable problem areas to be identified, and remedies devised and tested in a

scientific manner.

In the area of road environment, many measures have been developed related to road traffic management and

increased understanding of road user behaviour. These include improved junction design techniques, urban

safety management studies, and better road surfaces. The most significant results of research, however, are

perhaps linked to issues such as seat belt wearing and reduction in drinking and driving.

Evaluation

Good intentions do not guarantee successful results and road safety countermeasures and programmes need to be

evaluated to determine their effectiveness, particularly in relation to cost. International resource scarcity requires

that all resources be used effectively.

The Annual Report of TRL 1992/1993 provided an estimate of the monetary benefits obtained from examples of

its research work. These were selected as places where it was considered possible to place value on most of the

benefits. These estimates were understandably approximate and were expressed as the monetary benefits to the

community in the year of the Annual Report. Benefits from UK road safety research-based projects are shown

below (Table 7.5.3) and provide an illustration of the value of carrying out effective research programmes.

Table 7.5.3. Cost benefit of effective research programmes.

Cost of Research as at 1993

(million Euro)

Annual Benefit

(million Euro)

Seat belt wearing 12 928

Junction crash studies 1.5 7.1

Urban safety management schemes 7.5 24

Drink and Drive studies 4.2 86

Road texture and crash rate 21.4 21.5

The production cost of the highly-acclaimed safety-conscious road design guide for developing countries,

Towards Safer Roads7 has been estimated at 357 000 Euro while the annual benefits from the safe design could

reach 14 million Euro per annum.

7.5.4.9 Scientific Approach

Because of the complexity of accident contributory factors, the many organisations involved, and the emotional

nature of road accidents, there is temptation to embark on policies and countermeasures that are visible but

superficial and with little ultimate effect on the level of road safety. Road safety research should help road

safety policy to be based on an objective and informed basis. Indeed, without relevant local research it is likely

that countries wishing, to invest more resources in road safety will look only at results from other countries and

may well adopt measures inappropriate for their own conditions, thereby wasting those valuable resources.

Effective road safety research provides the framework against which informed decisions can be made, and it is

essential that every developing country should have some local research activity on road safety issues to aid

decision making.

7 TRL. 1991. Towards Safer Roads in Developing Countries. UK: TRL.

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7.6 Conclusions

It is clear that road casualties are a serious and growing problem in the Phare region. 20 000 people are killed

every year and many thousands are injured.

National annual road accident costs in the Phare region are around 2 – 3 per cent of GDP. Research by TRL

suggests that although many economies may lose 1 – 2 per cent of GDP every year through road accidents, in

reality it is likely to be closer to 3 per cent, whilst WB figures suggest socio-economic costs to be 1.5 – 3.5 per

cent of GDP.

It should be emphasised that these losses occur every year. Recurring annual costs of this magnitude are a major

drain upon the economy of a country, and no country, especially one that is undergoing change, can afford to

waste such resources annually.

One problem that needs to be overcome is the general lack of political awareness and will. Road safety is often

not seen as a major issue. Governments in the region must show commitment, leadership and determination in

tackling the problem and recognise the huge economic and social losses the countries are incurring year after

year.

It is hoped that the Global Road Safety Partnership will raise awareness globally. This must be matched locally

with actions undertaken to improve safety. Expenditure on road safety should always be seen as an investment

rather than a cost. This is particularly appropriate in the Phare countries where systems may not be fully

developed. For example, including road safety audit as a requirement for new and rehabilitated roads could help

to avoid greater expenditure later. Improving the safety of a road after construction is many times more

expensive than including safety aspects in at the design stage.

The Regional plans show that there are very large financial benefits to be obtained from the investment in road

safety.

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8. Funding Road Safety

8.1 The Need for Accident Costs Figures

This study has indicated quite clearly that many of the counties of the Phare region already have a serious road

accident problem. Fatality rates (per licensed vehicle) are high in comparison with those of the European Union

and whilst the situation is generally improving in the European Union countries, in terms of fatalities and

fatality rates, many Phare countries face a worsening situation.

Whilst these trends give cause for concern (hence the effort directed to the present study), road safety is but one

of the many problems demanding its share of funding and other resources. Even within the boundaries of the

transport and highway sector, hard decisions have to be taken on the resources that a Phare country‟s

government can devote to road safety. In order to assist in this decision-making process it is essential that a

method be devised to determine the cost of road accidents and the value of preventing them.

The first need for cost figures is at the level of national resource planning to ensure that road safety is ranked

equitably in terms of investment in its improvement. Fairly broad estimates are usually sufficient for this

purpose, but must be compatible with the competing sectors. For example, in a recent road safety study

undertaken in Mauritius, by TRL, it was shown that the annual cost of road accidents nationally was about 30

million Euro. A series of safety improvements were outlined, which, it was estimated would reduce the national

cost of accidents by 5 per cent per annum (i.e. saving 1.5 million Euro per annum). These improvements (in

highway design and layout, education, training and enforcement), were estimated to cost 7 million Euro in a

programme of measures set out over a five year period (at an average annual cost of 150 000 Euro). The average

First Year Rate of Return on investment was therefore about 1000 per cent and the Benefit:Cost ratio about 10:1

High rates of return such as these are fairly common in road safety appraisals and (apart from the humanitarian

aspects), illustrate the economic benefits of investing in national road safety programmes.

A second need for road accident cost figures is to ensure that the best use is made of any investment and that the

best (and most appropriate) safety improvements are introduced in terms of the benefits that they will generate

in relation to the cost of their implementation. Failure to associate specific costs with road accidents will almost

certainly result in the use of widely varying criteria in the choice of measures and the assessment of projects that

affect road safety. As a consequence it is extremely unlikely that the pattern of expenditure on road safety will,

in any sense be „optimal‟. In particular, if safety benefits are ignored in transport planning then there will

inevitably be an under-investment in road safety. Only when the total extent of the human casualty toll and

economic cost of road accidents is known in a single country, the road safety situation will be better appreciated

by politicians and decision makers and the case made for increased road safety investment

8.2 Calculating Accident Costs

Costs of road accidents can be divided into two main categories with several sub-categories as illustrated in

figure 8.1.

Figure 8.1 Total costs of road accidents

Total costs of a

road accident=

Costs per casualty=

medical costs

+

non-medical costs

+

lost productive capacity

+

other economic costs

+

human costs.

+Costs per accident

=

damage to property

+

administration costs

+

other costs.

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Various methods exist for the costing of injured or death persons due to road accidents:

Gross Output;

Net Output;

Court Award;

Implicit Public Sector;

Willingness to Pay.

A description of these various methods is given in Appendix J. Most of these methods however are generally

discredited and the two methods (or variation on them) currently recommend are the Gross Output approach and

the Willingness-to-pay approach.

Accidents are usually costed by degree of severity so that separate values are determined (by using one of the

above mentioned methods) for fatal, serious, slight and damage-only accidents. It must be stressed that countries

with a dissimilar wealth and culture will place different monetary values on an injured or death person as a

result from a road accident. Therefore no average costs are presented here. The national cost of road accidents is

then determined by multiplying the cost of accident severity by the number of those accidents taking place each

year.

8.3 Funding for Sustained Reduction of Road Accidents

To reduce road accidents effective road accident countermeasures have to be implemented. To do this adequate

funds for these countermeasures have to be available. Adequate funds are however not the only requirements for

a sustainable reduction of road accidents. There are several conditions for sustainable road safety work:

Adequate political support/concern;

Adequate funds from both the public and private sector;

Implementation of the right countermeasures. This means:

Adequate technical and administrative resources with consideration given to the training of key

personnel;

An understanding of the problems that relate to each country (and region) with efforts co-ordinated

amongst different organisations working on all aspects of road safety, but in particular:

- traffic and highway engineering;

- education and training;

- enforcement;

- health services;

- publicity;

- driver testing;

- vehicle testing;

A safety programme;

Adequate monitoring and evaluation.

The relations between the several requirements for improving road safety are illustrated in figure 8.2

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Figure 8.2 Relations between the several requirements for sustained reduction of road accidents

The best way to ensure that budgets are available and protected and that trained staff are assigned to road safety,

is for central government to create an organisation dedicated to initiating and coordinating road safety activities.

Establishing a NRSC or Road Safety Directorate often does this. Such a body can then help co-ordinate all the

agencies working in the various disciplines, ensuring that duplication of effort is avoided and that activities of

the different agencies complement one another. In larger countries, regional, provisional, or even municipal

committees should also be established.

The key coordinating body should oversee the implementation of urgent improvements and the coordinating

efforts of the different organisations to produce a Five-year Safety programme. Each organisation and

government department that is a member of the NRSC (or equivalent) should prepare within its own sphere of

activity a five year programme to enhance national road safety. For example, the Ministry of Health may try

and expand and improve emergency services or the Public Works Department may identify and improve the 100

worst accident black spots on the road network.

All these activities should be contained within a single document, which would then form the national road

safety action plan. Each aspect of the plan needs to be costed, and when approved, adequate funds made

available to allow the programme to be fully implemented.

Monitoring and evaluation are necessary at all steps of a road safety policy or programme to ensure that the

proper action is actually carried out or that necessary adjustments are made. Decision-makers can use the results

from monitoring and evaluations as a basis for more road safety action.

8.4 Sources of Funding

In virtually all countries, central government is responsible for developing and implementing a co-ordinated

road safety programme. For the funding of a road safety programme several sources can be used:

international funding;

government budgets;

user fees;

other (private) sector organisations.

8.4.1 International Funding

Political

concern

Funding

Implementation

Accident

reduction

Monitoring

Research

Evaluation

Insurance levy

Fuel levy

International funding

Private sector

State budgets

Cost-benefit analyses

Pressure from other countriesMedia publicity

Safety programmes

International assistance

Know-how

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International funding may be provided for a limited time and for special purposes, but the basic funding for road

safety activities must be national.

8.4.2 Government Budgets

The disadvantage of government funding is that it may vary from one year to the next, which may pose great

problems for the feasibility of the road safety programme.

8.4.3 User Fees

User fees however, based on the road traffic will be stable, or even increase as the road traffic increases. To

organise revenues from user fees one can think, for example, of a fuel levy or a charge on insurance premiums.

The large amounts of regular income that can be raised for road safety via a small levy on third party insurance

premiums (TPIP) can be illustrated by some examples. The State of Victoria in Australia, by imposing a levy of

10 per cent of TPIP (equivalent to 21 Euro per vehicle per year), raises 56.65 million Euro a year for investment

in road safety. Finland, which imposes a levy of only 1 per cent of TPIP (3.67 Euro per vehicle per year), raises

8 million Euro per year. A levy of about 8 per cent of TPIP as suggested by the former WB/EU mission reports

would provide annual amounts of 28 million Euro (Poland), 20 million Euro (Hungary), 12 million Euro (the

Czech Republic) and 7 million Euro (Slovakia), and so on. It would provide a sound basis for a permanent and

efficient road safety policy. The scheme merits a high priority, even with lower levels of funding to begin with.

The benefits in Western Europe are easily identifiable

Adoption of similar approaches by other countries and adoption of a levy on TPIP (accompanied by a

requirement for and enforcement of third party insurance for all motorised vehicles) could raise millions of

Euros in each country.

8.5 Other (Private) Sector Organisations

8.5.1 Insurance Industry

The role of the insurance industry should not be limited to a passive funding source for road safety. The

insurance industry is after all a third party who benefits directly if the number of accidents decreases. In most

countries, the insurance industry has traditionally limited its involvement to post accident compensation

payments. A no-claims discount was most probably the only incentive or attention those motor vehicle

insurance companies gave to accident prevention. This situation has proven unsustainable with many insurance

companies, (outside the European Union) incurring excessively high claims loss ratios; i.e. the amount of money

paid in accident claims compared to that collected in policy premium payments, as accidents claims increase

rapidly in the countries undergoing rapid motorization.

A more active partnership should be sought between the insurance industry and the government. The insurance

industry‟s support and commitment to road safety will be greater if it is involved in the organisation of road

safety and is able to help determine the use of their funds. Accordingly, the insurance industry should be

represented on the finance subcommittee, if not the main body of the NRSC.

8.5.2 Other (private) Sector Organisations

While all private sector companies would benefit from an improved corporate image by investing in road safety,

many private sector organisations outside the insurance industry have a direct incentive in promoting road

safety. Businesses with large fleets or expensive vehicles are already interested in reducing crashes among

their own vehicles and adopt safety-conscious policies that include strict testing of potential drivers as well as

medical and alcohol testing of current drivers. Advanced driver training may be offered and driver hours

controlled. Safety bonuses and awards are also standard policy whereby employers try to offer drivers added

incentives for safe driving.

In the UK many private sector industries have acknowledged the devastating impact of crashes and have

become directly involved in promoting road safety. Some fuel companies have adopted road safety, and have

invested both financial support and employee effort, e.g. in campaigning for the reduction of road accident risks

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to children. In addition to vehicle design, the automobile industry has contributed to campaigns and Volvo,

apart from its prestigious international safety award each year to encourage innovation in road safety, has been

active in some countries in raising awareness of safety issues. The „don‟t drink and drive‟ campaigns during

the holiday periods and the provision of some taxi services and late-night buses in the UK have been co-

financed by the major breweries.

Non-government organisations and service groups can also play a significant role in raising road safety

awareness among the general public. They are arguably in the best position to reach the local community and

road safety can be easily incorporated into a basic life skills and education programme. While private sector

work can be organised and provided externally, the initiative should be co-ordinated with government activity to

maximise impact.

Finally credit must be given to the numerous multi-lateral and bi-lateral agencies for supporting road safety

initiatives throughout Eastern Europe and elsewhere. The present study funded by the European Commission

under the Phare programme is an obvious example of the important role played by a multilateral agency in

support of regional road safety initiatives.

An important recent development has been the setting up of the GRSP by the WB, the International Federation

of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, numerous bilateral aid agencies and others. Over recent years the

WB has set up a number of initiatives under the framework of its Business Partners for Development (BPD)

programme. These covered areas such as natural resources, water and sanitation, youth development and now

road safety. These have all been set up with partners from the private sector as well as multi-lateral international

organisations, bilateral agencies etc. A steering committee for GRSP is now in place with the aim of creating an

information global network that aims to produce solid evidence of the positive impact of partnerships – both the

developmental impact and the business benefits. Two important aspects of GRSP are the involvement of the

private sector in funding road safety projects and the promotion of a greater awareness of road safety world-

wide. GRSP already has the position support of a number of West European aid agencies such as DFID (UK),

GTZ (Germany), together with the European Transport Safety Council (Belgium), the International Road

Federation (Switzerland) and numerous European research institutions.

Hopefully, therefore using its mechanism of the GRSP, more road safety projects, will, in the future be

undertaken throughout the Phare region.

8.5.3 Funds for Road Safety in the Phare Countries

It is, impossible to state categorically what sum of money a country should spend each year on road safety.

However, it is clear that countries spending large sums on safety countermeasures show consistent reductions in

accidents and accident rates. In the state of Victoria, Australia, for example, over the three year period 1989 to

1992 road accident deaths were halved from almost 800 per annum to 400 per annum. Over this period, a

massive investment took place in improved legislation, enforcement, and the use of speed cameras. A

programme of black spot treatment costing over 75 million Euro in two years produced savings of about

190 million Euro. Within this programme, funding from the private sector was made available, as well as from

the public sector. Similarly, in Japan, road deaths were reduced from a peak of 18 289 in 1969 to 9 640 by 1997

(IRF source). Again, massive investment took place in a wide range of safety activities with strong centralised

control exercised by the Prime Ministers Office.

Table 8.1 gives an overview of the investments in road safety in the Phare countries. The table shows the

existence of road safety programmes and the accompanying budgets (if known) in the different Phare countries.

The table is based on the results of the missions to the 13 Phare countries, which were made between 15th

December 1998 and 10th February 1999.

It can be stated that is not easy possible to get a comprehensive picture of the actual budgets and expenditures to

improve road safety. These budgets are in many different institutions and are not easy to trace. Besides this, it is

not always easy to separate the safety related costs and costs related to other aims (maintenance, regional

development). However, the general conclusion can be drawn that for almost every country the budget for road

safety activities is low and definitely not sufficient. Funding of road safety activities through a special taxation

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of the insurance premiums by law did not take place except for Estonia. In this country the road safety

organisation receives the money for road safety publicity from the insurance premiums. In other countries the

insurance companies also fund road safety publicity (although not „forced‟ by law). For the greater part however

funds for road safety are coming mainly from state budgets.

A short term road safety programme does exist in some countries, for example in the Czech Republic, Hungary,

Poland and Latvia. A long-term action/policy plan with regard to road safety however is mostly lacking. In

Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina there are hardly any road safety related activities because there is no co-

ordination. In both countries the reason for this situation is the unstable political situation.

Table 8.1 Overview of the existence of road safety programmes and budgets available in the Phare countries

Safety Programme Funds/Funding

Bulgaria The national road network is renovated and

road safety is here carefully taken into

account.

Total budget for the national road network is 1999

is around 200 million Euro (36.5% of the total of

Bulgarian public investment).

20 hours/year road safety education in

primary and secondary schools (=quite high).

Funding problems for materials.

(Future role of) National Road Safety

Commission is to be responsible for

campaigning for road safety.

The national Road Safety Commission had a

budget of 1 million Euro for a road safety

campaign in 1994-1995. Other funds are lacking.

Czech Republic

National Road Safety Council is a

coordinating body for road safety. A new

(short-term) action plan has been approved

by the Czech Government in October ‟98 for

increasing the safety of road traffic in 1999-

2000. This action plan has a comprehensive

activity programme.

Long-term action/policy plan not available.

Funds for the action plan: Not apparent.

No finance from insurance companies is

channelled into road safety activities.

Financing of road safety programmes and all

activities should be secured.

Road Safety publicity is tackled from several

angles.

State budget and occasionally several private

companies from motoring, insurance and health

sectors contribute.

Hungary A road safety policy plan in which the

longer-range objectives, visions and ideals

are outlined is lacking.

There is a short-term road safety action plan

both for common goals and for specified

tasks.

There are funding systems, which secure

continuity for the work.

Road safety education covers all primary

school classes.

Funding: not apparent.

Poland Action plan for improving safety on roads in

1998 comprises:

modernisation works on 185 dangerous

road sections;

traffic calming in heavily urbanised

areas;

development and implementation of a

system for effective elimination of black

spots on the national road network.

Budget for the action plan 1998: 49 PLN million

which amount was double the available amount in

1997.

Approximately 6 million Euro under the World

Bank Loan will be used for the procurement of

road safety equipment for the police.

Romania There are currently no road safety

campaigns.

Long term traffic safety plan is not available.

The Government gets no part of the insurance

premiums.

The funding for road safety is a problem.

Slovak Republic There is no consistent long-term road safety

policy.

Short-term road safety plan? (not likely).

Some 8% of the insurance revenues (total of about

250 000 000 Slovak Crowns/year) is channelled

towards road safety.

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There is a lack of overall Co-ordination of

the road safety work. Political support for

road safety is weak.

Other sources: Not apparent.

The funding has to be improved: many of the plans

are not implemented and many of the ideas not

cultivated due to the scarcity of resources.

Albania There are other safety problems than road

safety that need urgent action.

There is no organisation responsible for road

safety.

The state owned insurance company has been

involved in funding safety education and the

publicity schemes.

Bosnia-

Herzegovina

There is other safety problems than road

safety that need urgent action.

There is at present no co-ordination of road

safety activity. Within the Federation of

Bosnia Herzegovina, there are 10 Cantons

(districts). Each Canton is responsible for

road safety in its area and tends to work in

isolation.

Lack of funding for road safety.

Estonia Responsibility for all areas of road safety is

the Estonian Road Administration (ERA) by

delegation from the Ministry of Transport.

Road safety plan/policy in the Parliament

The road safety organisation receives the money

for road safety publicity from the insurance

premiums by law.

Other safety related measures are financed by state

budgets.

Latvia A national road safety programme has been

agreed.

There is no target setting for accident

reduction.

Funding of national road safety programme: not

apparent.

A national Road Fund was established in 1993,

which receives money from fuel tax and vehicle

registration fees. Most of the money however goes

to the maintenance of roads and only a small part

to traffic safety.

Lithuania The Traffic Safety Fund is engaged in

publicity campaigns, publicity materials,

scientific work, safety specialists, traffic

police and safety engineering improvements.

Programme: ?

Ministry of Transport deals with road safety

(since ‟96). Programme: ?

Municipalities are responsible for the local

roads but there is little road safety activity at

local level.

There is no target setting for accident

reduction.

Annual budget of the Traffic Safety Fund: about 6

million Litas which is raised from a contribution

from fines, registration fees and transport

operators.

Former

Yugoslav

Republic of

Macedonia

National Committee for Road Safety is a

government institution coordinating the

prevention of accidents. A new programme is

passed every year in order to improve the

regulations.

Funding: state budget.

Lack of adequate funding in most of the areas.

Slovenia The Slovene Road Safety Council works

effectively in the field of road safety

education. In general terms there is a lack of

a co-ordinated approach.

The Slovene Road Safety Council receives half of

their funding from the state budget and raises the

remainder through sponsorship (insurance and

auto industries, oil companies). Budget: around 39

million Slovenian tolars.

There is a lack of funding in all areas (publicity,

adaptation of hazardous spots etc.).

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9. Summary Conclusions and Recommendations

9.1 Overview

During the period of this study, in just one year, an estimated minimum 17 000 people have been killed on the

roads in Eastern Europe. Allowing for an average life expectancy of 30 years, this is a loss of 500 000 life years.

This does not take into consideration the additional casualties of over 200 000 persons.

In air accident terms this is equivalent to two passenger aircraft crashes a week, a figure which would be totally

unacceptable and one likely to ground all airlines while a public enquiry ensued. Flying is much safer than

travelling on the roads, yet the perception of risk in most peoples minds is the opposite. World wide, by the year

2010, road deaths will be the third major cause of death with 1 000 000 victims a year, and using the aircraft

analogy again, this amounts to a staggering 11 plane crashes a day! This is totally unacceptable.

Child deaths are equally horrifying and when aggregated, are equivalent to the complete annihilation of all the

pupils in one primary school, each year, in most countries. Death is clearly much more acceptable when it is

geographically distributed.

The risks are significant for all road users. During a period of 50 years of life, we may estimate that 1 per cent of

that cohort (the number of people born during that period) are likely to die in a road accident. An even larger

percentage will be seriously injured.

The gradual attrition of human life in road accidents is clearly considered on a different level, perhaps as

collateral damage, and an acceptable life risk. Such double standards should be exposed as totally unacceptable

to the travelling public. The public should be educated in the dangers of motoring and should demand action

from their leaders and legislators, which will cut the annual slaughter. The accident problem has solutions but

the political will is lacking at present. The public should be educated to demand accountability from their

politicians and action to change the present situation. Neglect of these demands should be exposed as culpable

homicide.

The cost is threefold. In addition to the suffering, there may be a financial burden on the family if they have lost

one of their main providers. There is also an estimated financial burden of between two and three per cent of

GDP to the national economy.

This Road Safety Project and the associated documentation (accessible on CD and the Internet) will have an

unprecedented distribution potential. It will not merely be available to practitioners and specialists, but to the

general public, educational institutions, and charities. The people will now be in possession of the facts and can

begin to press for changes and this may be the most important initial effect of this project.

9.2 Planning Priorities

Most high-income countries have had half a century to learn to cope with the problems of ever increasing

motorisation. The less wealthy nations have had less, and for many the pace of change has been much greater.

Many emerging countries have a serious road accident problem, with higher fatality rates by comparison and

whilst in Europe and North American the situation is generally improving, emerging countries face a worsening

situation.

The situation in Central and Eastern Europe lies somewhere between these two. Apart from the humanitarian

aspects of the problem, road accidents cost countries about two per cent of their GNP each year – sums that

most countries can ill afford to lose. Compared with causes of death more commonly associated with the

developing world, deaths from road accidents are by no means insignificant. Lack of medical facilities in these

countries has been shown to be an important factor leading to high death rates.




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9.3 Funding

With support from multinational organisations such as the WB, the European Commission and also bilateral

agencies such as DFID, SIDA, etc., many Phare countries have accelerated their efforts to improve road safety

in recent years. It is hoped that these trends will continue and that all countries will, through joint programmes

of research and development and by sharing information, maintain an effective and scientific approach to

reducing road accidents throughout the world. However, international funding may be provided for a limited

time and for special purposes, but the basic funding for road safety activities must be national.

User fees however, based on the road traffic will be stable, or even increase as the road traffic increases. To

organise revenues from user fees one can think, for example, of a fuel levy or a charge on insurance premiums.

The large amounts of regular income that can be raised for road safety via a small levy on third party insurance

premiums (TPIP) can be illustrated by some examples. The State of Victoria in Australia, by imposing a levy of

10 per cent of TPIP (equivalent to 21 Euro per vehicle per year), raises 56.65 million Euro per year for

investment in road safety. Finland, which imposes a levy of only 1 per cent of TPIP (3.67 Euro per vehicle per

year), raises 8 million Euro per year. A levy of about 8 per cent of TPIP as suggested by the former WB/EU

mission reports would provide annual amounts of 28 million Euro (Poland), 20 million Euro (Hungary), 12

million Euro (the Czech Republic) and 7 million Euro (Slovakia), and so on. It would provide a sound basis for

a permanent and efficient road safety policy. The scheme merits a high priority, even with lower levels of

funding to begin with. The benefits in Western Europe are easily identifiable

Adoption of similar approaches by other countries and adoption of a levy on TPIP (accompanied by a

requirement for and enforcement of third party insurance for all motorised vehicles) could raise millions of

Euros in each country.

The role of the insurance industry should not be limited to a passive funding source for road safety. The

insurance industry is after all a third party who benefits directly if the number of accidents decreases. In most

countries, the insurance industry has traditionally limited its involvement to post accident compensation

payments. A no-claims discount was most probably the only incentive or attention those motor vehicle

insurance companies gave to accident prevention. This situation has proven unsustainable with many insurance

companies, (outside the European Union) incurring excessively high claims loss ratios; i.e. the amount of money

paid in accident claims compared to that collected in policy premium payments, as accidents claims increase

rapidly in the countries undergoing rapid motorization.

A more active partnership should be sought between the insurance industry and the government. The insurance

industry‟s support and commitment to road safety will be greater if it is involved in the organisation of road

safety and is able to help determine the use of their funds. Accordingly, the insurance industry should be

represented on the finance subcommittee, if not the main body of the NRSC.

It is, impossible to state categorically what sum of money a country should spend each year on road safety.

However, it is clear that countries spending large sums on safety countermeasures show consistent reductions in

accidents and accident rates. In the state of Victoria, Australia, for example, over the three year period 1989 to

1992 road accident deaths were halved from almost 800 p.a. to 400 p.a. Over this period, a massive investment

took place in improved legislation, enforcement, and the use of speed cameras. A programme of black spot

treatment costing over 75 million Euro in two years produced savings of about 190 million Euro. Within this

programme, funding from the private sector was made available, as well as from the public sector. . Similarly, in

Japan, road deaths were reduced from a peak of 18 289 in 1969 to 9 640 by 1997 (IRF source). Again, massive

investment took place in a wide range of safety activities with strong centralised control exercised by the Prime

Minister‟s Office.

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As a result of this project, country specialists and consultants have identified a series action plans tailored to

meet the needs of the individual 13 countries. The overall cost estimate for the actions are given in table 2

below.

Table 9.3.1 identifies the most expensive measure and the cost of that measure for the country. The cost of the

plans are also expressed as a per capita sum, which as can be seen is a relatively small amount.

Table 9.3.1. The costs of the action plans

The cost benefit of implementing the Road Safety plans

There are competing needs within the countries and this coupled with the financial constraints within developing

economies places the investment in road safety as a lower priority. However, it is suggested that there is a

national financial gain to be had from implementing the plans. It is not a question as to whether the countries

can afford the plans; it is a question of whether they can afford to ignore them!

It is suggested that the cost of road accidents can be between 2 to 3 per cent of the national GDP. Table 9.3.2

calculates the cost benefit for the introduction of the plans. The accident cost has been taken at the lower figure

of 2 per cent and the benefits in accident reductions at 10 per cent (again a lower figure than that suggested by

the country experts).

Table 9.3.2. The cost benefit of implementing the programmes.

The benefits of road safety improvements in most cases are very large indeed.

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9.4 Recommendations

1. The immediate implementation, in their entirety of the Action Plans and Regional Plans, particularly the

effective low cost measures (i.e. winter speed limits, use of safety belts etc.). Agree priorities, set realistic

targets and regularly monitor the results,

2. Develop an overall annual review strategy, for example using the DEE framework,

3. Develop institutional links and partnerships with the European Union institutes and organisations,

4. Develop and intensive media and political campaign for public awareness of the road accident situation.

Encourage the dissemination of information within the country,

5. Develop funding sources for programmes within the countries and lobby for funds from the government,

6. Reform the Motor Insurance industry and generate revenue for safety programmes by hypothecation,

Other basic requirements for middle-income countries are likely to include the following, although this list may

not be exhaustive:

7. Adapt a scientific, quantitative basis for road safety policy. Establish research centres, establish data systems

and integrate with transport policy;

8. Create an institutional focus for road safety plans and actions which must be multi-disciplinary. It will be of

assistance to have the plans translated into the appropriate country language. Form road safety councils, train

safety teams and establish realistic targets;

9. Press for long term land-use and transport policies to reduce the use of the more dangerous modes and mixes

of traffic;

10. Highways: plan well-defined hierarchies of use, reduce the unexpected on highways, institute safety audits,

low-cost remedial works and low speed/pedestrian priority areas in cities;

11. Behaviour and training: target young road users. Legislate against, and control driving whilst drunk or on

drugs. Improve targeted enforcement;

12. Vehicles: priority given to seatbelts, and also to helmets for two-wheelers. In low-income countries, target

public and parastatal freight and bus fleets (for general vehicle condition as well as other measures);

13. Improve emergency medical services for those who survive the first few minutes after a crash but die within

the next few hours (often two-thirds);

14. With all measures, adopt, experiment and evaluate – and let the results be known and transferred on a

national and international basis. To this end a common accident data form would prove invaluable. It is also

essential to regularly evaluate the success of the implimentation of the measures.

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Appendix A

Terms of Reference

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PHARE MULTI-COUNTRY TRANSPORT PROGRAMME

ROAD SAFETY

TERMS OF REFERENCE

1. Background Information

The transition period since 1989 in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe has been mainly characterised

by the following phenomena:

a) the lack of financial resources which has made it difficult to meet investment requirements in the transport

sector as a whole

b) the reorganisation of central and local governmental offices together with changes and transfers of

functions; and

c) a redistribution of decision-making power between the State and the local communities and between the

central, municipal and regional government offices.

With regard to many sectors concerned with road safety, the former mechanisms for action and regulation have

been largely eliminated and have not been fully replaced by new methods of operation. The State has not found

its proper role, its areas of responsibility have not been entirely defined and its regulatory functions have not

been adequately defined.

One of the key developments in this period has been the increase in car ownership in the Countries of Central

and Eastern Europe. As incomes have risen, cars have assumed a new status as a symbol of freedom and

liberalisation and the transition to the market economy has generated much greater opportunities for doing

business and for using leisure time more effectively. In this context, car ownership has become a must for those

that can afford them. This upward trend in car ownership has unfortunately resulted in a greater incidence of

accidents due to the absence of a safety culture among drivers and the failure to implement road safety

programmes that address both infrastructure and behavioural issues.

Apart from the increase in the number of cars, two important factors have contributed to the increase in road

accidents: drivers' attitudes towards traffic controls and regulations; and the adjustment to increased

motorization.

Rapid democratisation has resulted in a sense of freedom in driving behaviour that very often exhibits a total

absence of constraint, prompted by the disappearance of restrictive regulations and controls. Individuals now

feel responsible only for themselves and, to a certain extent, have a disregard for the regulations of society. In

addition, success on the road, i.e. being faster and more competitive, has attained a certain status.

Another important factor is related to the adjustment to rapid motorization. Road traffic is a complicated

interaction process, based on numerous legal prescriptions complemented by a large number of informal

regulations. Nearly all the countries with a rapid growth in motorization share the same problem: people have to

adjust to traffic and learn how to behave appropriately. This adjustment takes time and involves learning by

doing. In the past, driver education in the Central and Eastern European countries emphasised the technical

aspects of cars and the formal regulations of traffic and driving. This did not prepare drivers for the new and

rapidly changing environment in which they had to operate after 1989.

This background shows that accidents are very much related to social changes. Addressing road safety will,

therefore, require a global vision of the problems and a global approach to tackle the issues.

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In road safety, as in other fields, the countries of the EU provide a lasting source of reference for the Central and

Eastern Europe which has expressed its desire to comply with international rules and standards. Membership of

the EU will, furthermore, require compliance with those operational in the Member States.

Studies indicate that during the next 15 years, if appropriate road safety policies are put in place and

implemented in Central and Eastern Europe area, at least 400 000 lives could be saved.

Developments in road safety are strongly related to traffic growth and to the quality (of improvements) of the

road transport system. Accelerated traffic growth, as may be expected in Phare countries, has to be accompanied

by appropriate risk reducing measures. Fatality rates will tend to decrease only as a result of collective efforts

and are in no sense spontaneous. When traffic growth is anticipated, no time should be lost in investing in

safety. This relationship requires a road safety programme that is integrated into transport and infrastructure

policy. It will also require integration with other areas particularly public health, justice, education, police, etc.)

which are also very relevant.

Emphasis should also be placed on the behavioural changes necessary to develop a safety culture among drivers.

As an example, former Eastern Germany has through a broad road safety programme achieved safety levels

equivalent to those applying in the rest of Germany compared with the situation pre-1989 when the situation

was much worse.

Speeding up the learning curve for improving road safety in Central and Eastern Europe is of major importance.

Cooperation between highly-motorised countries and the CEC countries in transition, could result in a better

road safety record than was actually achieved in the European Union in the past.

2. Objectives of the Study

The objective of this project is to transfer road safety expertise from the Member States of the EU to the relevant

authorities in the Phare countries by:

a) examining current policies on road safety in each of the Phare countries and assessing the

impact and cost of those policies;

b) reviewing existing studies and actions carried out in this area in the countries concerned;

c) providing training in best practices for road safety;

d) developing national road safety policies that are compatible with those in the EU;

e) implementing new road safety methods;

f) providing a mechanism for the dissemination of knowledge amongst the countries concerned;

g) examining successful policies undertaken in the EU Member States and the Phare countries

themselves;

h) formulating an Action Plan for the implementation of these programmes and the ongoing

monitoring of their impact.

Cooperation is an important element in training experts from Phare countries and special attention will be given

to the dissemination of the knowledge gained and experiences at the end of the project. The project will be

organised in such a way that the appropriate input from the Phare countries is guaranteed and that regional

cooperation is encouraged through the sharing of experiences and the harmonisation of policies. The lessons and

experiences of EU road safety programmes will also provide a valuable input to the exercise.

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3. Scope of Work

The project will be divided into 3 Phases i.e.:

Phase One: Assessment of the Current Situation;

Phase Two: Recommendations;

Phase Three: Action Plan.

Each of these is described below.

Phase One: ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT SITUATION

3.1. Data on Road Accidents in the Phare countries

To provide a framework to assess the impact of road safety measures in the countries concerned, the Consultant

will be required to provide time-series data on the incidence of road accidents and their magnitude in each of the

countries included in the study and relate this to such factors as the level of car ownership, expenditure on road

safety campaigns, legislation etc. The Consultant should also review data collection facilities in the countries

concerned and assess its compatibility and compliance with established EU practices.

3.2. Implementation of National Road Safety Plans

In 1992-1993 a mission, sponsored by the EU Phare Programme and the WB, provided recommendations for

road safety policy in the six target countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, the Slovak

Republic and Romania). This culminated in a seminar in Bucharest.

The task of the present sub-project is to obtain fairly detailed descriptions of the current status of road safety

activities in the six countries, especially how far the recommendations are followed in practice and how

appropriately the activities are managed through national road safety programmes. Included in this should be an

assessment of facilities for testing for road worthiness in each of the countries. An indication of the costs

involved in each of the national programmes will be required as well as the impact of such programmes. Poland,

the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic have already undertaken significant initiatives in this area and the

Consultant should assess their impact to date and the degree to which these programmes can be replicated in the

other countries.

3.3. Assessment of Programmes in Other Phare Countries

Missions will be undertaken to the other countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia) not included in the Phare/WB study to make an overall

assessment of the road safety situation in each of the countries.

These missions will be designed to provide the following information:

a) an overview of the current situation with regard to the incidence of road accidents;

b) an evaluation of the current road safety actions with regard to government expenditure, effectiveness and

performance; this again should include an assessment of facilities for testing for road worthiness and of the

enforcement legislation in force;

c) planned initiatives;

d) cooperation with other EU and Phare countries;

e) financial commitments.

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3.4. Audits of Road Safety Situations on the Helsinki - Corridors in Phare Countries

The objective of this element is to establish a methodology to improve safety on the existing roads. This will be

done by studying part of one of the Trans European Road Network route as an illustrative example for

comparison between safety audit and accident investigation approach. This will be done partly by examining

accident black-spots.

Traffic accident black-spots are locations on the road network where the amount and severity of traffic accidents

substantially exceeds the average amount (and severity) of the same type of accidents occurring in similar traffic

conditions elsewhere. Black spot approach is the traditional way of analysing accidents by finding similarities

between features of accidents. Based on improvements in road design, infrastructure investments will assist in

eliminating these accidents.

Safety audit is a newer approach and has been aimed specifically at new road construction or the redesign of

existing sections. It is the systematic application of consistent safety checks throughout the preparation and

construction of a highway scheme, to ensure minimum accident risk to all classes of road users. Safety audit

should be applied at various stages in the design process and immediately prior to opening. Benefits of audits

are not yet well quantified but indications are that substantial safety and cost benefits can be achieved.

The concept of implementing safety audit on existing roads has the same objective as for new schemes, and

should aim to identify the existing features of design, layout and road furniture which are not compatible with

the safe function of the road under consideration. The safety audit of an existing road should identify those

elements and features which do not comply with the standards necessary for the roads functional status in the

road hierarchy, or which produce unsafe conditions or introduce unsafe behaviour.

In this context, it is proposed that part of Helsinki Corridor IV running North-West/South East from Prague

through Brno, Budapest, Arad to Bucharest in Romania be chosen as a test site since it is predominantly

motorway.

Other transport corridors connecting the other countries involved could also be included especially those not

interconnected by motorways.

In this context, the Consultant should refer to a number of traffic safety studies completed along the Via Baltica

which provide a master plan for the maintenance, development and operation of the road network and related

highway safety programme.

The Consultant will be expected to perform the following tasks:

a) Obtain information on accident histories and create an accident database and relate this to trends in traffic

flows;

b) Obtain information on local safety standards and inspect the corridor and potential problem sites;

c) Video and photograph the route;

d) Analyse detailed traffic characteristics;

e) Draw up general recommendations on measures needed to address the specific problems identified.

In addition, the Consultant should also identify “system and policy related” risk factors that need to be reduced.

These include the following:

low maintenance levels and abrupt changes at borders;

patterns of behaviour of local transport ( vehicles and pedestrians/cycles);

standards and quality of signs and information to drivers.

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Phase Two: RECOMMENDATIONS

3.5. Preparation of Best Practice Reports

National standards are not uniform in the various countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In some cases the

upper and lower limits of values that are recommended do not match. In other cases the standards are even

contradictory. It is also apparent that standards for certain elements of road design only exist in some countries.

Furthermore, standards may be obligatory or have the character of a guideline.

As a result of all this, the actual layout and even the use of the roads differ considerably between the countries

and also within countries. Even without changing any official standard much can be done in the field of

harmonising the practice of road design and operation by just making use of the margins in the existing

standards.

In a smaller number of cases obligatory standards would have to be changed to arrive at harmony.

The objective of this exercise is to set-up best practice reports and build-up expertise among the practitioners as

well as establish a network in the region. This technical guide can be used as a toll for traffic engineers in

Central and Eastern countries.

These best practice reports will cover major two lane roads outside of built-up areas, urban roads and traffic

calming and the enforcement of traffic laws.

Reference here should be made to the work being carried out by the WB on the Knowledge Management

System (KMS) which is currently being established and will provide a comprehensive database.

The Consultant should take into account differences in the prevailing traffic environment and behaviour/

cultures when identifying the best practices to promote. A good example is automatic speed control, which has

produced outstanding results in Finland and Norway but has not been implemented at all in Sweden.

3.6. Setting-up a Regional Monitoring and Evaluation System

For rational road safety policy it is essential to monitor and to analyse development in road safety indicators, to

find underlying forces which influence these developments and to analyse in which ways road safety measures

have influenced these developments. A monitoring and evaluation system (MES) for road safety can be helpful

for this purpose.

This project intends to set up a practical system of monitoring and evaluating road safety developments. In this

first phase a prototype of a system needs to be developed. The system contains a computer-application and

help-desk and this concept will be taken as a starting point for this project.

A MES contains information about the development of road safety indicators and relates this to underlying

factors and road safety measures. It should not only contain data but also interpretations and explanations, based

on analysis of the data. Such a system provides for a quick understanding of the developments by the parties

concerned and timely adjustment of policy.

The MES should fit to the actual traffic safety policy and cover a wide range of subjects. However, as the

purpose of the project is to develop a working prototype, it is proposed to use only data that is relatively easily

available. An existing MES could be used as a starting point. For example, in the Netherlands such a system has

now operated successfully for one year. The following limitations need attention, for the prototype as well as for

the future implementation.

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3.7 Behavioural Aspects

In addition to the recommendations given above, the Consultant should also make proposals on ways of

developing programmes that address the link between behaviour and road accidents. These should include such

aspects as Don't drink and drive campaigns, anti-speeding programmes, children's awareness campaigns,

wearing seat belts etc.

Reference here should be made to successful programmes carried out in the former East Germany and in

selected EU Member States.

3.8 Phare Road Safety Seminar

The objective of this component is to present the conclusions of the sub-projects and the national reports on road

safety developments in the CECs as part of the follow-up of the Phare Traffic safety Policy Seminar held in

October 1994 in Budapest.

The seminar will focus on the following and will be held in one of the Phare countries:

a) the degree to which the conclusions of the original studies undertaken by Phare/WB have been

implemented and the impact measured;

b) the degree to which the countries not covered in the original study have taken steps to implement

nation-wide road safety programmes and their cost and impact recommendations on policy initiatives

and the legislation required to enact road safety measures;

c) best practice reports and the implementation of the regional Monitoring and Evaluation System.

The cost of this seminar and the travel and subsistence costs of the participants are to be included in the contract

budget as a reimbursable element. It is expected that 3 people from each country will be involved over a two day

period. For financing of the seminar, see section 9 below.

Phase Three: ACTION PLAN

The Consultant will be expected to provide an overall Action Plan for translating the results of this study and the

recommendations of the WB Mission (see 3.2.) into a series of concrete actions that can be implemented either

at the National level or through further Multi-Country initiatives. While the project is essentially regional in

focus with the emphasis on developing cooperation between the countries involved, the Plan should also be

country-related and take due account of the differences between the countries. This should include the

following:

a) schedule of activities to be pursued and the targeted beneficiaries;

b) indicative costs of such actions;

c) training needs required to support such actions;

d) potential links with EU organisations operational in this field;

e) anticipated outputs.

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4. Expected Output

4.1. Submission of reports

The Contractor shall submit the following reports in accordance with these provisions:

4.1.1. Inception report shall be submitted one month after the start of the project.

This Inception report will:

a) define clearly the aims and objectives of the technical assistance and/or studies to be provided;

b) set out a detailed work plan for the rest of the project;

c) identify the counterpart staff and other persons able to support the project in each of the beneficiary states.

4.1.2. Interim Report I to be submitted 5 months after the start of the project, upon completion of Phase One.

4.1.3. Interim Report II to be submitted upon completion of Phase Two at the end of month 7.

This will provide the input to the Seminar, which will take place in month 9.

4.1.4. Draft Final Report to be submitted eleven months after the start of the project upon completion of'

Phase Three.

4.1.5. Final Report together with an Executive Summary to be submitted twelve months after the start of

the project.

4.1.6. All reports shall be written in English.

4.1.7. All reports need approval by the Steering Group.

4.1.8. The Contractor will provide 2 copies of each report to each of the countries, 5 copies to the European

Commission, 10 copies to the Phare Multi-Country Transport Programme Co-ordination Unit in Prague, 1 copy

to each WB mission in the countries covered and 3 to the ECSIN sector in the WB.

5. Required Input and Expertise

It is estimated that the project will require 60 man months of expatriate input and 40 man months of local

expertise. This will be particularly important in collecting data, interfacing with Ministries and assisting in the

formulating of appropriate road safety strategies.

It is expected, that the Consultant has experience in:

Road safety management;

Managing international projects;

Knowledge of road safety policies in the EU and the Phare countries;

Training;

Transport planning and economics;

Highway design.

Experience of working in the Phare Partner countries will be preferable as will the use of local consultants in all

of the Phases of the study.

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6. Time Schedule

The duration of the contract is 12 months.

7. Monitoring of the Study

The project will be supervised and managed by the European Commission and the Phare Multi-Country

Transport PCU in Prague. The overall implementation of the study will be monitored by a Steering Group

consisting of representatives from:

The EU Commission (DGIA/B5, DGVII);

The Phare Multi-Country Transport PCU;

The WB;

3-4 representatives from selected Phare countries;

An independent expert with specific expertise in road safety in the EU.

The Steering Group and the Consultant are expected to have a number of meetings. The meetings will be held

upon submission of respectively the Inception report, the Interim reports and the Draft Final report. For

financing of the Steering Group meetings see chapter 9 below.

8. Country Involvement

The programme will cover all the 13 Phare Partner countries although emphasis will be placed on those with

Association Agreements.

9. Financing of the Seminar and Steering Group Meetings

A separate reimbursable budget within the total budget available for this project for provisions for participating

in the seminar and meetings of the Steering Group should be included. This budget will include all travel and

per diem for Phare members of the Steering Group and for Phare participants in the seminar. Furthermore, all

costs related to meeting facilities etc for the seminar and Steering Group meetings will also be included. No

provisions will be included for the Consultant. This reimbursable budget shall be 90 000 Ecu.

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Appendix B

Project Team profile

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Tenderer: Finnroad, Finland - TRL, UK, European Road Safety Federation, Belgium 20.4.1998

Sector: 1. Project Director 2. Senior Safety Management Specialist 3. Accident Data Collection Specialist

4. Senior Accident Data Analysis Specialist 5. Accident Data Analysis Specialist 6. Safety Management Specialist

7. Traffic Engineer (Safety Programmes) 8. Traffic Engineer (Action Plans) 9. Highway Engineer (Safety Programmes)

10. Highway Engineer (Action Plans) 11. Traffic Engineer (Safety Audits) 12. Highway Engineer (Safety Audits)

13. Traffic Engineer (Best Practises) 14. Highway Engineer (Best Practises) 15 Law Enforcement Specialist (Best Practises)

16. Monitoring & Evaluation System Specialist 17. Traffic Engineer (Monitoring & Evaluation)

18. Transport Economist 19-20. Police Specialists 21. Monitoring & Information & Education Specialist

22. Information & Education Specialist 23. Training Specialist 24. Local Staff and Seminar Management Specialist

25. EU-Liaison Specialist 26. Project Secretary

Name of the

expert

Present Position Years of

exper

Age Nationality Educational

background

Specialist area of knowledge Experience in

Beneficiary States

Languages and

degree of

fluency

1. Roth M Director 35 60 Finnish M.Sc. CE

Transportation

Traffic Engineering and

Management, Safety Auditing,

Road Safety Studies

Hungary-92-4, Poland-

92,, Phare, Latvia-96,

Lithuania-97, Phare,

Estonia-96, 97

Eng-5, Swe-5,

Ger -3, Spa-3,

Hun-2, Est -2

2. Gerondeau C Vice president 36 60 French Eng. Doc.

Transportation

Traffic Safety Management Fre-5, Eng-5

3. Segercrantz W Senior Research

Scientist

35 60 Estonian/

Finnish

Dr.Sc.

Transportation

Transport Economy, Traffic

Safety

Estonia, 1959-, Latvia,

1967- , Lithuania, 1967- Eng-4, Rus-5,

Est-5, Fin-5

4. Jacobs G Programme

Director

(International)

37 61 British Ph.D. Transport

Planning Transport Planning, Traffic

Engineering, Road Safety,

Training in international projects

Eng-5, Fre-3,

Spa-2

5. Woodgate E Researcher 19 41 British HNC Business

Studies

Analysis of Traffic Related Data Eng-5, Fre-4,

Spa-3, Rus-1

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Name of the

expert

Present Position Years

of exper


background

Specialist area of knowledge Experience in Beneficiary

State

Languages

and degree of

fluency

6. Mikkonen V

Professor

(Emer.)

Man. Dir (Ret.)

35 63 Finnish Ph.D. Traffic Psychology & Safety

Research, overall Manage- ment,

International Projects

Baltic States 91-98,

Hungary 90-98, Poland

92-98, Czech and

Slovenia

Eng-4, Ger-3,

Swe-4

7. Winnett Mike Senior Officer 34 53 British M.Sc in Physics

and

Mathematics

Accident Reduction Techniqies,

Speed Enforcement Measures

Pedestrian Safety

Eng-5, Fre-2,

Ger-2

8. Wegman F Research

Director

26 49 Dutch M.Sc. CE

Traffic

Engineering

Management of international

research projects of road safety

1977- present Romania,

Poland, Hungary, Baltic

States, Czech R., Slovak

R.

Enf-5, Ger-5,

Fre-4, Spa-3

9. Mathiassen P Road Safety

Advisor

8 33 Danish M.Sc. CE. Traffic Safety Policy, Safety

Audits

Slovenia-97, Safety

Assessment, Po-land-97,

Training

Eng-5, Ger-3,

Fre-2

10. Mackie A Project Manager 47 60 British M.Sc. CE Safety Engineering, Urban Safety

Management, Traffic Calming

Safety Audit

Eng-5, Ger-3,

Fre- 3

11. Granne Y Principal

Consultant

30 55 Norvegian B.Sc. CE Accident Data Systems and

Analysis, Management of Road

Safety Studies

Eng-5

12. Huhtala R Project Eng. 13 41 Finnish M.Sc. CE Traffic Engineering, Road Safety Estonia 96- 97, other

Baltic States-96

Eng-4, Ger-3

13. Jansen S Research

Manager

34 52 Dutch M.Sc. CE Road Safety Research

Management, Traffic Engineering,

Road Design

Poland –93, -96, -97 Eng-4, Ger-4

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Name of the

expert


of exper


background


State

Languages

and degree of

fluency

14. Selby T Consultant 4 25 British M.Sc. Trans.

Eng.

B.Sc. CE

Traffic Engineering, Data

Analyses, Road Design

Eng-5

15. Meulen P Inspector of

Police

27 45 Dutch M.Sc. Policing Traffic Policing, Traffic

Education, Enforcement

Eng-4, Fre-2,

Ger-3, Ital-1

16. Brouwer M

Project manager 20 41 Dutch Sosiol.Dr. Information and education,

Research and Policies

Hungary –94, Poland –94 Eng-5, Ger-4,

Fre-3

17. Yeadon M Principal Con-

sultant,

28 47 British B.Sc. CE

Transport

Planning

Traffic Engineering, Road Design

and Safety Standards

Romania-94, Eng-5

18. Maters H Senior Econo-

mist,

18 45 Dutch M.A. Police

Studies

Transport Studies, Evaluation and

Monitoring

Poland-92, Romania-93 Eng-5, Ger-4,

Fre-3

19. Rowland D Head of Special

Operations

32 52 British Dr. Sc. Pol Traffic Policing, Police Training Poland-1995, Hungary-

1996- , Romania-1996-7,

Slovenia-1996

Eng-5,

Ger-5, Fre-4,

20. Hassel S-O Chief Super

intendent (ret.)

40 61 Finnish Police

Command

Courses

Legislation, Accident

Investigation, Traffic control,

Police Training

Latvia, Estonia, Romania Eng-5, Swe-5

21 Smith K Senior

Consultant

13 34 British B.Sc.

Psychology

Road safety Education, Training,

Publicity

Eng-5, Spa-3

22. Kaba A Research Co-

ordinator

25 47 Austrian Ph.D.

psychology

Traffic Behaviour and Psychology Eng-5

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Name of the

expert


of exper


Background


State

Languages

and degree of

fluency

23. Granberg T Project Manager 30 52 Finnish M.Sc CE

Transportation

Traffic Engineering, Traffic

Safety Management &

implementation Training,

Baltic States 87- Eng-5, Swe-5,

Ger-3, Fre-3

24. Kuntscher H Managing

Director

30 56 Austrian M.Sc. CE Traf.

Planning

Transport Planning & Economy,

Project Management

Baltic States 71- Eng-5,

Slovak-1

25. Theunisz P Managing

Partner

24 47 Dutch B.Sc. CE Project Management, EU

Relations Adviser

Bosnia & Herzegovina-

96-7, Poland-94-96

Eng-5, Ger-3

26. Hurtta A Consultant 18 41 Finnish B.Sc. CE Road

Planning

Highway Planning, Project Co-

ordination and Secretariat,

International Projects

Estonia 97-, Lithuania 97-

, Hungary 96

Eng-4, Ger-2,

Swe-3, Est-1

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Profile of specialists

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Appendix C

Seminar participants

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Appendix D

CD Contents

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Appendix E

Summary of Recommendations

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Summary

1. Establishment of an independent central coordinating organisation.

2. Formation of two mobile police training units.

3. Development of an electronic communications systems between the central organisation and individual

nations.

4. Develop a police driver training programme and national police driving schools.

5. Speed enforcement technologies to be developed with a co-ordinated protocol on enforcement.

6. Development of drug recognition programmes and co-ordinated alcohol enforcement campaigns.

7. Programme to encourage greater usage of seat belts by education and enforcement activities.

8. Organise a conference of EU and Phare countries involving traffic officers at a strategic and operational

level.

9. Improve data collection techniques to target more accurately high risk collision locations.

10. Appointment of a national co-ordinator for roads and traffic policing and a national co-ordinator for training

activities in all countries.

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Appendix F

Mobile Training Unit - Costs

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Transport

One minibus Euro 75,000

Equipment

Speed Detention Devices (x3) Euro 15,000

Alcohol Detection Devices (x3) Euro 10,000

In Car Video Systems (x2) Euro 7,500

Collision Investigation/Reconstruction Euro 10,000

Reflective Clothing, Signs, etc. Euro 5,000

Tachograph Equipment Euro 2,500

Display on police car Euro 5,000

Communication equipment Euro 20,000

Communications (brochures) Euro 25,000

Training consumables (instruction books) Euro 35,000

Personnel (per year)

Trainers (x4) Euro 300,000

Co-ordinator (x1) Euro 75,000

HQ Co-ordinator (x1) Euro 75,000

Other Costs (per year)

HQ co ordination Euro 15,000

Fuel Euro 10,000

Board & Lodging (5 p. 5 days/50 weeks) Euro 31,000

Maintenance (incl. insurance mobile unit) Euro 40,000

Contingency Euro 25,000

Total for One unit Euro 781,000

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Appendix G

A survey of the Training Programme

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A survey of the Training Programme

Training in Phare countries can be achieved with the assistance of the trainers of the No.6 (S.W.) Region Police

Driving School in the UK. This School offers a variety of courses, as well as developing specific training

packages to meet the needs of individual clients. The trainers of this school have very considerable experience

of training officers in traffic and driving skills abroad.

The areas to be considered for the training in the Phare countries include:

Driver Training;

Traffic skill;

Patrol duties;

Enforcement techniques;

Enforcement strategy;

Organisation of patrols;

Traffic Management & Control;

Accident Investigation;

Road Safety – Education, Training & Publicity;

Vehicle examination;

Development of Traffic Trainers.

The aim of this training package is to be able to sustain its own traffic training programme, capable of

continuing for many years to come. In order that a programme of training can be developed it is recommended

that a fact-finding visit in the Phare countries must be made.

Local experienced officers of the rank of sergeant or inspector (max. 15-20 students) should attend the course.

The duration of a Police Driver-training will last 4 weeks. It will provide the skills required by low and

intermediate powered police vehicles. It will develop the correct attitude and defensive skills to meet the

demands of modern motoring. It will produce a systematic approach to car control and it will train police

officers in pursuit and emergency response driving.

The method to be used: Theory of Road-craft, Highway Code, pursuits, emergency response and protecting of

on-road incident scenes.

Practical instructions both on and off road, including skid control, manoeuvring, pursuit and emergency

response. Final examinations in theory and practice.

Officers who had reached the recommended level on a Standard Training and are employed on motor patrol

duties requiring a high level of skills, have the possibility of following an Advanced Car Driving Training

programme of a four week duration.

The objective of this is to enhance the skills of the standard student so he/she is capable of safe, systematic

driving at high speed, with a high degree of all-round proficiency. This will enable the officer to enforce the

law, provide fast response and undertake pursuits. Additionally, it will produce the skills and expertise required,

setting a proper example and coping with the various exigencies of police driving.

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Appendix H

The TISPOL Structure

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The TISPOL Structure

The Aim

In promoting road safety in the EU, a fundamental step is to provide for the continuous exchange of ideas and

up to date information on the road safety methodologies, policies and techniques applied in the member states,

by organising the main experts from the traffic police departments of the 15 capital cities of the EU within a

Trans-European network. The project objective is to provide these experts with the organisation, skills and tools

to enable them to communicate with each other in a professional and a structured manner.

Background

Since 1991, the traffic police departments of the capital cities of the EU have been working closely together

with various national Road Safety Organisations in organising popular road safety activities. In the margins of

these events, the representatives of the traffic police departments often discussed matters of mutual interest,

including the creation of a permanent network organising all traffic police officials interested in international co-

operation. At the initiative of Mr. Peter ter Meulen of the Amsterdam Traffic Police Department, these

discussions soon culminated in the formation of the basis of an exchange of experience network consisting of

police officials representing traffic police departments from all over the world.

The often ad-hoc cooperation between those persons making up the network showed that a formal structure,

through which, in particular, the expertise of traffic police officials could be gathered and dispersed, offering a

definite added-value to the traffic police departments involved. Hence, the present efforts of the 15

departments, particularly those of the capitals of the EU, to organise themselves around the concept of Traffic

Information System Police: TISPOL

With TISPOL, the policemen and policewomen involved hope to be better able to take account for the growing

need of exchanging their experience and expertise and to provide for the accurate and prompt translation of their

ideas in practical road safety promotional activities. The partners believe that the information exchanged via the

TISPOL-network will have an immediate and positive impact on road safety in the EU and may well help the

formulation of a more harmonised approach to road safety in the Member States.

Concept

From the very beginning, the basic concept of TISPOL has been that of a professional databank – an

international, potentially digital, and preferably multilingual road safety documentation and information centre,

where practical information will be found and stored on the operational aspects of road safety.

The exchange of information will include successful ways to educate the public at large or certain target groups;

infrastructural matters; human resources management, effective ways to maintain road safety in situations

differing from city to city; technical qualifications of certain products or vehicles; actual insight information on

the formulation of road safety policies in the cities concerned, and so on.

The information exchanged will be easily comprehensible, if necessary, translated into national languages. This

is to make sure that the information can be directly applied in practice and, also importantly, will prevent the re-

invention of the wheel, where (traffic) police officers inform their counterparts that they are planning new

“innovative” projects only to find out that a similar project has already been carried out by others. In the latter

sense, TISPOL will actually work as a clearing-house, a practical and certainly a much-needed institute in day-

to-day road safety practice.

Given the emphasis on exchanging information, the backbone of TISPOL will be formed by a permanent Trans-

European data communication network in which initially all traffic police departments of the members states of

the EU will participate. Linking themselves to this digital network will provide each department with a powerful

tool to organise its communication with its counterparts.

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Despite the obvious advantages of telecommunication, non-digital network building is also covered by TISPOL.

The building of a strong organisational network is a necessary pre-condition for the building of the digital

network. Without a strong commitment from all participants to co-operate nationally, their written intentions to

join forces in bringing about the TISPOL project will remain dead letters.

In March 1996 a meeting was organised by the European Commission (DGVII) with police officials

representing traffic police departments of the capital cities of the EU. At the meeting, the decision was taken

that the emerging cooperation between these traffic police departments could, and should, be strengthened, so as

to enable these departments to exchange their experiences and transfer knowledge on road safety issues.

Since 1996 the TISPOL network has been led by a core group of police officials, who organised the TISPOL

meetings. Some of the meetings were naturally held to discuss the digital project‟s proceedings, including the

expansion of the user group beyond the frontiers of the EU. Others were held to carry out accompanying project

activities, like the European Drink/Drive Enforcement Campaign, and the policy advises of the representatives

of the capital cities to the EU-Commission with regards to the drink and driving and drugs and driving.

Over and the above network building, TISPOL may stand at the basis of a new Trans-European development in

the field of road safety. By influencing the formulation of practical policy decisions (new instruments, methods

and techniques), from the operational level, up to the top decision-making bodies, using the expertise of the

most outstanding experts in the field, TISPOL will add a new operational dimension to road safety policy

making. It will make sure that the expertise of many outstanding experts in the field is heard and included in the

road safety decision making process in the EU.

With the support of DGVII the project “Cooperation of Traffic police” (TISPOL) commenced at the beginning

of 1997. The project had the following objectives:

1 Organising, within a network, the traffic police departments of the 15 capital cities of the Member States of

the EU;

2 Establishing an advisory-body that could be consulted by the members and third parties on road safety;

3 Creating an electronic network enabling members to communicate, and to store and retrieve information;

4 Organise network meetings;

5 Compiling reports on road safety issues.

At the April 1997 meeting, Amsterdam was formally acknowledged as the project leader. Apart from presiding

over the various network meetings and taking care of the financial arrangements with the EU, Amsterdam

supervised the preparation of the meetings and reports to DGVII.

During the meeting in November 1997, the change of the project leader was discussed by the members. All

members agreed that the leadership should transfer to Dublin after 1998, when the current financial grant from

the EU expired. Currently, Dublin has been unable to obtain funding from the EU for the project. The network

has remained intact and the members in contact with each other.

Actual situation

At the meeting May 18th 1999, in Brussels, the representatives of Finland (Helsinki), Italy (Rome), England

(London), Scotland (Glasgow), Wales, Ireland (Dublin) and North-Ireland (Belfast) has decided to give the

TISPOL-network an extra impulse by creating an independent organisation. In this way the above mentioned

activities of the TISPOL-network can actually be established.

It was agreed that the network should expand beyond the capital cities.

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Appendix I

DEE Framework Country Comparisons

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178

0

0

73

49

66

56

37

0

17

38

68

90

43

46

0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = COORDINATION

0

12

60

65

59

31

15

0

82

39

75

86

7

30

0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = EDUCATION

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5

13

54

20

92

58

52

0

43

30

53

67

39

49

0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = PUBLICITY

2

5

4

30

46

38

61

0

65

44

86

100

61

53

0

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = RESEARCH

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180

10

33

66

85

83

89

95

0

93

88

89

93

72

68

0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = ACCIDENT DATA

55

55

58

45

92

73

59

0

48

50

87

62

52

71

0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = INSURANCE/COSTING

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181

65

41

81

75

79

73

91

0

61

60

78

79

63

56

0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = POST ACCIDENT ASSISTANCE

10

18

64

60

66

73

85

0

85

56

74

89

76

68

0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bosnia

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = ENGINEERING

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80

53

81

30

79

94

91

0

82

83

84

94

84

82

0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = DRIVER TESTING

90

44

76

20

94

91

98

0

78

64

67

91

94

64

0

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = VEHICLE INSPECTION

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70

42

71

80

69

74

71

0

93

71

83

97

93

71

0

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = ENFORCEMENT

25

26

65

50

75

71

72

0

68

60

77

87

64

61

0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Bosnia Herzegovina

Albania

FYROM

Slovenia

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Slovakia

Bulgaria

Hungary

Czech Republic

Romania

Poland


Comparison of countriesDEE Indicator = ROAD SAFETY TOTAL

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Appendix J

Methodology for Calculating Accident Costs

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Methodologies for calculating accident costs

There are several methods that can be used to determine the costs of road accidents:

The Gross Output (or human capital cost) approach;

The Net Output approach;

The Life-Insurance method;

The Court Award approach;

The Implicit Public Sector Valuation approach;

The Willingness to Pay approach.

The Gross Output (or human capital cost) approach

In this method the costs can be divided firstly into those costs that are due to a loss or diversion of current

resources, and secondly into those costs that are due to a loss of future output. Costs due to a loss or diversion of

current resources include costs of vehicle damage, medical treatment and police/administration costs. Costs due

to a loss of future output are calculated using average wage rates to determine lost output both for the year of the

accident and then for future years, with future costs discounted to present day values. This is not done separately

for individual killed or injured, but rather is done based on average output or earnings data. In some variants of

this approach it is common to add a significant sum to reflect the „pain, grief and suffering‟ of fatal accident

victims and their relatives and dependants.

The Net Output approach

This approach is similar to the „gross output‟ approach, but in this case, the discounted value of the victim‟s

future consumption is subtracted from the gross output figure. This method was used prior to the early 1970s in

the UK (before being replaced by the gross output approach) and a crude estimate of consumption per head was

calculated based on the total consumer expenditure and the public authorities‟ current expenditure divided by

the total population. The difference between an individuals gross output and future consumption in this

approach may be regarded as a measure of the rest of society‟s interest in his continued survival. The

disadvantage of this method however is that it can lead to a negative valuation of human lives. The future

consumption of, for example elderly people or unemployed persons, can be greater than their gross output

resulting in a negative value.

The Life-Insurance method

In this method the cost of a road accident is directly related to the sums for which „typical‟ individuals are

willing to insure their own lives and limbs. However, there are various problems with this approach. Firstly the

amount of insurance, although giving some estimate of the value of someone‟s life to his dependants, does not

indicate the value of life to the insured person himself. For example, a wealthy bachelor may have little cover,

whereas a poor person with many children may have much greater insurance cover, but the wealthy bachelor

may place a very high value on his continued survival. The method is also not satisfactory in countries where

relatively few people carry life insurance.

The Court Award approach

In this method the court costs awarded to surviving dependant are regarded as an indication of the value that

society associates with the road accident. However, this is a very imperfect method, as court awards are based

on various complex issues, such as the degree of negligence of the defendant, rather than simply the value of

life.

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The Implicit Public Sector Valuation approach

In this method an attempt is made to determine the costs and values that are implicitly placed on accident

prevention in safety legislation or in public sector decisions either in favour of or against investment

programmes that affect safety. Experience of this method has shown that it is a very imprecise method of

valuing human life.

The Willingness to Pay approach

This approach is based on the premise that the allocation of public sector resources should reflect the

preferences of the individual citizens affected by those decisions. Therefore the value of a given road safety

improvement is defined as the sum of all the amounts that people affected by the improvement would be willing

to pay for the reductions in risk provided by the safety improvement. Thus the value of prevention of one

accident involving one fatality is defined as the total amount that all individuals would pay for the small risk-

reduction, both for themselves and for those they care about. These values are calculated using complex

questionnaires to examine how people trade off income for physical risk. In practice it is very difficult to obtain

reliable estimates

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