1st European Road Infrastructure Congress | 18-20 October 2016 | Leeds, United

Kingdom

The strategic focus of the

International Road Assessment Programme

Stephen Stacey1

European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP aisbl), Rue de la Science 41, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is a registered charity dedicated to preventing the more than 3.500 road deaths that occur every day worldwide. At the heart of iRAP is a spirit of cooperation. The organization provides tools and training to help road authorities, governments, funding agencies, research institutes, automobile associations, and other non-government organizations make roads safer. iRAP’s online road safety software platform, ViDA, provides open access to the way iRAP undertakes its assessments and to the actual outcomes. iRAP’s activities include: Inspecting high-risk roads and developing Star Ratings, Safer Roads Investment Plans, and Risk

Maps Providing training, technology, and support to build and sustain national, regional, and local

capability Tracking road safety performance to allow funding agencies to assess the benefit of their

investments.

The programme is the umbrella organization for AusRAP, ChinaRAP, EuroRAP, KiwiRAP and usRAP. Road Assessment Programmes (RAPs) have been applied in more than 70 countries throughout Africa, Asia Pacific, Central and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. About 900,000 km of road assessments are available through ViDA.

iRAP receives structural funding from the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society and the Road Safety Fund. Specific projects have been funded by the Global Road Safety Facility, automobile associations, regional development banks and donors. National governments, automobile clubs and associations, charities, the motor industry and institutions such as the European Commission also support RAPs in the developed world and encourage the transfer of research and technology to iRAP. In addition, many individuals donate their time and expertise.

This paper outlines the methodology of the programme and EuroRAP’s place in it in delivering the RAP mission of maximizing travel on roads rated 3-star or better for all road users.

1. About EuroRAP

The European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP) is an international not-for-profit association first registered in Belgium in 2000.2 Its members are motoring organizations

1 stephen.stacey@eurorap.org, +32 474 50 24 03.2 http://www.eurorap.org/

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and national and regional road authorities and experts elected because of the special contribution they have made or can make to EuroRAP.

EuroRAP is a sister programme to Euro NCAP, the independent crash test programme that star rates new cars sold in Europe for the crash protection they provide to passengers and pedestrians. Euro NCAP demonstrates that well-designed crash protection can make cars safer. Similarly EuroRAP shows how roads can be made safer allowing cars and roads to work together to protect life.

The formal objectives of EuroRAP are to:

Reduce death and serious injury on European roads rapidly through a programme of systematic testing of risk identifying the major safety shortcomings that can be addressed by practical road improvement measures

Ensure assessment of risk lies at the heart of strategic decisions on route improvements, crash protection and standards of route management

Forge partnerships between those responsible for a safe roads system, notably motoring organizations, vehicle manufacturers, and road authorities

Provide independent and consistent safety ratings of roads across borders.

During the last fifteen years, EuroRAP and its partners have assessed about 100,000 kilometres of European roads, 27,500 of these during the EU-funded South East Neighbourhood Safe Routes (SENSoR) project (2012-14).3

2. About iRAP

The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is a registered charity dedicated to preventing the more than 3,500 road deaths that occur every day worldwide.4 At the heart of iRAP is a spirit of cooperation. The organization provides tools and training to help automobile associations, governments, funding agencies, research institutes and other non-government organizations to make roads safe. Its activities include:

Inspecting high-risk roads and developing Star Ratings, Safer Roads Investment Plans, and Risk Maps

Providing training, technology and support to build and sustain national, regional and local capability

Tracking road safety performance so that funding agencies can assess the benefits of their investments.

The programme is the umbrella organisation for EuroRAP, AusRAP, usRAP, KiwiRAP and ChinaRAP. Road Assessment Programmes (RAP) are now active in more than 70 countries throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, the Middle East, Central and South 3 http://www.sensorproject.eu/4 http://www.irap.net

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America, and Africa. iRAP receives structural funding from the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society and the Road Safety Fund. Specific projects have been funded by the Global Road Safety Facility, automobile associations, regional development banks and donors. National governments, automobile clubs and associations, charities, the motor industry and institutions such as the European Commission also support RAPs in the developed world and encourage the transfer of research and technology to iRAP. In addition many individuals donate their time and expertise to support iRAP.

3. Background, development and methodology

iRAP was established to help tackle the devastating social and economic cost of road crashes. It has been estimated that 265 million road users will be killed or seriously injured between 2015 and 2030.5 Nine out of ten of the world’s road deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries. Almost half of those killed will be vulnerable road users: motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians.

Large as the problem is, making roads safe is not an insurmountable challenge. The requisite research, technology, and expertise to save lives already exists. Road safety engineering makes a direct contribution to the reduction of road death and injury. Well-designed intersections, safe roadsides and appropriate road cross-sections can significantly decrease the risk of a motorised vehicle crashes occurring and the severity of crashes that do occur. Footpaths, pedestrian crossings and bicycle paths can substantially cut the risk that pedestrians and bicyclists will be killed or injured by avoiding the need for them to mix with motorised vehicles. Motorcycle lanes can minimise the risk of death and injury for motorcyclists.

By building on the work of Road Assessment Programmes (RAP) in high-income countries and with the expertise of leading road safety research organisations worldwide, including ARRB Group (Australia), TRL (United Kingdom), MRI Global (United States) and MIROS (Malaysia), iRAP has developed four globally-consistent protocols to assess and improve the safety of roads (see Figure 1 below).

Fig. 1. The iRAP protocols5 iRAP ‘Vaccines for Roads,’ 3rd edition, 2015 accessed at http://www.irap.net/phocadownload/Vaccines_for_Roads_3.pdf

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Further information on RAP methodology may be accessed at http://www.irap.net/en/about-irap-3/methodology

Figure 2 below illustrates the process used to undertake these protocols. Star Ratings and Safer Roads Investment Plans (SRIPs) can be used as part of a systematic, proactive approach to road infrastructure risk assessment and renewal based on research about where severe crashes are likely to occur and how they can be prevented.

Fig. 2. The iRAP Star Rating and Safer Roads Investment Plan process

4. What are Star Ratings?

Star Ratings involve an inspection of road infrastructure attributes that are known to have an impact on the likelihood of a crash and its severity. Between 1 and 5-stars are awarded depending on the level of safety which is ‘built-in’ to the road. The safest roads (4- and 5-star) have road safety attributes that are appropriate for the prevailing traffic speeds. Road infrastructure attributes on a safe road might include separation of opposing traffic by a wide median or barrier, good line-marking and intersection design, wide lanes and sealed (paved) shoulders, roadsides free of unprotected hazards such as poles, and good provision for bicyclists and pedestrians such as footpaths, bicycle lanes and pedestrian crossings. The least safe roads (1- and 2-star) are often single-carriageway roads with frequent curves and intersections, narrow lanes, unsealed shoulders, poor line markings, hidden intersections, and unprotected roadside hazards such as trees, poles and steep embankments close to the side of the road. They also do not adequately provide for bicyclists and pedestrians by providing footpaths, bicycle lanes and crossings.

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Fig. 3. Star Rating examples

5. What is ViDA?

ViDA (meaning ‘life’ in Spanish) is iRAP’s online road safety software platform and may be accessed at http://vida.irap.org. Registration is free. There is a video tour of ViDA available and a guide may be downloaded. ViDA is used to perform all iRAP Star Rating and SRIP analyses and to create and analyse interactive safety reports for roads.

Users of ViDA are able to upload road inspection data to produce detailed road condition reports, Star Ratings and Safer Roads Investment Plans. The Star Rating Demonstrator may be used to check quickly the Star Rating of a road or design.

6. How do Star Ratings relate to crash costs and crash data?

Research has consistently shown that crash costs per kilometer travelled are approximately halved for each incremental improvement in star rating.

Fig. 3. Relationship between star ratings and crash costs per kilometer travelled

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7. Why a 3-star minimum?

iRAP recommends that road investment should be targeted to maximise the deaths and serious injuries saved per unit of investment. The levels of investment available should reflect the scale of the problem (estimated to be 2-5% of GDP per year per country). iRAP’s benchmark is that at least 0.1% of GDP is invested in road infrastructure safety upgrades every year. The initial investment focus should concentrate on the highest volume 10% of roads in a country where typically more than 50% of all road deaths occur.

Setting targets linked to volume and/or roads with high crash rates per kilometre or kilometre travelled may be appropriate. Star rating targets can be applied on all roads (urban, rural, high and low-volume) and may be set relative to a class, hierarchy or volume of road. Examples include 4 or 5-star expressways, 4-star dual carriageway or arterial roads, and 75% of travel on 3-star or better for all remaining roads.

Policies to maximise the percentage of travel (or vehicle miles or kilometre travelled) on 4-star roads or better are encouraged. The setting of minimum targets related to kilometres or miles travelled on 3-star roads or better are also effective provided that mechanisms to ensure cost-effective upgrades of high volume roads from 3-star to 4- or 5-star are implemented where appropriate.

With the significant increase in deaths and serious injuries and associated crash costs on 1 and 2-star roads, iRAP recommends that all new or upgraded roads are built to a minimum 3-star standard for all road users. Building brand new 1- and 2-star roads should be avoided as it is likely to impose a significant burden of avoidable death and injury on the community being served by the new road.

Where road engineering standards are poor and cannot be economically raised, the implementation of speed management initiatives can bring operating conditions within the 3-star minimum. Examples include reducing speed limits and operating speeds on mountainous windy roads from 100 km/h (60 mph) to 80 km/h (50mph) or less as required; or reducing speed limits and operating speeds through villages with high numbers of unprotected pedestrians and cyclists to 50 km/h (30 mph) or less. In Victoria, Australia, it has been shown that an economically viable network level investment to upgrade safety would result in more than 50% of road length and kilometres travelled on 4-star or better and the complete elimination of all 1 and 2-star roads (see http://www.irap.org/en/about-irap-3/research-and-technical-papers?download=266:irap-star-rating-policy-targets-discussion-paper).

8. Case Study: Slovak Motorway Company

The Slovak Motorway Company (NDS) is the owner and administrator of the superior road network (motorways and expressway) in Slovakia. The Slovak Government owns 100% of

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the shares. The whole NDS network of 630 kilometres (1,260 carriageway km) was star rated as part of the SENSoR programme. A map of the existing road network is provided at Figure 4 below.

Fig. 4. Star Rating of Motorways in Slovakia 2013

The key outcomes of the assessment were: 59% of the existing NDS network was assessed at 1 or 2-star standard with 35% at 3-

star level and the remaining 6% at 4-star or better. The top four recommended improvements with a high return on investment were road

safety barriers, shoulder rumble strips, clearing roadside hazards, and shoulder sealing.

The NDS operational teams are planning to install 174km of safety barriers at a cost of €80 million, equip all their motorways with shoulder rumble strips, and remove dangerous roadside objects.

Five upgraded sections of 327km were reassessed in 2016 to measure the success of the investment program and verify the improvement in star rating. The reassessment showed that the length of road rated at least 3-star had increased from 27% to 77%.

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Fig. 5. Before (2103) and after (2016) upgrading using barriers and other measures.

9. Examples of star rating targets

9.1 High-income examples of Star Rating targets:

More and more road authorities have set Star Rating targets. Here are some examples: The Dutch Government was the first to adopt a policy of no 1- or 2-star roads by 2020. The Swedish Government measures the percentage of vehicle mileage on roads that

meet EuroRAP four-star standard. Highways England has adopted a target for 90% of travel to be on 3-star or better

roads by 2020. This is linked to broader goals for 4 and 5-star motorways. The New Zealand Government has a target for 4-star Roads of National Significance

(RONS) and recently adopted a review of design standards that ensure RONS to achieve this.

The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics in Australia has proposed that all new roads should be 4+ stars and no road user group less than 3-star. The Tasmanian and Queensland governments have set 3-star targets.

Malaysia has declared a target of 3-star of better by 2020 for 75% of travel on high volume road networks.

Performance tracking using risk mapping is active across Europe, the US (usRAP) and New Zealand (KiwiRAP). Example reports include the 2014 UK results and the 2012 New Zealand results. Benchmarking of the European road system was undertaken as part of the 2011 European Road Safety Atlas project supported by the EU.

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9.2 Low and middle-income country examples:

The Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) Road Safety Guidelines have identified road safety rating as one of the issues to be considered in all stages of a road project.

The Ministry of Transport in China is rolling out ChinaRAP assessments to an expected 350,000km of roads as part of their Highway Safety Enhancement Project titled “highway safety to cherish life”.

The road authority in Mexico (SCT) has assessed over 60,000km of roads and has implemented targeted maintenance spending to reduce 1 and 2-star road sections by 20%.

The Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT) Results Framework developed to support achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target to halve road deaths by 2020 includes an implementation measure to eliminate one or two star roads by 2030.

‘Managing Road Safety in Africa’ published by the World Bank’s Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP) provides a framework for national lead agencies that “can develop a prioritised program of works towards achieving at least 3 star safety ratings for all road users” (p 46).

Fig. 6.Documents using minimum iRAP star rating

With star rating policies and targets in place, it is also important to track performance over time and celebrate success when new roads are upgraded. With appropriate quality reviews undertaken, the public dissemination of improved star ratings can provide a positive message to the public on the investment in safer roads. Design teams can immediately measure and celebrate the expected new star rating. Project teams, road funders and local elected officials can cut the ribbon on new 4- and 5-star roads as replacements for 1- and 2-star roads. Improvements to a network of roads over time can be shared with funding agencies and the public. An example of a recently upgraded road in Queensland is provided below. This was accompanied by positive media coverage and strong community engagement.

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Fig. 7. Celebrating success – upgrading the Bruce Highway

10. Action – now!

As the FIA Foundation has noted, “every six seconds someone is killed or seriously injured on the world’s roads. Road traffic injuries are now the leading cause of death for young people aged 15-29. For men of working age they inflict a mortality burden equal to HIV/AIDS. More than 90% of casualties are in middle- and low-income countries.”6

In 2015 the United Nations confirmed a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with targets for 2030. SDG 3.6 requires signatories to halve global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents by 2020. At a conference to confirm actions, Zolekha Mandela challenged participants: “at least 3-star safety on the highest risk roads by 2020 – no excuses!”7

We know the effective countermeasures that improve the built-in safety of our road infrastructure. We need to find ways to implement them – and to do so quickly!

Acknowledgements

This paper draws on material produced by iRAP colleagues Rob McInerney, Greg Smith, and Steve Lawson. Martin Juck of EuroRAP SK provided the case study from Slovakia.

6 ‘Safe, Clean, Fair and Green: Mobility for All’ accessed at http://www.fiafoundation.org/connect/publications/safe-clean-fair-green7 2nd Global High Level Conference on Road Safety, Brasilia, Brazil, 18-19 November 2015.

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