1

The Workshop

How to reduce the number of traffic accidents by 50% during 3 years

Integration of

Road Safety Auditin the road design process

and other road safety related issues

Kristian DUUSJASPERS Regional Office for

Central Europe, Vienna

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Contents of this presentation:

1. Some key figures to underline the importance of road safety in road investment programmes

2. Tools and their impact

3. The principles of road safety audit (RSA)

4. Institutional integration of RSA in road agencies

5. Examples and illustrations

6. Impact of RSA on accident reduction

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Why focus on Road Safety Audit in the Operational Programme Transport?

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The OP for economic growth in Lithuania 2007 – 2013

Priority Axis 5 :

66 km of new motorways

315 km new and rehabilitation in total

Key figures

Objective 4: Reduction of accident rates

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The Economic Cost of Road Accidents in Lithuania

• 2010: Economic losses amounts to 1.32 billion Litas (382 M EUR)

• Approximately 1% of national GDP

Key figures

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Traffic distribution

• 80 % of all traffic on 20% of the road network

• motorways & national roads

• Major roads projects a key target

Key figures

77

per mill. inhabitants, EU 2009

Key figures

Lithuania

2009: 110

2010: 92

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Key figures

Percentage change in road accident fatalities during 2001 - 2010

Source: www.baltris.org

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The number of fatal and serious

accidents is falling in Lithuania

Very well, but can we explain why?

Key figures

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Better roads? Better cars? Safer design?

Speed bump Street lights Roundabouts Etc…….

More law enforcement? Better education?

Key figures

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Tools and their impact

Indeed a mixture of several actions and developments

It is important to know which medicine works – to continue and improve the cure!

Road Safety Audit is a tool proven to yield positive cost effective results

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Means of road safety interventions

Enforcement: speed, alcohol, seat belt etc. Improving vehicle safety Implementing ITS on roads (intelligent transport

systems) Education in schools Road safety audit Accident data collection and processing (very

essential to decide targeted actions) Black Spot projects Information campaigns (TV, bill boards ..)

Tools and their impact

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EC Road Safety Directive 2008/96/EC

Applicable on TEN-T road network Art. 3, road safety impact assessment Art. 4, road safety audit Art. 5, safety ranking (black/grey spots) Art. 6, safety inspections Art. 7, Accident data management (fatalities) Art. 9, RSA curricula adopted by 19 Dec. 2011 Art 14, transposition, 19 Dec. 2010

Tools and their impact

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Inspections and audits

Tools and their impact

Road Safety Inspections & Ranking of existing roads

Accident investigations and safety surveys

Used as a cure on existing road network to improve road safety based on safety performance

Road Safety Audit on new roads

A focussed independent safety check applying accumulated experience on road safety

Used as prevention in design of new infrastructure or in case of rehabilitation works

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Tools and their impact

Lithuania is already advancing fast in improving road safety

There is an growing experience among various experts and practitioners

Many actions related to RSA have already been done in the past

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Safety inspections and ranking

Through accident records traffic police and road authority know where the critical spots and sections are

Black spots and sections are identified and analysed

Solutions are found by road authority & police in cooperation with other institutions

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Safety inspections and ranking

Implementation according to resources Monitoring and follow-up Enforcement, education and

information

State, regional and district level

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Safety inspections and ranking

European Road Assessment Programme

EuroRAP

International Road Assessment Programme IRAP

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Safety inspections and ranking

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Safety inspections and ranking

Accident data processing and management

Road Safety Audit

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What is RSA – a definition

A formal systematic road safety assessment of a road scheme carried out by an independent, qualified auditor who reports on the project’s accident potential for all kinds of road usersElvik & Sørensen 2007

“Put on your blinkers!”

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How to introduce RSA in the national system

Based on the Danish Manual of RSA

1. Organisation

2. Procedure

3. Project Phases

4. Training of Auditors

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Organisation (1)

Client – Designer – Auditor

Define and divide the responsibilities between the three parties prior to RSA

How to introduce RSA

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The Client – owner of the road infrastructure

e.g LRA 

The Designer – responsible for planning, design, launch of RSA, and response to RSA report

The Auditor, carries out an independent critical safety review of the project

Organisation (2)

How to introduce RSA

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Organisation (3)

Client = highway authority or municipality

Designer = HA design dept. or consultant

Auditor = HA safety dept. or consultant

How to introduce RSA

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1

The RSA procedure

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2

Ordering – Reviewing - Completion

The designer orders the review The auditor examines the project and

reports to the designer (Check list) The designer responds to the RSA report The auditor declares the RSA complete

The RSA procedure

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Designer

Auditor

Client

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Ideal relationship between the three parties

The RSA procedure

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Defining the stages

1. (Pre) feasibility study, planning

2. Preliminary design

3. Detailed design

4. Opening

5. Monitoring (road safety inspections)

RSA can be carried out at any of these five stages!!

How to introduce RSA

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Training (1)

1. Set up the training curricula for road safety auditors

2. Training Institution: the existing institute for continuing

professional development in the road sector

the road engineering faculty at the universities

The National Road Safety Council other

How to introduce RSA

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Training (2)

Candidates for RSA training:

Road engineers and planners with at least 3-5 years of practical experience from road authority or road consultancy

2-3 years of experience with road safety analysis

How to introduce RSA

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Training (3)

Course duration for experienced trainees:

1-2 weeks intensive course

Course duration for trainees with limited road safety experience

To be assessed individually

How to introduce RSA

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Benefits of Road Safety Audits

Safety risks for different user groups are identified (cars, pedestrians, bicycles)

Expensive reconstruction can be avoided if RSA is done already at design stage

Reduces socio-economic cost caused by accidents

Improves design quality through structured discussions between planners

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Example of RSA (Phase 1) remarks and recommendations

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Project example - any problems?

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Project example -new four leg junctions

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Examples of RSA recommendations

Make roundabouts when appropriate

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Examples of RSA recommendations

or staggered junctions

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Project example – Stage 5

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Project example – Stage 5

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Examples of RSA recommendations

Provide rumble strips on road edge – to alert road users

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Examples of RSA recommendations

Guard rails

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Any safety problems?

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Maybe!

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A solution - provide side barriers

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Examples: Speed calming measures

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Cost of road safety audit (average)

Up to 4% of road design cost Approx. 0,25% of construction cost

Construction: 50 M EUR Constrution with RSA: 50,1 M EUR

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Impact of RSA on accident rates (1)

Denmark, 13 projects, >25 accidents saved per year, additional project cost due to RSA was 1,2%

Germany, RSA may prevent up to 70% of all accidents on newly constructed roads

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Impact of RSA on accident rates (2)

UK, Surrey County, compared 38 projects of which RSA was carried out on half of them:

With RSA – 60% drop in casualties

without RSA – 10% drop in casualties

USA, road safety inspections and follow-up improvements on existing roads led to 20-40% reduction of accidents

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State-of-the-art road safety approach:

Self-explanatory and forgiving roads

If a road explains itself, the road user will drive as appropriate

If an accident occurs, the road should be forgiving, i.e. aim at reducing the impact of the error as much as possible

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Self explanatory ?

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Self explanatory ?

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Self explanatory ?

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Forgiving road side?

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Conclusions:

It is important and relevant to carry out road safety audit on road projects in Lithuania:

The accident frequency on Lithuanian roads is high, however declining

The social and human cost of accidents are very high

The investments in new roads are substantial Road Safety Audit has proven to be a cost

effective method to improve road safety, especially when applied in the design phase

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Safe journey !!

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Key Information Sources for this presentation:

European Campaign for Safe Road Designhttp://www.saferoaddesign.eu/

European Road Assessment Programmehttp://www.eurorap.org/

Baltris http://www.baltris.org EU Road Safety CARE, http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety International Transport Forum incl. IRTAD http://www.internationaltransportforum.org/irtad/index.html Global Road Safety Partnership

http://www.grsproadsafety.org/knowledge-audits-14.html Bundesanstalt für Strassenwesen, BASt,

http://www.bast.de/cln_005/nn_42254/DE/Statistik/statistik-node.html?__nnn=true

The Handbook of Road Safety Measures, Elvik a.o.2009