Shaping the Road Network for Road Injury Protection

1. Implementing the Recomendations of the World Bank/WHO World Report in Ibero-America and the Caribbean Shaping the Road Network for Road Injury Protection

2. Three critical elements to consider Speeds on our roadways Safer routes for Pedestrians, Cyclists, and Handicapped Crash protective roadsides

3. Cause of Accidents Human Factors (95%) 65% 24% 3% 4% 2% Roadway (29%) 2% Vehicle (8%)

4. Speed by itself does not kill, it is the difference of speed between vehicles or roadside objects that KILLS or INJURES All roads are safe atlow speeds Most motorists will drive at a speed that is at or slightly above what they think is a safe speed, regardless of the posted speed limit

5. Arbitrarily low speed limits do not work Arbitrarily Low Speed Limits

6. differential speed limits do not work either Differential Speed Limits

7. We should classify our roads, set speed limits by road function, and enforce vigorously • Preferably there would be no exceptions for • Geometric design problems • Narrow bridges • Land use

8. We should classify our roads and set speed limits by function (1-2) * Not included in World Report • We should consider • Super highways* up to 110 km/h • Flow roads, interurban 80 to 100 km/h • Distributor roads through cities 50 to 80 km/h • Residential access road 40 to 60 km/h

9. We should classify our roads and set speed limits by function (2-2) * Not included in World Report Super highways are access-controlled and pedestrians or cyclists should never be present* Flow roads should have separate bike and pedestrian lanes Distributor roads through cities have wide pedestrian and cycle facilities Residential access roads should have ample sidewalks

10. Speed Humps – effective speed control? A properly designed and constructed speed hump will tend to reduce the speed of cars and trucks Improperly designed and constructed speed bumps damage cars, buses, etc. They limit response time of firefighters. Proper speed bumps become a play toy for motorcycles creating speed variations that are dangerous “Speed Pillows” are being used in Chile with some success

11. Road Networks, some reflections on Future Roadways • Future roadways • Require a modernization of standards • Require a modernization of safety knowledge • Even if we add 3 to 5% of new roads each year • After 10 years we still have 10,000 km of dangerous road infrastructure • If we continue to design with old standards we will have almost 17,000 km of dangerous roads which will be used by our great grandchildren

12. How long does it take to modernize our standards? • Most of our countries allow large and very large roadside sign supports adjacent to the pavements • Most of our countries use 1960 roadside barrier standards • These barriers may look good to the untrained eye • But, these barriers are death traps

13. One easy solution for roadside barriers Simply require that all barriers, barrier terminals, and crash cushions be “Crash Tested” according to international standards That way we can stop making new drawings each time a new product comes on the market

14. 20º 65 km/h 38 t XX YY NCHRP 350 15º 80 km/h 36 t 15º 80 km/h 36 t 20º 65 km/h 30 t TL3 N2 EN 1317 20º 80 km/h 16 t 25º 100 km/h 2 t 25º 70 km/h 2 t 20º 110 km/h 1,5 t 20º 70 km/h 13 t 725 15º 80 km/h 8 t 15º 70 km/h 10 t 595 595 572 Transverse Kinetic Energy (kj) 20º 100 km/h 820 kg 20º 80 km/h 1,5 t 20º 70 km/h 820 kg 462 20º 100 km/h 0.9 t 288 138 127 132 67 82 43 H1 N1 TL2 H2 H3 H4a TL5 TL6 H4b TL3 TL4 N2 Containment Level

15. An Example: Cable Barriers Tested to both EN and NCHRP standards 3.5 Km of median with cable barrier on each side, that is 7 km of barrier Over 300 impacts in 5 years No fatalities and no serious injuries No median crossover accidents Various motorcycle impacts, one fatal but not caused by cables Only posts are replaced, original cables are still in use

16. How long does it take to modernize our standards? Many of our drainage structures are deadly We keep with the same design standards and no one knows why

17. Road Networks, some reflections on Present Roadways • Existing roadways • Pavement enhancements • Speeds will increase • Must be accompanied by other safety elements • Some roads may have to wait

18. maintaining our investments Barriers that are not repaired can not be expected to save lives Crash cushion repairs may be as little as 5% of the initial investment Crash cushions that are not repaired can be very dangerous and will be destroyed with a second impact

19. Things that we can do right now • Make greater use of International Road Assessment Program (i-RAP) and Road Safety Audits to identify our needs. • Dedicate at least 10 to 20 % of our road budgets to: • Train ministry and other professionals • Upgrade the safety of existing roadways • Maintain existing road safety infrastructure • To conduct Research • To modernize our standards • Each highway agency must have an ongoing program for timely striping and signing of roads • Promote modern road safety education at our universities • Consider road safety throughout the design process and not as an afterthought • Ensure that road safety items will always be funded and not deleted from projects because we ran out of money