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The Roads to Respect A European programme for Better Road Safety Engineering. By the European Transport Safety Council in partnership with 3M Europe and Toyota. European Transport Safety Council. A science - based approach to road safety policy :.
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The Roads to Respect A European programme for Better Road Safety Engineering By the European Transport Safety Council in partnership with 3M Europe and Toyota
European Transport Safety Council A science - based approach to road safety policy: • 37 organisations from across Europe under one unique umbrella promoting science-based transport safety measures at EU level • More than 200 experts contributing to ETSC’s Projects, Reviews, Policy Papers, Newsletters, Positions, Lectures, Press Releases, Year Books, etc. • The European Commission, member organisations, member states and corporate sponsors are funding our work
ETSC: priority-based safety work ETSC: Priority-based safety work Ranking EU countries‘ performances - Road Safety PIN Monitoring EU transport safety policy Preventing Drink Driving and Speeding Protecting Vulnerable Road Users - VOICE Campaigning for the treatment of high risk infrastructure – R2R
Road Safety in Europe • 39,200 deaths in the EU in 2006 • Around 3 million injuries • Socio-economic cost: € 200 billion • Non-quantifiable pain and suffering
The EU target and Strategy White Paper (2001) "European transport policy for 2010 : time to decide" Cutting road deaths by 50% by 2010 Insufficient progress towards the target… 3rd Road Safety Action Programme (2003) Sharing responsibility
Insufficient progress... EU: • Roughly 39,200 people are still dying every year on Europe's roads. • Although this represents an 24% drop in six years, the EU is still some way off from its 50% target, set in 2001. Romania: • In 2006, 2573 people died in Romanian roads; 4.8 more than in 2001. • Romania is one of the five countries in the EU-27 that did not reduce the number of fatalities between 2001 and 2006.
Romania performance compared to other European countries Number of deaths per million inhabitants
Romania performance compared to other European countries Reduction of road fatalities 2001/2006
Countermeasures Solutions in 3 areas: • In 2003 the EU adopted its third road safety action plan , designed to encourage road users to • improve their behaviour, • make vehicles safer and • improve road infrastructure.
Road users’ behaviour and Vehicle Safety • Education: Major factors in accidents including driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs; inattentive driving; poor driving skills, etc. • Enforcement: Enforcement of traffic rules means making sure that they are being applied. • Vehicle Safety: Special safety features have been built into cars for years, some for the safety of car's occupants only, some for the safety of others.
Infrastructure safety • Besides the vehicle and the driver, infrastructure is the third pillar of any comprehensive road safety work. • Road infrastructure and design are a contributing factor in one out of three fatal accidents. • Major advancements made in the past few years regarding user’s behaviour and safer cares are unmatched by advancements in infrastructure standards.
Infrastructure safety: Directive Proposal COM (2006) 569 In order to increase safety of road infrastructures, the Commission proposed a comprehensive system of road infrastructure safety management through a directive focussing on the following four procedures: • Road safety impact assessments • Road safety audits • Network safety management • Safety inspections
Treatment of high risk sites • It is important for Member States to develop and implement in due course high and verified standards of road safety management in line with the EU directive… • …but this must in no way delay the early identification and treatment of the worst high risk sites with means that are available. • Identifying high risk sites: Probably most important part of the work! Requires careful observation and investigation and should be science based (gathering accident records/data)
What is a high risk site? Chernobyl Meltdown 1986 But also….
What is a high risk site? …this is a high risk site too!!!! Why? • Dangerous roadside objects (trees) but no crash barriers • Narrow single carriage way with opposite flows of traffic but no separate lane marking • Poor visibility • No preventive sign
The Roads to Respect: a programme for the treatment of High Risk Sites in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovenia and Serbia The Roads to Respect Programme (R2R)
Roads to Respect (R2R) • The Roads to Respect (R2R) programme aims at treating high risk sites where systematic accidents occur • High risk site treatment should be based on engineering and… politics! • Road safety policy should always be based on science
Roads to respect (R2R) • Death and injury prevention is not necessarily expensive or complex, the R2R programme wishes to promote simple, low cost engineering measures, that can significantly and quickly reduce routine accidents. • Students to identify a high risk site and campaign/lobby local authorities for its treatment • The programme will run in seven countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia)
Low Cost Measures • Low-cost road and traffic engineering measures comprise physical measures that: • Have low capital cost, • Can be implemented quickly, and • Offer high ratios of benefit to cost.
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: Before: only one signal
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: ...signal obscured
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: After: overhead signal installed!
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: Before: deteriorated ‘Give Way’ line markings
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: After: reinstatement of ‘give way’ markings
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: Before: vehicle/pedestrian conflict
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: After: pedestrian fencing installed
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: Before - Notre Dame (Paris): vehicle/pedestrian conflict
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: …pedestrians distracted
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: After: vehicle access restricted
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: Before: dangerous merge
Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment: After: lane separators installed
Also… • Installing a roundabout, if well-designed is always a good solution at dangerous / busy intersections…
Roads to Respect 2007 • A pilot R2R project was run in 2007 in Italy, Spain, and Poland with positive results • 19 engineering students attended the R2R Camp in Brussels and campaigned for the treatment of High Risk Sites in their own cities • Some participants managed to reach their goal while others used R2R to meet public authorities and enterprises. Even some participants had great marks in faculty papers thanks to R2R!!!
Exemples of 2007 projects The Use of ICT for Improving Road Safety Conditions, Biaggio Cuffio (Italy) : Goal: Implementing an automatic system capable of detecting traffic conditions around one of the black spots existing in the Campania Region Transportation System and to inform, by means of a VMS (Variable Message Sign), the oncoming vehicles. This project was accepted by the Municipality of Napoli!!!
Exemples of 2007 projects Calculate traffic lights transition phases in dangerous junction, Mario Romero (Spain) Goal: programming the traffic lights controller in order to increase the time between the end of pedestrian green light and the beginning of the vehicles green light. This project reached its goal and is the basis of a research project in the University of Valencia!!!
Exemples of 2007 projects Increase safety conditions in a cyclist path, Małgorzata Jedynak (Poland) Goal: Build and isolated bidirectional cyclist path and improve other safety conditions. The cyclist path is currently being built and Malgorzata is helping the designer!!!
Learning the role that lobbying play was very interesting and useful. Every lecture gave me something different. Group exercises really helped. BUT R2R partcipants 2007 You should tell the students that it’s quite necessary to have a risk site to treat with info already collected before the camp
R2R partcipants 2007 I just want to say thanks because I understand that road safety is my future job, and I hope to work in it all my life. The visits to the EU Parliament and the field trip were simply great! I discovered a group of friends and specially many professional people.
How to participate in R2R? • Apply online: www.etsc.be/R2R.php • Before 30/06/2008 • Ideally: initial idea of a high risk site to treat
Roads to Respect Camp • In order to learn about the identification of high risk sites and the politics behind their treatment, (how to carry effective campaigning and lobbying), 20 students will be invited to Brussels for the R2R training camp on September 2008. • !!!free of charge!!! (travel, accommodation and daily allowance covered) • Minimum understanding of English necessary
Roads to Respect Campaign • Students return to their home country and try to apply their newly acquired skills to convince their local politicians or local administration to fix the accident black spot that they have identified • ETSC gives support to the students during the whole campaign
Roads to Respect Award Ceremony • A ceremony is organized in Brussels to award the students most involved in the R2R project • Prizes are decided by a group of independent experts on road safety according to objective indicators
Roads to Respect Contact • For further information contact: daniel.ugarte@etsc.be gabriel.simcic@etsc.be
Roads to Respect 2008 Apply online www.etsc.be/R2R.php
Thanks... • ETSC wants to thank the kind cooperation from Iustina Diaconu and GRSP- Romania in the organization of Roads to Respect 2008