Road Safety Inspection in Austria

1. Road Safety Inspectionin Austria Thomas Fessl Best in Europe ConferenceBrussels, February 21-22 2006

2. Road Safety InspectionRoad Safety Inspection of Austrian motor- and expressways Road SafetyInspection (RSI) is a periodical controlling instrument of the existing road network (including roadsides), independently of number of accidents. RSI allows the implementation of remedial measures before accidents occur. source: High LevelWorking Group on Road Infrastructure Safety, 2003

3. A 22 A 8 A 7 A 4 A 8 A 21 A 1 S 4 S 6 A 9 A 10 S 31 S 36 A 14 A 2 S 35 A 9 A 12 A 2 A 2 A 9 Road Safety InspectionRoad Safety Inspection of Austrian motor- and expressways In Austria, Road Safety Inspection of motorways and expressways started in July 2003. - 2003 and 2004: 11 inspected sections - 2005/2006: 10 sections motorway expressway inspected sections 2003,2004,2005 sections under inspection

4. Road Safety InspectionRoad Safety Inspection of Austrian motor- and expressways RSI in a team (road safety experts & civil engineers) including: • accident analysis – accident map • analysis of the traffic conditions • analysis of the constructional elements • inspection – on-site visit • meetings and interviews with motorway maintenance unit and traffic police • analysis of road surface (pavement rating - ruts, friction, …) • analysis of road maintenance measures • analysis of road environment remedial measures (short-, medium-, long term)

5. tunnel existing speed camera installation of a speeding warning system existing speed camera – to be in operation permanently Road Safety InspectionRoad Safety Inspection of Austrian motor- and expressways interchange Edlitz Example: section A 2 South motorway - Wechsel (Lower Austria) Accident map variable speed limit Catalogue ofproposed measures improvement of winter maintenance lane markings with increased night visibility in wet road conditions interchange Krumbach • structural measures (long term): • - to broaden the shoulder lane • corrections of crossfalls rest areaZöbern province border interchange Zöbern

6. Road Safety InspectionRoad Safety Inspection of Austrian motor- and expressways Section A 2 South motorway - Wechsel

7. Road Safety InspectionRoad Safety Inspection of secondary road networks in Austria At present, Road Safety Inspection pilot study on secondary road networks (contracted by the Austrian Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology): RSI is carried out at seven selected sections in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland: • rural roads • municipal roads The results of the RSI (sections) will be reflected in a draft guideline in May 2006.

8. Road Safety Inspectionwithin the 6FP Project RIPCORD-ISEREST RIPCORD-ISEREST (WP5) Best Practice Guidelines on Safety Inspection • Start: January 2005 • End: September 2007 Goals: • Standardised approach for RSI in Europe • Setting up of implementation plan • Developing of checklists • Carrying out of practicability tests

9. Road Safety Inspectionwithin the 6FP Project RIPCORD-ISEREST Main problems in defining a common understanding of RSI • Existence of great number of RSI approaches across Europe • Lack of a standardised RSI approach within the countries • No legal basis for RSI in most countries • No standardised RSI reporting in most countries

10. Road Safety Inspectionwithin the 6FP Project RIPCORD-ISEREST Common understanding on RSI • Preventive tool • Independent of the occurred number of accidents • Regular inspection • Covering the whole existing road network • Carried out by trained traffic expert team

11. Road Safety Inspection in Austria Current approach in Austria • Selection of inspection sites depending on the actual number of occurred accidents, priority given to sections with an accident rate above average Is it RSI at all or another road infrastructuresafety management tool?

12. Road Safety Inspection Thomas Fessl KfV – Road Safety Economics Tel.: +43-(0)577077-1210 thomas.fessl@kfv.at www.kfv.at www.ripcord-iserest.com