By the European Transport Safety Council in partnership with 3M Europe and Toyota

The Roads to Respect A European Campaign for Better Road Safty Engineering

The Roads to Respect R2R

The Roads to Respect: a campaign for the treatment of High Risk Sites in Italy, Spain and Poland

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

Introduction

• 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

Introduction to ETSC

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

• 10 Secretariat staff members do their utmost to coordinate projects and insert the knowledge of ETSC members and experts into EU transport safety policy-making

ETSC: priority-based safety work

ETSC: Priority-based safety work

Monitoring EU transport safety policy

Protecting Vulnerable Road Users - VOICE

Ranking EU countries‘ performances - Road Safety PIN

Preventing Drink Driving and Speeding

Campaigning for the treatment

of high risk infrastructure – R2R

Road Safety in Europe

• 41,600 deaths in the EU in 2005

• Around 3.5 million injuries

• Socio-economic cost: € 200 billion

• Non-quantifiable pain and suffering

The EU target and Strategy

White Paper (2001)White Paper (2001)

Cutting road deaths Cutting road deaths by 50% by 2010by 50% by 2010

3rd Road Safety Action 3rd Road Safety Action Programme (2003)Programme (2003)

Sharing responsibility

Insufficient progress

towards the target…

We are not reaching our target

Progress bewteen 2001 and 2005

Insufficient progress… 3 solutions

• Roughly 41,600 people are still dying every year on Europe's roads. 

• Although this represents an 18% drop in five years, the EU is still some way off from its 50% target, set in 2001.

3 solutions: • In 2003 the EU adopted its third road safety

action plan , designed to encourage road users to improve their behaviour, to make vehicles safer and to improve road infrastructure.

Drivers’ behaviour

• 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. Different aspects or stages are part of enforcement:

1. Checks to find violations of traffic rules and 2. Sanctions imposed on violators of the rules

Vehicle safety• Manufacturers build ever safer cars and trucks: 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.

• To prevent accidents from occurring, cars have active safety features (ABS, ESC …)

• When an accident occurs, various passive safety systems work together to minimize damage to the individuals involved (seatbelts, airbags…)

Vehicle safety

• EuroNCAP: The European New Car Assessment Programme, a car safety assessment programme founded in 1995 and supported by several European governments, many major manufacturers and motoring organisations across the world.

• Publishes safety reports on new cars, and awards 'star ratings' based on the performance of the vehicles in a variety of crash tests, including front, side and pole impacts, and impacts with pedestrians.

and…

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 the 2 first pillars are unmatched by advancements in infrastructure standards.

Infrastructure safety: EU Directive

In order to increase safety of road infrastructures, the Commission has introduced 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

Infrastructure safety: EU Directive

• Road safety impact assessment Road safety impact assessment (conducted before the alignment is decided) designates a comparative scenario analysis of the impact that different variants of alignment or interconnection points of new roads or a substantial modification to the existing network will have on the safety performance of the adjacent road network.

• Road safety audit is a formal procedure for independent assessment of the accident potential and likely safety performance of a specific design for a road or traffic scheme - whether new construction or an alteration to an existing road.

Infrastructure safety: EU Directive

• Network safety management is intended to reduce further accidents and deaths on the road network in operation by targeting remedial treatment to sections of the road network where accident cost reduction potential is highest.

• Safety inspections designate a periodical review of a road network in operation by trained experts from a safety point of view. Road safety inspections allow the implementation of remedial measures before accidents occur.

Treatment of high risk sites

• It is important for Member State 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)

Low Cost Measures

• Low-cost road and traffic engineering measures comprise physical measures that:

1. Have low capital cost,2. Can be implemented quickly, and 3. Offer high ratios of benefit to cost.

The R2R competition

• 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 competition will run in three countries (Italy, Poland, and Spain)

Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment:

Sign obscured by vegetation

Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment:

Before: signal obscured

Examples of high risk sites with simple treatment:

Before: only one signal

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

R2R 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), 5 students per country will be invited to Brussels for the R2R training camp – 9th to 15th of September 2007.

• !!!free of charge!!! (travel, accommodation and daily allowance covered)

• Minimum understanding of English necessary

How to apply?

• online: www.etsc.be/R2R.php

• Before 30/06/2007

• Ideally: initial idea of a high risk site to treat

Application form

For further information contact: gabriel.simcic@etsc.be

Toyota and road safety• Toyota believes that people, automobiles and the

traffic environment should be regarded as three pillars of an inter-related whole in which each sphere should complement and support each other

• Toyota Motor Europe decided to sign the European Road Safety Charter last year, as the first car and LCV (Light Commercial Vehicle) manufacturer

• This is why Toyota works a lot in partnership with other stakeholders such as governments, educational institutions and NGOs

• Toyota has been working with ETSC since 2004 and is delighted to support this R2R Programme

Toyota and road safety

3M Europe and road safety

• 3M is a manufacturer of road safety equipment

• 3M is a signatory of the European Road Safety Charter

• 3M works in partnership with a number of stakeholders to promote road safety

• 3M has worked with ETSC since 2004 and is delighted to support the R2R programme