GUIDELINES FOR AUDITING THE ROAD NETWORK. H. Machado Jorge, Ph.D. CRP Portuguese Road Centre. ROAD SAFETY ENGINEERING EU Balkans Regional Seminar

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1 GUIDELINES FOR AUDITING THE ROAD NETWORK H. Machado Jorge, Ph.D. CRP Portuguese Road Centre ROAD SAFETY ENGINEERING EU Balkans Regional Seminar Skopje, FYR of Macedonia January 2007

2 People do make mistakes sometimes, even silly mistakes

7 You can just call it human error Or there may be something else to it

11 A REMINDER Critical speed limits Testing shows that: For people with fastened seat belt, on board of a recently built car, frontally colliding with a similar vehicle or a fixed obstacle, survival probabilities are quite reasonable up to a cruise speed of 70 km/h. Above that speed, chance of survival dwindles quite quickly, if not dramatically. For a side collision, the critical speed is 50 km/h. For pedestrians and cyclists the critical speed, when hit by a passing car, is just 30 km/h.

speed of 70 km/h. Above that speed, chance of survival dwindles quite quickly, if not dramatically.

12 The four variables in the road safety equation Driver Vehicle Other road users Road

13 Let us just stick to the first one: the road

14 You can use road markings and road side signals (vertical signalling) to manage the traffic and reduce the chance of collisions. Yes, if you don t overdo it

18 You can apply road restraint systems, as well. They are effective As far as you are careful enough on how to use them

22 So, how to go safely about road safety?! It is a one-way, multi-lane lane street: European- and international- recommendations and best practices!

23 EU 1ST SEMESTER 2006 HALLMARK on INFRASTRUCTURE SAFETY The EU Council of Ministers Austrian Presidency s initiative: High Level Expert Meeting on Infrastructure Safety, Vienna, January 2006 Factual knowledge of infrastructure safety concepts and practices across the EU. A A clear perception of the limits of common practice in respect of infrastructure safety in the EU.

24 TOOLS for INFRASTRUCTURE, ROAD and NETWORK SAFETY MANAGEMENT Road Safety Impact Assessment (RIA) Road Safety Audit (RSA) Road Safety Inspection (RSI) Network Safety Management High Risk Site (Black Spot) Management

25 TOOL DEFINITION (I) ROAD SAFETY IMPACT ASSESSMENT (RIA) Road Safety Impact Assessment designates a comparative scenario analysis of the impact that different variants of alignment or interconnection points of new roads or a substantial modification n to the existing network will have on the safety performance of the adjacent road network. It is concluded before the alignment is decided. ROAD SAFETY AUDIT (RSA) Road Safety Audit means a systematic independent safety analysis of the design characteristics of a road project, either new or rehabilitation, at different stages of planning, design and early operation.

26 TOOL DEFINITION (II) ROAD SAFETY INSPECTION (RSI) Road Safety Inspection designates a periodical review of a road network in operation by trained experts from a safety point of view. It involves visiting the road network. NETWORK SAFETY MANAGEMENT and HIGH RISK (BLACK SPOT) MANAGEMENT Safety development of the road network in operation shall consist t of management of high-risk road sections and network safety management.

27 TOOL DEFINITION (III) Management of high-risk road sections is to reduce future accidents by targeting remedial treatment to parts of the road network where accidents occurred most frequently during previous years. Network safety management is to reduce future accidents targeting remedial treatment to sections of the road network where accidents cost reduction potential is highest.

28 ROAD SAFETY AUDITING The roles The EU experience points to the fact that 30% of problems identified during a road safety audit will occur within 5 years unless the recommendations s are implemented. The auditor, as an independent third party, provides a technical contribution to the judgement process but decisions remain the sole responsibility of the client (road administration, local power authority, ). The client is entitled or has to balance safety against other interests, and that will dictate the terms of the decision. The client, being always responsible, may be liable for not following owing the auditor s recommendation. That depends on the national legislation.

29 ROAD SAFETY INSPECTIONS Theory and practice There is a vast array of road safety inspection approaches across s Europe. Moreover, in most countries there is not even legal basis for conducting road safety inspections. Level of available resources determines two different approaches to road safety inspections, which are observed in the EU: o o Regular examination of the entire road network, independently of the number of accidents; or Selection of the inspection sites depending on the actual number of occurred accidents, priority being given to sections showing an above average accident rate. It is reasonable to assume that the entire network is covered every 2 or 3 years.

30 How are audits and inspections carried out? By resorting to checklists, national or international. For instance, a (highly recommendable) sourcebook is PIARC s Road Safety Manual

32 Specifically, PIARC is now working on final (improved) guideline drafts of RSA Road Safety Audit and RSI Road Safety Inspection

34 Both guidelines apply to three different types of road: Interurban roads Motorways Urban roads

35 Moreover, the guidelines are subdivided into sections, each applicable to a different auditing/inspection stage. For instance, in the case of RSA, the stages are the following ones: o Feasibility study Preliminary design Detailed design Pre-traffic opening

37 But, in first place, why do it?! For several reasons, the most important being that: These procedures have been shown,» to save lives, and» to be cost-effective! See what is going on at EU level.

38 On the 5th October 2006, the European Commission issued a Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on road infrastructure safety management.

39 Article 1 of the proposed Directive reads as follows: 1. This Directive establishes procedures relating to road safety impact assessments, road safety audits and safety inspections. 2. This Directive shall apply to roads which are part of the trans-european road network, whether they are at the design stage, under construction or in operation. (It shall not apply to road tunnels covered by. )

40 The estimated economic impact of the proposed Directive 1. Applying the Directive to the trans-european road network (TERN) is expected to reduce fatalities by more than 6 hundred and the injury accidents by about 7 thousand per year. 2. Applying the Directive to motorways and main roads could save as much as 1.3 thousand lives, amounting to welfare benefit on the order of 5 billion euros per year.

41 Administrative impact of the proposed Directive (I) 1. The RIA Road safety impact assessment is meant to be produced in parallel with the approval procedure and the design process of o the road. Therefore, it must not introduce additional delays in the approval procedures. 2. RIA should roughly cost as much as the environmental impact assessments (EIA). The cost of the latter usually falls in the range r of 0.2 to 0.5% of the overall capital cost of a construction project. Costs in excess of 1% are the exception.

42 Administrative impact of the proposed Directive (II) 3. RSA Road safety audits are, as well, performed in parallel with the design and construction process. Hence no additional delay expected. 4. EU experience shows that audit costs range from 6 hundred to 6 thousand euros, per stage. This means that audit costs are far less than 1% of the construction cost of the whole road project.

43 Administrative impact of the proposed Directive (III) 5. RSI Road safety Inspections, where carried out on a regular basis, have been shown to cost in between 6 hundred and 1 thousand euros per km of motorway. For a small- to medium- sized country with, say, 2 thousand km of TERN on its territory, RSI would cost 1.2 to 2 million euros. 6. Network safety management can be assumed to have costs comparable to those of routine RSI.

44 This having been said, why say more about it?! Let us move! Not sideways

46 but forward!

Public consultation on Road infrastructure safety management on the trans-european networks. Position of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC)

Public consultation on Road infrastructure safety management on the trans-european networks. Position of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) GENERAL COMMENT The European Transport Safety Council