Almost all of us know someone who has been killed in a road crash. In the last decade alone, half a million Europeans have been killed on our roads. This reservoir of human suffering rarely surfaces in the media, each personal tragedy is endured by the few involved. In countries where road traffic law is generally respected, however imperfectly, the research now consistently shows that safer roads can save more lives than safer road user behaviour. The need for safer drivers and vehicles is well understood, the need for safer roads is not. EuroRAP is helping to show the public and road authorities where risky roads are and what best practice exists to put them right, preventing crashes and making those that do happen survivable. EuroRAP's three protocols, risk mapping, performance tracking and star rating, align well with those seeking self-explaining and forgiving roads. In 2001, pilot EuroRAP results were available for just four countries. Now only a few years later work is in hand in nearly 20 European countries, from Arctic to Mediterranean. Globally, iRAP (International Road Assessment programme) is steering parallel programmes in the USA, Australia, and working with development banks. The openness with which most authorities have made previously hidden accident data available is to be applauded. In return, we as road users cannot expect every historic design fault to be corrected instantly, but we should expect coherent explanations of the priorities and programmes that are being put in place to put right the high risk roads on which large numbers are dying or suffering crippling injuries. Across Europe we need to put in place the discipline of systematic processes that measure the problem and then employ known, effective counter-measures. We need these systematic Network Safety Upgrading Programmes on a large scale, a big fix - to make our roads safe and deliver Europe's casualty reduction target. Europe loses 2 per cent of its GDP in crashes that are routine, predictable and largely preventable. Network Safety Upgrading Programmes have the highest economic returns available in the economy and pay for themselves many times over. Policy makers need to help engineers across Europe by telling them clearly that current safety standards on the roads are no longer acceptable. Vehicle manufacturers know that It is no longer acceptable to offer cars that do not meet four star safety standards. It is just as unacceptable that Europe's major trade routes, the Trans European Road Network, have sections below 4-star standards. A systematic and mandatory programme is needed to eliminate these risky roads before the end of this decade. This programme will allow policy makers, finance ministries, economists and engineers in all Member states to become familiar with the effectiveness of the new Network Safety Upgrading Programmes that are so desperately needed on national and regional networks (A). Only abstract (as above) is available from the conference proceedings. For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E212343.
Abstract