Low-cost measures: an overview of organisational and procedural aspects

The implementation of effective and cost-efficient programmes such as low-cost road and traffic engineering measures (LCM) cannot be viewed as an activity with a ‘high political profile'. LCMs are taken almost invisibly. However, if these measures are shown to be highly effective, then the interest of politicians and bureaucracy could be stimulated, the more when significant results are feasible at a low cost. This observation has important implications for the organisation and procedures used to implement LCM. In this context, the following points deserve special attention. Firstly, the problem that while regional and local road authorities might have the capacity to apply LCM, they do not have enough expertise to investigate and design LCM schemes. In many countries, central government has adopted some level of responsibility for the support of regional and local government; the roles of the various parties must be defined. A related topic deals with the question of which in-house expertise is appropriate for all road authorities and how and where to cooperate with other road authorities or with private consultants. Another key element in this approach would be how to finance the investigation, design and implementation of LCM schemes and related questions about the allocation of funding within the budget of road authorities. A final important item to be dealt with is the collection and dissemination of reliable information on the effects and costs of LCM schemes (in terms of accident reduction and in terms of understanding these effects). Anevaluation system should form part of the LCM programmes, whilst the learning capacity of the design community will certainly be improved by cooperation at local, regional, national and international level