Belarus has a high rate of growth in car ownership which, together with the still unacceptably high rate of fatal road accidents, poses a challenge to traffic and transport planners. Road safety parameters are compared to other eastern European countries and Sweden. Most fatalities occur in rural areas, primarily on national roads, but urban fatalities are high, compared to Sweden. The main problem is protection of vulnerable road users, e.g. pedestrians and cyclists. Urban areas have the highest potential for road safety improvements. An encouraging sign is that, most pedestrians and cyclists take the trouble to wear reflective clothing a night. The challenges faced by the Ministry of transport and Communications in its National Road Traffic Safety Improvement Program, started in 2004, are: Absence of a formulated strategy; limited resources; lack of international experience; coordination, administrative and institutional problems; and lack of proper road safety information collection and analysis. Primary tasks of the program are: to establish real guidelines and directions, a "modus operandi" for real road safety improvement; to establish prioritised targets and effective estimation criteria; to organize a system of road safety independent objective monitoring; to create a co-ordination and advisory body; to prepare highly competent experts in various aspects RTS; to organize international co-operation projects, e.g GRSP membership, international training and research programs, etc; and to organize a number of successful projects, which would initiate an additional interest from society and the authorities. For the covering abstract see ITRD E136183.
Abstract