International Road Federation Brussels Programme Centre Page 1

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• European Union Road Federation
• (ERF)
• Engineering Managing Safer Roads
• in Europe

ERF is a signatory of the European Road Safety
Charter associating civil society to Europes
goal of halving the number of road deaths by 2010
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The Voice of the European Road

• ERF is a platform for dialogue and research at
  the service of the European road community.
• ERF initiates and supports scientific studies and
  publications aimed at improving the knowledge of
  the European road system.
• ERF gives the road community a consistent and
  united voice in all transport areas
• Socio-economic contribution of roads to society
• Sustainable road construction
• Infrastructure financing
• Intelligent roads
• Safer road engineering

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The European Context (1/7)

• Road safety levels in Europe remain preoccupying
• EU-25 41,500 deaths, 2 000 000 road injuries and
  countless near misses every year
• General trend show improvement in EU-15 but
  stabilisation in 10 new Member States,
• Performance varies considerably from one Member
  States to another,
• A structurally ageing population with lower
  cognitive abilities (night vision, etc.) and a
  higher fatality risk in the event of an
  accident.
• ? Road Safety remains a major societal issue in
  Europe

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The European Context (2/7)

• Evolution of fatalities in EU-25

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The European Context (3/7)

• Fatalities by million vehicles

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The European Context (4/7)

• Old New Member States performances

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The European Context (5/7)

• Old solve the driver approach
• But
• with comparable speed blood alcohol limits,
  road death ratio between European countries is
  14,
• Single lane roads are up to four times as
  dangerous as dual carriageways,
• a third of road deaths are attributable to
  single-vehicle crashes with a roadside obstacle
• ? Official accident statistics significantly
  understate the importance of the road as a
  contributing factor

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The European Context (6/7)
How can accidents be avoided ?

• Acting on the driver
• More training, graduate licenses
• Acting on the car
• speed limitation devices, improved stability
  programmes
• Acting on the road
• passive safety devices, porous road surfacing,
  driver information (VMS, road signs, etc.)

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The European Context (7/7)

• What we still find on European roads
• Unprotected trees and street furniture
• Poorly placed pedestrian crossings
• Road surface defects
• Obstructed driver visibility
• Inadequate protective devices
• Road signs and markings that are invisible in
  poor visibility conditions
• No consideration for vulnerable road users

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A shared responsibility (1/4)
The EU has legal obligations arising from the
Treaty

• Article 71 measures to improve road safety
  integrated within CTP.
• Article 152 public health and consumer
  protection issues.
• Article 155 technical harmonisation and
  interoperability of the Trans European Network.

• The 2003 RSAP translates these obligations into
  an action plan

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A shared responsibility (2/4)
but shares the overall responsibility for road
safety
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A shared responsibility (3/4)
and must therefore rely on a panel of measures.

• Direct legislation (e.g. Tunnel Safety Directive)
• Data collection, comparison and analysis of best
  practices (Report on infrastructure safety
  practices)
• Standardisation (CEN/TC226 and TC227)
• Financial support to RD activities (RISER,
  RANKERS)
• Consumer information programmes (EuroRAP)
• Fiscal incentives (none tested yet)

• Subsidiarity remains a convenient excuse for some
  MS

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A shared responsibility (4/4)
Europes most ambitious legislation is still to
come

• Framework legislation on road infrastructure
  management applicable to the TEN
• Provides guidance and minimum set of requirements
  to Member States
• Who will it affect ?
• Road authorities safety procedures integrated in
  all phases of road planning, design, construction
  and operation
• Road engineers compulsory qualifications, best
  practice exchanges
• Motorists introduction of black spots signposts
• 1,300 lives could be saved every year

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The ERF Perspective (1/4)

• Our vision to improve safety on European roads

Input
Safe Road Engineering
Accidentology Cost-benefit Research Training Best
practices
Reactive Strategies
Preventive Strategies
Impact assessments Road safety audits Safety
Inspections
High accident risk road management
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The ERF Perspective (2/4)Preventive Strategies

• For new roads and major changes of operation
  Safety Impact Assessment.
• At pre-opening stage Safety Audits.
• As part of regular road maintenance Safety
  Inspections.

• Audit report
• delivers an idenpendent evaluation of the roads
  accident potential
• identifies any potential safety deficiencies
• makes recommendations to changes in the design
• 30 of problems identified during an audit will
  occur within 5 years unless the recommendations
  are implemented.

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The ERF Perspective (3/4)Reactive Strategies

• High accident risk roads are road sections with
  an increased probability that a serious or fatal
  accident will occur in relation to traffic
  volume.
• Exact criteria (length of road section, number
  of casualties, traffic volume, etc.) vary from
  country to country.
• Safety gains will be maximum during first years
  of mass eradication programmes.
• In parallel, driver should be informed by means
  of a sign detailing the safety record of the
  section and suggesting concrete actions to the
  motorists.

• Signposting of high accident risk roads can lead
  to 25 reduction in injury accidents

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The ERF Perspective (4/4)Supporting Measures

• Detailed accident reports to detect recurrent
  patterns
• Best practice exchange to share engineering
  measures known for their cost effectiveness
  (before and after case studies).
• Systematic training courses for auditors leading
  to a certificate recognised throughout the EU.

• Research programmes into cutting-edge
  countermeasures
• Economic evaluation of remedial measures based
  on Cost-benefit assessment. E.g
• 353 for anti-skid surfacing
• 820 for markings and signs
• 134 for mini-roundabouts
• 198 for traffic calming measures
  
• Source Institute of Civil Engineers, UK

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Putting Words into Action (1/4)ERF
Infrastructure Safety Forum
The ERF Infrastructure Safety Forum hosts
conferences and training workshops supported by
information services aimed at highlighting the
life-saving potential of safer road engineering.

• Conferences in 2005-2006
• Motorcyclist safety how can better road
  engineering help ?
• Preventive hazard identification
• Innovative approaches to safe road management
• Training Workshops based on best in Europe
  approaches to safe road engineering
• Newsletter Engineering Safer Roads

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Putting Words into Action (2/4)ERF Road Safety
Programme
The ERF Road Safety Programme gives the European
road industry a consistent voice on road safety
policies, supports European research and
encourages the use of the highest standards in
road equipment.

• Europes largest pool of actors involved in
  safety equipment
• Stakeholder in European standardisation process
• Brings industry perspective to European research

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Putting Words into Action (3/4) European Road
Safety Projects
ERF is contributing to the following EU-funded
research projects

• Recently concluded
• Guidelines to Black Spot Management
  Identification Handling Safety Improvement of
  Vehicle Passengers through Innovative on-road
  bio-mechanics safety features SAFEWAY
• Road-side Infrastructure for safer European Roads
  RISER
• Road Barrier Upgrade of Standards ROBUST
• Ongoing
• Ranking for European Roads RANKERS
• Research platforms
• European Road Transport Research Advisory Council
  (ERTRAC)
• eSafety Steering Committee

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Putting Words into Action (4/4) A Joint Call to
Action

• Joint statement released on 22 May 2006
• European road safety targets set in 2001 will
  not be met unless road authorities rise up to the
  challenge of absorbing increasing road traffic
  while offering safer driving conditions to all
  road users. We the undersigned organisations
  call for the swift release of a Directive on Safe
  Road Management as a part of a new safety deal
  linking in a realistic way all the actors of the
  safety chain.

Signatory Organisations
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Online resources

• Better road infrastructure, saving your life
• Road Restraint Systems Passive safety where it
  matters
• Position Paper on the 3rd European Road Safety
  Action Programme
• Position Paper on the Tunnel Safety Directive
• Road Marking Requirements for Europe
• The Improvement of Signing in Europe
• Guidelines to Black Spot Management
• Engineering Safer Roads (Bi-monthly newsletter)

All publications are available at
http//www.erf.be/
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Thank You For Your Attention

• European Union
• Road Federation (ERF)
• Avenue Louise, 113
• B-1050 Brussels (Belgium)
• Tel [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• E-mailinfo_at_erf.be
• http//www.erf.be