Developing Road Safety Policy for Road Engineering Departmentsurbanmobilityindia.in/Upload/Conference/b195bf72-75ac-4649-aa68-… · roads under its jurisdiction by use of road safety

Developing Road Safety

Policy for

Road Engineering

Departments

Dr. S.M. SARIN

safetysarin@ gmail.com

Road crashes are preventable !

• Significant number of

road deaths and injuries are not a fundamental law of nature or an inevitable result of motorisation.

• Many countries have

been successful in improving their road safety due to adoption of road safety Policies, Strategies and Action Plans.

13-12-2012 2

Dr.S.M.Sarin: Urban Mobility, India - 2012

Essential element of

success story?

• Governments and road safety

organisations need to act at

many levels to diminish the

risk of road crashes.

• This complexity demands the

adoption of some method of

planning.

An appropriate road safety policy

was one of the essential elements

of a well-balanced overall

transport policy and a public

health policy among success

stories.

13-12-2012 3 Dr.S.M.Sarin: Urban Mobility, India - 2012

Road Engineers and Highway

Authorities can improve the safety

performance of the road network

• By ensuring that planning, design, construction and maintenance places a high priority on safety outcomes.

• Review and safety audit existing, rehabilitated and new roads to eliminate unnecessary hazardous locations and misleading/absent markings.


• Apply crash reduction and crash prevention techniques

to create safer road networks for the future.

What is a Road Safety Policy?

• Road safety policy is nothing but a statement of various steps to be undertaken to achieve the visualised targets, set in this field to tackle identified safety issues.

• Every Country, State or a City wishes to make its roads as safe as possible i.e. it visualises that in future road accidents will be either zero or the minimum possible.


Vision for Road Safety?

• A Vision can also raise

public interest and create

support in the population

and among public and

private organizations for

road safety improvement.


• The purpose of a vision is to ensure that road

safety gains a prominent place in transport policy

and decision-making processes.

Examples of the vision

statements of various countries

Country Vision Statement

Australia Safe road use for the whole community

Austria

To have a road safety level that is

comparable to the levels found in the top

third countries in the European Union.

Canada

To have the safest roads in the world

Denmark One accident is too many

Great Britain Tomorrow’s roads : safer for every one

Netherlands Sustainable road safety

Sweden Vision Zero

Hong Kong 'Zero Accidents on the Road, Hong Kong's

Goal'.


A Proposed Vision for Road

Department

• “Safer Roads for All Road Users”

(Sarak Suraksha Sabhi Sarak Upbhoghtaon kay Liye)

The motto contains two sub-visions:

• Building and maintaining safer roads

• Taking care of the needs various road users like drivers, pedestrians and NMTs.


Accomplishing the Goals of

a Vision !!!

• Further, these stated targets cannot be

accomplished unless and until accompanied by

objectives, strategies, action plans suited to the

requirements of the country/state/city within its

political, economic and social setup.

• A vision cannot be

accomplished unless

followed by: Suitable time-

frame and fund allocation.


Road Safety Policy

Objectives

In order to order

to move towards

the fulfilling the

goals of the

jurisdiction’s

vision for the

road safety, it is

essential to

define a list of

clear objectives.


1. Seek to provide leadership,

advocacy and coordination with

other stakeholders with view to

minimize the number and severity of

road traffic accidents on roads in

the jurisdiction.


Modifying the road environment should not be done in

isolation and the approach to improve road safety must

be an integrated one.

2. Seek to reduce the

number and severity of

road accidents on

roads under its

jurisdiction by use of

road safety

engineering principles

during the various

stages of road projects

viz., planning, design,

construction,

operation and

maintenance

5

5SPAN Consultants – DRD J.V.

Definition of Road Safety Policy and Development of Action Plans to be Implemented at National, State & City levels.

Maximizing Impact of Engineering Maximizing Impact of Engineering Measures Upon Road Safety Measures Upon Road Safety ProblemsProblems

By Applying Measures and Good Design Principles at Different Stages of Development of Road Networks.

One can Avoid Many Problems by Planning and Designing New or Rehabilitating Existing Roads in a Safety Conscious Manner.

Government of India

Ministry of Surface Transport (Roads Wing)

MANUAL FOR SAFETY IN

ROAD DESIGN

A Guide for Indian Highway Engineers

SEPTEMBER 1998


3. Seek to provide

positive guidance to

road users on the

roads and road

junctions through

Geometric Design

Consistency to suit the

their information

needs

(through the provision

consistent alignment, adequate

sight distance and adequate

and consistent signing /

delineation, road side safety

features etc)


4. Seek to

provide safe

conditions and

to improve

access across

and along the

roads for

vulnerable road

user groups,

(especially for

school children in

settlements along

the route) and

other non-

motorised users


5. Seek to

reduce

community

severance by

improving

access to safe

facilities,

particularly for

pedestrians and

other non-

motorised users,

in settlements

along the roads


6. Seek to carry

out Road Safety

Audit, wherever

appropriate, and

create

institutional

arrangements to

sustain this

activity.


7. Seek to adopt

systematic

approach for the

identification of

the most

hazardous features

in the road

network

contributing to

road accidents

and to implement

appropriate and

proven cost-

effective measures


8. Seek to control

unauthorised

accesses,

encroachment

and ribbon

development

along the roads,

highways and

bypasses

development.


9. Seek to introduce an efficient

method for inputting accident data,

its storage, retrieval and analysis in

Road Safety Unit of the jurisdiction.


10. Seek to develop,

deliver and promote

professional advice

and guidelines to

highway professionals

in the jurisdiction

(about the global road

safety good practices

which support safe

and effective

management use of

the road network)

SUMMARY AND

PUBLICATION OF

BEST PRACTICES IN

ROAD SAFETY IN THE

MEMBER STATES

THEMATIC REPORT:

INFRASTRUCTURE


Enabling Measures to Fulfil

Road Safety Objectives

The commitment

and policies to

achieve the

objectives of

road safety need

to be supported

by various

enabling

measures.


1. Increasing

the awareness

of the decision-

makers for

roadway safety

infrastructure

improvements

(& the active role of

Engineering

Department in the

same).

The commercial sector, service organisations and non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) play an important role in increasing road safety awareness. NGOs have an important input at grass roots level. Road safety champions ??


2. Provision of suitable organisational

set up for Road Safety

• A composite team consisting of some senior, middle level and some young engineers staffing the RSEU, identified on the basis of their qualification, experience and aptitude.

• Training for entire team at suitable institutions and in different sub-modules of road safety.

• Distribution of work on the basis of geographical areas or subject areas

RESU

Head

Planning,

Monitoring

& Evaluation

SU 1 SU 2

RSA

&

Black Spots

SU 3


A functioning Road Safety Engineering Unit

(RSEU) becomes a prerequisite.

3. An institutional mechanism, decision-

making process and management of

policies and procedures

1. Road Safety Audits to be

adopted for which works?

2. Formulation of Norms for any

road stretch to qualify to for Black

Spot improvements??

Spot Improvement Approach Vs

System-wide Improvement Approach

RESU would require evolving the processes and

procedures for decision-making for its mandate in the

form of its declared vision and safety policies.


4. Inclusion of Road Safety in organisation’s Plan

& develop organisational Road Safety Plan

keeping in view relevant road safety strategies at

National, State & Local levels.

• An Annual Road Safety Plan containing the casualty reduction targets and a strategy for achieving the targets need to be developed.

• Some long-term plan like a Five Year plan will also be required in place to give an overall direction to the road safety efforts by the RSEU.


5. Establishment of funding mechanism

and resource provision, analytical tools,

and legislative policies that guide and

support highway safety decisions and

priorities.

Numerous interventions

designed to improve road

safety in low income

countries have failed due to

lack of sustainable funding.


.

Identifying and securing

sustainable funding is a key

element underlying all road safety action plans.

6. Encouragement of R &D culture and

development of successful highway safety

programmes

Not expected that RSEU will itself undertake

detailed research by itself.

But it is hoped that the Unit

will have research led

approach to its tasks

and will carry a broad

programme of local analysis

to provide a better

understanding of the causes of accidents and to help

develop improved solutions. 13-12-2012 27 Dr.S.M.Sarin: Urban Mobility, India - 2012

http://www.crridom.gov.in/

7. Setting up a mechanism for

monitoring of progress toward Local,

State and National objectives.

Monitoring is the systematic

collection of data about the

performance of road safety

treatments / programmes after their

implementation.

Evaluation is the statistical analysis

of that data to assess the extent to

which the treatment or treatment

program has met the accident

reduction objectives.


8. HRD programme that will support

education and training of RCD personnel in

Road Safety Engineering

Decision-makers need to look at existing human resources and find out:

• Are there sufficient road engineers and technicians, to ensure the implementation of the road safety action plan?

• If so, do they have sufficient skills, equipment and freedom of action to get on with the job?


9. Setting up Road Safety Knowledge-

Base & Dissemination of Safety

Literature among Highway Professionals.

It provides you with good practice and lessons learnt from around the world.

• European Road Safety Observatory (EU).

• SWOV is the Dutch national road safety research institute

• Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP),

• World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility,

• Asian Development Bank (ADB),

• Department for International Development (DFID), UK

• Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA),

• Highway Agency UK.


http://www.grsproadsafety.org/




http://www.highways.gov.uk/

10. Ensuring improved

communication channels within road

authorities

• The development of formal and informal communication channels between the various specialists in a transportation agency is needed:

• working groups,

• ad hoc meetings,

• control points,

• joint seminars,

• social events.


Thank You


Documents

Developing Road Safety Policy for Road Engineering Departmentsurbanmobilityindia.in/Upload/Conference/b195bf72-75ac-4649-aa68-… · roads under its jurisdiction by use of road safety