CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005 Draft EU Directive on Road Infrastructure Safety Management Introduction DI Dr. techn. Eva Eichinger Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport Road Directorate

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005 The Problem of Unsafe Roads  The importance of the road as a contributing factor to accidents is significantly underestimated in accident statistics  Estimates are that for one in three fatal accidents infrastructure is one major contributing factor  Case studies have shown that more than half of the safety deficiencies resulted from a disrespect of design guidelines and norms  Current road designs result from many decades of construction – several of them will not meet today’s safety state-of-the-art  The need to build or upgrade roads in the CEEC is imminent = the chance not to repeat mistakes made in the present MS

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005  Safety should be integrated in all phases of –road planning –road design –road infrastructure operation  Safety should be regarded in its own right –apart from economic and environmental analysis  Road Infrastructure should be one of three pillars of Road Safety –alongside the driver and the vehicle Objectives of the Directive

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005  The directive will –be a prerequisite for making EU road infrastructure funding dependent on the completion of valid safety procedures –help to target future expenditures to actions with the highest cost-benefit-ratio –ensure that infrastructure makes its contribution to the achievement of the White Paper’s target –50% fatalities if applied on motorways and main roads (interurban roads) the Directive would reduce fatalities by 12% on these roads = –1,300 fatalities per year Purposes

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005 Subject Matter and Scope  Mandatory for –the Trans-European road network (TEN) in operation - under construction - at design stage  Recommended for –all public roads outside built-up areas –arterial roads in cities  Not covering road tunnels

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005  At pre-design stage –Road Safety Impact Assessment (RIA)  At design stage –Road Safety Audit (RSA)  In operation –Safety development of the road network in operation Management of high-risk road sections (Black Spot Management) Network Safety Management –Road Safety inspection (RSI) Instruments

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005  Characteristics –a comparative scenario analysis about the accident implications on the road and the adjacent network –demonstration of the medium to long term safety effects (number of fatal and severe injuries for each variant) –analysis of different planning alternatives of a project, including an alternative without changes to the existing network –concluded before the alignment is decided Safety Impact Assessment 1/2

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005  For projects involving –a medium or large scale investment (new roads) –a major change in general operating conditions (existing roads)  Based on –existing road network layout, current traffic pattern, accidents in the network –alternative scenarios to the current situation –possible changes in the future (physical infrastructure, associated traffic volumes) Safety Impact Assessment 2/2

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005 Road Safety Audit 1/2  Characteristics –systematic independent safety analysis of the design characteristics of a road project –objective is to identify and rectify dangerous road elements at the design stage of a project –integral part of the design process at each stage feasibility – draft design – detailed design – pre-opening – early operation any of these stages shall only be completed after the audit report for the previous stage has been duly considered –at each stage an audit report shall set out safety critical design elements – the road manager has to state reasons if he does not follow the observations in the report

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005  Applied at –new road projects –reconstructions  Team and qualifications –auditors should be qualified in road design traffic engineering human factors accident analysis –involved parties are: infrastructure provider, designer and auditor –auditors shall work independently from the road manager and designer  Checklists –In National RSA guidelines Road Safety Audit 2/2

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005 Road network in operation 1/2  Management of high-risk road sections (Black Spot Management) –targeting remedial treatments to parts of the road network where accidents occurred most frequently during previous years –based primarily on the numbers of fatal and severe accidents (property-damage-only accidents and light injury accidents of secondary importance to effective safety management) –shall be performed every year –warning signs in advance of high-risk road sections shall be put  Network safety management –targeting remedial treatment to sections of the road network where accident cost reduction potential is highest –all road sections in a region shall be ranked by accident cost reduction potential

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005  Teams –high-risk road sections and road sections ranked highest according to their accident cost reduction potential shall be visited by teams –teams shall hold expertise in road safety accident analysis road design (including design standards) traffic management human factors legal matters –at least one team member should have an auditor certificate –teams may include local police representatives Road network in operation 2/2

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005 Road Safety Inspection  Characteristics –a periodical review of a road network in operation from a safety point of view –carried out by trained experts –involves visiting the road network –inspections shall eliminate dangers even before one or more users get killed or seriously injured (accident prevention) –undertaken in the context of a safety programme or target certain safety features  Comprising –routine inspections: at least 2x per year (as part of the road network management) –inspections of road work: scheme for every change operations of >2 days, inspection shortly before commissioning and then at least every 2 weeks

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005 Accident Data Manag./Risk Analysis The competent entity shall provide:  an accident report for each accident involving fatalities or severe injuries (contents defined in Annex 4)  accident maps for each region  calculation of the average social costs of –a fatal accident –a severe accident –update every 5 years  where necessary: risk analysis of road design taking into account –design factors –traffic conditions (traffic characteristics, type of traffic, road geometry, forecasted number and mix of vehicles)

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005 Training and certificates  Training –Member States shall adopt training curricula, including checklists for road safety auditors and safety inspectors –auditors and inspectors have to undergo initial trainings refresher trainings (within every 7 years)  Road safety auditors shall hold a certificate

CEDR TG Road Safety Rome, 31 October 2005 Discussion  Written Contributions from –France –Greece –the Netherlands  Points of discussion –Purpose of the directive –Structure of the directive –Technical contents of the directive –Next steps –….. The discussion is now open!