European Road Safety Day What makes a road a safe road ? Service détudes sur les transports, les routes et leurs aménagements Brussels / 13 october 2010 Rodolphe CHASSANDE-MOTTIN

2 2 2 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Outline Seven criteria for Road Safety 4 Global procedures 12 Conclusion 19 Introduction 3 Pages

3 3 3 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Introduction Sustainable Road Safety means systemic approach HUMAN VEHICLEINFRASTRUCTURE Ergonomics Comfort Biological rules Physics laws

4 4 4 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 HUMAN VEHICLEINFRASTRUCTURE Seven Criteria for Road Safety (1/8) Linked to the infrastructure Vehicle dynamics Road shoulders Roadside obstacles Visibility Road legibility Road coherence Traffic management

5 5 5 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Seven Criteria for Road Safety (2/8) Visibility Visibility Do the road users have enough time (= distance), without obstruction, to see an event, a traffic sign, a junction ? Junction in a curveBend after a hilltop

6 6 6 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Seven Criteria for Road Safety (3/8) Legibility Legibility Do the information sent by the infrastructure are enough clear and unambiguous to be understood by road users ? Which sign do you see and understand in 1 second ? For this curve, trust the road, not the sign !

7 7 7 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Seven Criteria for Road Safety (4/8) Vehicle Dynamics Vehicle Dynamics Do the road characteristics (crossfall, grip, surface) avoid vehicle dynamics problems (skidding…) ? Bad surface grip due to bleeding Surface with long waves

8 8 8 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Seven Criteria for Road Safety (5/8) Road shoulders Road shoulders Can an user, running off the road, takes back control of its vehicle, using road shoulders ? Loose gravels = Loss of grip on the road shoulder High difference > 6 cm between the road and the verge

9 9 9 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Seven Criteria for Road Safety (6/8) Obstacles Obstacles Are roadside obstacles deleted, or moved, or isolated in order to reduce the consequences of run-off-road accidents ? Natural obstacles (trees) and artificial ones (pipe head) When road equipments become obstacles

10 10 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Seven Criteria for Road Safety (7/8) Road coherence Road coherence Are all the road elements (speed limitation, traffic signs, road marking, cross section) coherent with the function of the road ? High speed limit with cycle path, parking area and build-up area. Rural environment, no transition area but a city sign => speed limit is 50 km/h

11 11 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Seven Criteria for Road Safety (8/8) Traffic management Traffic management Do the road design allows all categories of users to walk, drive or ride safely ? Footway near a college Cars are parked on the footway pedestrians must walk on the carriageway

12 12 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Global procedures (1/7) Two complementary methodologies: - Preventive methodologies (Road Safety Impact Assessment, Road Safety Inspections, Road Safety Audits) - Reactive methodologies (Network Safety Management) Methodologies developed and improved with international exchanges (PIACR, CEDR, Bilateral cooperations) Included in the spirit of the EU Directive 2008/96/EC

13 13 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Global procedures (2/7) The European Directive on Road Infrastructure Safety Management - should be transposed on National Law before 19 December technical guidelines should be published before 19 December This Directive, for France, will be transposed for the National Road Network (> km)

14 14 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Global procedures (3/7) : RSIA

15 15 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Global procedures (4/7) : RSA

16 16 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Global procedures (5/7)

17 17 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Global procedures (6/7) : RSI

18 18 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Global procedures (7/7) : NSM

19 19 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Conclusion What makes a road a sustainable safe road ? - A systemic approach (on the infrastructure / the driver / the vehicle) - Complemantary methodologies (preventive / reactive) - A structured reasoning (stake analysis / diagnosis / action plan / evaluation) - An action based on the understanding of accidents, adapted to the local context - An optimisation of public money (benefit/cost ratio) - A mix of a self-explanatory road (easy to understand) and a forgiving road (which gives users a chance to avoid an accident or to reduce the gravity of an accident)

20 20 Titre et sous-titreWhat makes a road a safe road ? Date de l'exposéBrussels – 13 october 2010 Thank you for your attention ! Thank you for your attention ! Publications in English are downloadable for free at Contact : Contact : ObstaclesRailway crossingsLandscape and legibilityStake analysisRoad Safety Inspections