Meeting the management challenges of the Decade of Action for Road Safety

In low- and middle-income countries, the high price paid for mobility in terms of human loss and suffering is forecast to rise to unprecedented levels. More than 50 million deaths and 500 million serious injuries on the world's roads can be projected with some certainty over the first 50 years of the 21st century, unless sustained new initiatives are taken. This paper addresses the emergence of road safety as a development priority over the last decade and the management challenges facing the planned global response aimed at bringing road safety outcomes in developing countries under control. It outlines the decade of advocacy that created the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020 and related Global Plan, and highlights the concern that over the coming decade low and middle income countries will face considerable management challenges in successfully implementing related measures and sustaining their delivery. The paper discusses new road safety management tools that have been developed by the World Bank and ISO to provide assistance to countries and organizations within an integrated framework that ensures that measures taken are properly sequenced and adjusted to their absorptive and learning capacities. It concludes that strengthened institutions and the accelerated knowledge creation and transfer central to this, plus scaled-up investment and increased international cooperation and development aid are critical to the successful achievement of the Global Plan's ambitious goal.     

A new approach to cross-sector cooperation in road safety through a comparison of policies in selected countries

Statistics from the databases of various countries and international organizations show that road accident rates and fatalities have fallen since the 1970s. With demographic changes taking place in many developed countries, however, accident and accident-risk patterns have changed in the last two decades. This study aims to introduce a new approach to cross-sector cooperation with the hope of making road safety more holistic and sustainable. The authors compare the road safety policies of three selected countries based on various categories, using a simple quantitative method. The results show some fragmentation within the policies, illustrating the need for a new road safety approach. The effort to reduce road traffic accidents by 50% by the year 2020 has also increased the pressure on stakeholders to meet this goal. This paper's contribution toward the 2020 goal lies in its recommendation of a new approach to road safety that will enlighten stakeholders on probable missing links in road safety.     

Developing a safer road user behaviour index

Road user behaviour is an essential factor of increasing the rate of traffic accidents worldwide. Road safety experts and scientists consider aspects of road users' behaviour to be the main risk factors for road fatalities. These factors include drinking alcohol, speeding, not wearing seat belts, not wearing helmets when riding two-wheeled vehicles, not using child restraints, consuming illegal drugs, and being distracted by mobile phone use. This paper aims to investigate the role of these factors in assessing the road user behaviour through aggregating them and build a composite indicator that can be used in countries benchmarking and cross countries comparison, then identifying most successful practises. To achieve this aim, data related to the selected indicators, life-saving rate, and real crash data were collected. The indicators were weighted using simple and theoretical methods. The weighted indicators were aggregated using simple additive method. The developed index was applied to 12 European countries to test the validation of the index through investigation the correlation between index’ ranking of countries with the ranking according to the rate of fatalities. It is concluded that the developed composite indicator can be used to assess the role of using the protection system and speeding in the severity of the road crashes. However, the role of the remaining factors in the likelihood of crashes occurrence needs more investigation. It can be concluded also that the road users' behaviour is not the only factor of reducing the road fatalities in some countries. This enhances the multidimensional system approach of defining the road safety. Based on this, it is recommended to consider other factors in conducting research, developing indices of road safety, and in recommending solutions. The results show also that the UK, Sweden, Ireland and Ireland have the most successful strategies to improve the road user behaviour among the selected countries; therefore, it is recommended to take lessons from these practices.     

Traffic problems in Southeast Asia featuring the case of Cambodia's traffic accidents involving motorcycles

This article provides the background to the special issue by reviewing the status of traffic problems in South East Asian countries, and in particular, the case of Cambodia. The “Make Roads Safe” report by the Commission for Global Road Safety (2011) confirms traffic accidents as the primary cause of youth mortality worldwide. Thus, the United Nations declared the decade from 2011 to 2020 as the “UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020”, promoting road safety and to reduce the number of deaths in road accidents by 2020. Furthermore, the “Sustainable Development Goals” adopted in 2015 highlight the important role of sustainable transport in tackling the exclusion of vulnerable groups. On the other hand, the World Health Organization in 2015 indicate an increase in the death rate due to traffic accidents in low-income countries since 2000. Traffic accidents were already recognized as a social problem before the 2000s in countries such as Thailand and the Philippines. At the same time, other ASEAN member states such as Vietnam and Cambodia which have experienced rapid economic growth since the 2000s are now experiencing the seriousness of traffic problems. It is said that 70% of road accidents in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos involve motorcycles and three-wheelers, but despite this situation, the regulatory framework for motorcycles remains undeveloped. In the case of Cambodia, speeding by young people remains the major cause of road deaths and this can be explained by the fact that people can now travel at a higher speed because of road developments but remaining challenges related to underdeveloped traffic legislation, and limited public awareness and knowledge of road safety are overlooked. In 2010, the Cambodian National Road Safety Action Plan 2010–2020 was drafted, aiming to halve the number of deaths in traffic accidents in 2020. However, in reality, the number of road deaths did not decrease to the level anticipated in the action plan until 2016. In this article, the authors emphasize the importance of implementing the “three Es” namely Engineering, Enforcement and Education in developing countries such as Cambodia. In particular, the authors claim that the role of education to increase people's road safety awareness is neglected compared to the other two dimensions and thus, it is highly important to raise people's road safety awareness through education among the young people.     

Did the COVID-19 pandemic influence traffic fatalities in 2020? A presentation of first findings

The year 2020 was an extraordinary year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic resulted in lockdowns and confinements globally and emptier streets and roads. Traffic patterns and traffic composition (modal split) changed considerably during the pandemic and as a consequence the number of people killed and injured in road crashes. The aim of this research is to present the number of road fatalities and the fatality rates (fatalities per kilometer driven) in 2020 and to compare these numbers and rates with the previous period (2017–2019), a baseline. An online questionnaire was distributed among the forty countries that are members of the International Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) in the International Transport Forum and 24 were in a position to submit the requested information before the 1st of June 2021. The questionnaire requested information on the monthly number of fatalities on a national level for four years, (2017–2020) and on kilometres driven. The number of fatalities in 2020 was 17.3% lower in the 24 participating countries compared with the baseline period and the reduction is almost seven times higher than annually in these countries in the period 2010–2019. The reduction took place in spring 2020 and not so much in the remainder of the year. The highest reduction were measured among young (0–17) and elderly people (75 and older), with public transport and on motorways. With the exception of one country, reductions in fatalities have been measured in all countries, however we observe major differences between countries. Regarding fatality rates (fatalities per vehicle kilometer travelled), we also observe major differences between countries and not a stable pattern over 2020 and a remarkable increase in April 2020, the month with the largest fatality reduction. Countries with severe COVID-19 restrictions do not necessarily demonstrate the greatest reductions in road fatalities. It is recommended to carry our further analysis to find explanations for the results and for the differences between the countries.     

The association between national culture,road safety performance and support for policy measures

There are considerable differences between countries when it comes to road safety performance, as indicated by the number of road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants. These discrepancies are strongly associated with differences in wealth and prosperity, as expected, but are also related to national culture. The overall objective of this exploratory study is to identify relationships between national culture, road safety performance and public support for policy measures. Using the revised version of Hofstede's cultural dimensions, we show the strong correlation between national culture and road safety performance, which exists even after controlling for the national level of wealth as measured by the gross national income. Furthermore, by combining the national cultural dimensions with data on 29 countries from the second stage of ESRA, the E-Survey of Road users' Attitudes, this study demonstrates that culture also affects the level of public support for policy measures related to road safety. Specifically, for many measures, the degree of individualism accounts for a considerable part of the statistical variation in the public support for policy measures across countries—except for those measures for which the support is very high in most countries. Possible explanations are given for the seemingly paradoxical finding that countries which witness high resistance to road safety policy measures have nevertheless managed to achieve better road safety performance.     

车速在道路安全审计中的作用

通过简介国外的道路安全审计工作,阐述其中车速在道路安全审计中的作用;笔者对太旧、成渝两条高速公路进行实例分析,揭示了公路上运行车速和交通事故的内在联系,引进两项基于车速的道路安全评价指标,为道路安全审计提供一种新的评价手段。     

Investigating the road safety management capacity: Toward a lead agency reform

An efficient management system and leadership body is one of the key requirements for a road safety improvement program. In low- and middle-income countries, the organizational structure of the management system may suffer from deficiencies weakening the institutional functions across key road safety players. Hence, it is necessary to form an inner- and inter-organization evaluation framework encompassing all the processes, events, dependencies, and causation among road safety players. In this paper, a (three-stage) system thinking approach is developed to evaluate the behavior of inter-organizational complex system and to determine major deficiencies in the role of the road safety lead agency. The first stages of the system thinking approach starts with drawing diagrams (i.e. multiple-effect and multiple-criteria trees) that allows identifying the chains of reasoning behind events or consequences. The next stage of the system thinking approach embodies the analytic network process (ANP), an advanced multi-criteria decision-making technique, which handles the lead agency capacity evaluation and helps to determine how and by what magnitude any of the players can affect the national road safety. The proposed method applies to the case of Iran, a middle-income developing country in the Middle East. Since in Iran, the Road Safety Commission (RSC) has been established as the lead agency, it was expected that RSC owns the greatest influence on the status of road safety. However, our results show that the overall influence of RSC on road safety is far less than what was expected. Subsequently, a supplementary procedure is proposed to specify institutional reforms in order to avoid such organizational inefficiencies.     

国外交通安全教育和宣传措施简介

介绍了发达国家在交通安全教育和宣传方面的做法和经验。发达国家道路安全委员会或相关机构,依据本国的道路安全策略制定了详细的道路安全宣传教育策略,在这些宣传策略中,明确了计划实施的宣传举措、宣传重点、责任部门、不同举措对应的目标受众等。为我国的交通安全宣传教育工作提供参考。     

A multi-country survey for collecting and analyzing facts related to road traffic safety: Legislation,enforcement, and education for safer drivers

Road traffic safety is a crucial global objective. It is important for every country to review and improve road safety policies and strategies, based on an objective understanding of its own road traffic safety situation in the world. With the aim of contributing to such a review and understanding, this study conducted a multi-country survey to gather information about various facts related to legislation, enforcement, and education, which are designed to achieve safer drivers in nine countries, by using a common format. This paper introduces the results of the survey with a particular focus on legislation and enforcement regarding speed limit violations and red-light-running as well as on education within the driving licensing systems. It highlights variations, in terms of penalty settings and enforcement levels, in different countries; it also examines the training durations necessary for acquiring a driving license and license renewal procedures. In this way, it demonstrates the potential and significance of understanding the relative position of each country in terms of road traffic safety through an international comparison despite its limited information.     

Road traffic crashes and risk groups in India: Analysis,interpretations, and prevention strategies

Current literature does not adequately discuss India's quickly changing transportation scenario, especially road traffic crash (RTC) concerns. The objectives of this work were to (a) present the national RTC framework and a case study of Andhra Pradesh (AP); (b) analyze and identify risk types; (c) discuss trends and data deficiencies; and (d) recommend prevention strategies. During the period 1970–2009, the nation's road length increased at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.2%, whereas the number of registered vehicles, RTCs, and fatalities grew at 12%, 3.8%, and 5.7% CAGR respectively. Exposure risk dropped from 103 to 11 fatalities per 10 000 vehicles but increased from 2.7 to 10.8 fatalities per 100 000 people.     

道路交通安全管理规划理论与应用研究

分析了我国近年来道路交通安全形势,结合〈中华人民共和国道路交通安全法〉的要求,对编制道路交通安全管理规划的相关理论进行了研究.研究从探讨道路交通安全系统出发,提出了道路交通安全管理规划的定义和编制规划应遵循的原则,并给出了规划思路、规划技术路线和规划内容的建议.最后结合城市介绍了规划的实际编制过程.     

Design of emergency braking algorithm for pedestrian protection based on multi-sensor fusion

Globally, safety has become an increasingly important issue in the automotive industry. In an attempt to reduce traffic fatalities, UNECE launched a new EU Road Safety Program which aims to decrease the number of road deaths by half by 2020. AEB (Autonomous Emergency Braking) is a very effective active safety system intended to reduce fatalities. This study involves the design of a multi-sensor data fusion strategy and decision-making algorithm for AEB pedestrian. Possible collision avoidance scenarios according to the EuroNCAP protocol are analyzed and a robust pedestrian tracking strategy is proposed. The performance of the AEB system is enhanced by using a braking model to predict the collision avoidance time and by designing the system activation zone according to the relative speed and possible distance required to stop for pedestrians. The AEB activation threshold requires careful consideration. The test results confirm the advantages of the proposed algorithm, the performance of which is described in this paper.     

基于物元分析的道路交通安全评价方法

道路交通安全是一个受人、车辆、道路等多因素制约的综合系统。选取了道路交通安全评价指标,并根据道路交通事故特点及其影响因素确定了定量评价指标体系。针对现有道路交通安全评价方法的不足,基于物元分析方法和可拓法原理,提出了一种可操作性较强的道路交通安全评价方法,并使用该方法对全国道路交通安全状况进行了评价。     

Improving the effectiveness of road safety campaigns: Current and new practices

The evaluation of campaigns aimed at improving road safety is still the exception rather than the rule. Because of this, ineffective campaigns and campaign techniques are allowed to continue to be utilised without question, while new methods of behaviour modification are often ignored. Therefore, the necessity and advantages of formally evaluating road safety campaign efforts are discussed. This article also describes the pros and cons of some of the more common campaign strategies and introduces a number of new methods that show a great deal of promise for the purpose of road safety campaigns. In order to infuse the field of road safety campaigning with such new insights into road user behaviour and behavioural modification, one should look beyond the confines of road safety campaign standards and learn from the knowledge gained in other disciplines such as economics and social psychology. These new insights are discussed in terms of their implications for the future of road safety campaigns.     

国内外公路气象信息系统标准综述

公路气象信息系统为公路的正常、安全运行提供重要的气象信息,目前世界上已有多个国家和地区开发并应用该系统,随之公路气象信息系统标准化的问题也受到普遍关注。分析了目前世界上部分发达国家和相关国际组织,以及我国在公路气象信息系统标准、规范领域的研究进展及最新动态,总结并归纳出公路气象信息系统标准体系的主要构成要素以及相关层次结构,通过借鉴国内外研究经验并针对我国的实际情况提出标准框架研究的建议。     

道路交通安全评价指标特性分析

目前普遍采用的道路交通安全评价指标都具有一定的局限性,且均从整个国家或区域的角度出发,不适用于中国交通行业内部安全水平评价。文章从可测性、代表性和可比性3个方面对主要道路交通安全评价指标进行分析,讨论了各指标的显著特性以及如何合理使用评价指标;在结合中国道路交通行业特点的基础上,提出了更具代表性的宏观评价指标和更具可测性的道路交通行业安全水平评价指标。     

平原区公路衔接点的安全研究

平原区公路衔接点是近年来出现在平原区公路的交通事故多发点之一。在调查几百公里平原区公路的基础上,对平原区公路衔接点的特性进行了分析。公路衔接点由平原区改扩建公路而形成,兼有路段和交叉口的双重特点,有交叉型和过渡型两种形式。以实际调研中遇到的两个典型路段为例,针对该种路段的特性,对其交通事故多发的原因进行了分析,并提出了提高其安全性的措施和建议。交叉型公路衔接点可以采用信号控制和非信号控制两种方案,过渡型公路衔接点可以采用多种工程方法改善其安全特性。     

基于GIS的区域道路交通安全管理系统研究

基于GIS的道路交通安全管理系统是将GIS、道路信息、交通事故信息及各类处置模型相集成的一个有机的整体。该整体利用GIS的可视性、空间分析能力和交通事故信息及相关资料的连续性、系统性通过相关的处置模型实现对系统所辖区域内各小区的道路安全水平的综合评价、预测,提出相应的区域道路网安全水平改善对策,从而达到提高整个区域道路网安全水平的目的。本文研究了基于GIS的道路安全管理系统的主要功能和对应于各功能的模块组成,提出了系统的建立程序。     

基于多层递阶模型的澳门道路交通事故分析与预测

以澳门特别行政区1999年至2006年道路交通事故统计数据为基础,分析其分布规律。运用综合事故率法将其与内地城市进行比较,结果表明澳门道路交通安全状况明显好于内地城市,对其内在原因进行剖析,并运用多层递阶模型对未来2年澳门道路交通事故数目进行预测。