at National Road Safety Conference Karachi

1. at National Road Safety Conference Karachi Road Safety Audit A Promising Approach For Pakistan 24th April, 2007 by: Mr. Aizaz Ahmed. PE, PTOE Executive Director NATIONAL ROAD SAFETY SECRETARIAT Ministry of Communications Government Of Pakistan

2. Presentation Overview • Road Safety- A Global Issue • Economic and social effect • What is a road safety audit? • Why do we need RSAs? • RSA Process • When do we conduct RSAs? • RSA Team Composition • RSA Cost and Benefits • Barriers in RSA implementations in Pakistan • Recommendations and the way ahead • Conclusion

3. Road Safety- A Global Issue • About 1.2 million people die in road crashes every year . • Leading cause of death among young people between 10-24 years. • Almost 85% of the road deaths occur in Low-Middle level courtiers. • Poor are disproportionately affected, with most of the victims being pedestrian, bicyclist, motorcyclists and passenger of public transport riders and with more than half of them between ages of 15 to 44 years. • Road crashes have serious social and economic implications. • Direct economic cost for road crashes is US$5I8 billion globally- and US$65 billion for low-income countries.

4. Road Safety- A Global Issue (Source: 1998 World Disasters Report: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and TRL, UK.)

5. Reported Fatal and Non-Fatal Crashes In Pakistan Source: National Police Bureau

6. Economic Cost • Economic cost of road crashes and injuries is estimated to be 1.5% of the GNP for developing countries. • 111.6 billion rupees for Pakistan.

7. Social Cost The mortality rate due to RTC in South East Asia is 18.6 per 100,000 population, hence, the estimated fatalities per year in Pakistan are about 25,000 . National Injury Survey of Pakistan conducted in 1997 of serious injuries are 41.2 per 1000 persons per year. Road Traffic Injuries (RTI) was the most common cause (36%). Estimated injuries in Pakistan are 2 million per year Study in Bangladesh raveled the 32% fatalities are of head of the family. The loss of earning head and medical bills can have a ruinous effect on a family’s finance.

8. Distribution of Injuries by Causes in Pakistan Source:- National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases and Heath Promotion In Pakistan (Page-90)

9. What Engineering Sector can do about Road Safety Problem?

10. What is a Road Safety Audit • A Road Safety Audit is a formal examination of future and existing roadway, in which an independent and qualified audit team reports on safety issues.

11. A road safety audit also… • Considers the safety of all road users • Examines the interaction of project elements • May proactively consider mitigation measures

12. Objective of RSA • The objectives of road safety audit are to identify potential safety risks for road users and to ensure that measures to eliminate or reduce the risks are fully considered

13. Road Safety Audit Is: • Focused on road safety. • A formal examination. • Proactive in nature. • Conducted by a multidisciplinary team (typically 3-5 auditors). • Conducted by an audit team that is independent of the design team. • Conducted by an audit team that is adequately qualified, both individually and as a team. • Broad enough to consider the safety of all road users and road facilities. • Qualitative in nature.

14. Road Safety Audit Is Not! • Not a means to evaluate, praise or critique design work. • Not a means of ranking or justifying one project over another. • Not a means of rating one design option over another. • Not a redesign of a project. • Not a crash investigation or crash data analysis (although the crash history of an existing road is reviewed to make sure that previous crash patterns have been addressed). • Not a design quality control or standard compliance check.

15. Why do we need RSAs? • Rapid increase in vehicle ownership have placed considerable pressure on the existing road networks • Relatively few road-related safety issues are identified in collision reports. • Roaddesigns need to anticipate and accommodate common driver errors. • Easier to design and build safer roads than to modify some entrenched driver behaviors. • RSA offers a multidisciplinary preventive approach and can be successfully applied on roadway design project or on an existing roadway.

16. Benefits of RSA • Safer roadway through road crash prevention and road crash severity reduction.. • A proactive approach to road safety as it can address road safety issues even before road crashes occur. • Foster a safety conscious design among owner and designer. • More explicit consideration of the safety needs of vulnerable road users. • Cross fertilization between Specialist within a highway agency (e.g. Design, Maintenance, Traffic etc.) • Can be performed at locations where no crash data is available such as on newly built roadway.

17. Benefits of RSA (Contd) • Allow for a more detailed and systematic review of field condition by utilizing detailed prompt list. • Multisectoral RSA team brings diversified skills and experience of identifying road safety issues other then engineering such as enforcement and road user behaviors issues. • May help produce designs that reduce the number and severity of crashes. • May reduce costs by identifying safety issues and correcting them before projects are built. • Promote awareness of safe design practices. • Integrate multimodal safety concerns. • Consider human factors in all facets of road project.

18. RSA Process

19. RSA include eight steps • Identify project or existing road to be audited. • Select RSA Team • Conduct a pre-audit meeting to review project information • Perform field reviews under various conditions • Conduct audit analysis and prepare report of findings • Present audit findings to Project Owner/Design Team • Prepare formal response • Incorporate findings into the project when appropriate

21. RSA Team Independent Experienced Multidisciplinary

22. Composition Of RSA Team Road Safety Specialist Traffic Operations Engineer Road Design Engineer Local Contact Person Other areas of specialty

23. RSA Prompt List An effective tool for RSA team to identify safety issues and to ensure that they do not overlook something important The prompt lists may also be used by designers to help them identify potential safety issues proactively as they develop their design. They are not a substitute for knowledge and experience; rather, they are an aid in the application of knowledge and experience.

24. When do we conduct RSAs? • Pre-construction: • Land Use/Master Planning phase • planning / feasibility • preliminary (draft) design • detailed design • Construction: • work zones • pre-opening • Post-construction/operational: • existing roads

25. Land Use/ Master Planning Phase RSA • Ensure trip reduction measures are incorporated. • Viable alternative to private motorized transportation are planned and incentives are build in to encourage people to switch from higher risk mode to lower risk mode. • Efficient road network is planned where shortest or quickest routes coincide with the safest route. • Ensure Public facilities those expect to generate heavy pedestrian activities such as schools and masajids should not be located along high speed arteries.

26. Planning Stage RSA • Deals with traffic safety aspects of the initial design and • Choice of route alignment, number and types of junctions, spacing of intersections/interchanges, cross section, multi-mode transportation connections, service to local communities and facilities covered in this phase.

27. Preliminary Design Stage RSA • Examines the general alignment, cross- section, and proposed layout of junctions. • The RSA suggestions may include: changes to access points, horizontal and/or vertical alignments, provision of a median, lane and shoulder width, provision of bicycle lanes and sidewalks, channelization, landscaping, lighting, etc.

28. Detailed Design Stage RSA • The audit team's last opportunity to review the design before it is finalized and construction begins. • Efforts to undertake major physical changes in the design at this stage may be both time-consuming and expensive, and may delay project tendering. • The focus of the RSA is on examining the detailed design of junctions, proposed road markings, roadside furniture, and proposed alignment to identify potential hazards resulting from adverse combinations of design elements (e.g., vertical and horizontal alignment).

29. Construction Phase Road Safety Audits • Work Zone Traffic Control Plan RSAs. • Changes in Design During Construction RSAs. • Pre-opening RSAs.

30. RSA of Work Zone Traffic Control Plan • RSA could be done before the project is tendered to construction, before the work zone is open to traffic, and/or after it is open. • safety of all temporary roadways and transition areas • appropriateness of all traffic control devices for whole day and night conditions. • think about the other road users besides passenger automobile operators

31. Pre-Opening Stage RSA • Offer another opportunity for the team to consider the safety aspects of the design before the facility is opened to the public. • Review must be comprehensive and thorough including inspections both at day and night conditions. • The RSA suggestions will likely focus on changes to illumination, signs, delineation, pavement markings, roadside barriers, removal or protection of fixed object hazards and minor structural changes (e.g., addition of a wheelchair ramp).

32. Existing Roads RSA • The real objective for this type of RSA is to identify road safety issues for different road users that might result in a crash. For this reason, RSAs of existing roads are proactive. • Available crash data are used to validate RSA results and make sure that existing safety problems are not overlooked. • RSAs of existing roads may be conducted even if crash data is not available. • It cover area of interventions, such as enforcement and education to target certain risky behavior identified.

33. Costs of Road Safety Audit • The Audit costs (mainly the time of the auditors/team) • Redesign costs if any • Any increased project cost through identified remedial works

34. Potential Benefits • Savings in time and cost by correcting the problem at early stage. • Reductions in the number of crashes and the consequent savings in road crash-related costs. • Reductions in possible litigation costs. • Saving in cost of congestion related to road crashes

35. Benefits To Cost Ratio Of RSA • Scotland has estimated a benefit: Cost (B/C) ratio of 15:1 • New Zealand has estimated the ratio to be closer to 20:1. • These are the B/C ratio in developed countries where road safety engineering practices are much better as compare to developing courtiers. B/C ratio of RSA in Pakistan is expected to be much higher.

36. Barriers in A Successful Implementation of RSA in Pakistan • In highway agencies, Road safety is NOT a high priority when it comes to allocating financial and human resources. • No established Safety Design Standards. • Lack of Institutional capacity in Road Safety and Road Safety Champions within highway agencies. • No formal coordination and data sharing among agencies on road safety. • Unavailability of trained Traffic Operation Engineers and Road Safety Auditors. • Lack of training and educational opportunities to road safety professional. • Dependency on high cost international Consultants.

37. Recommendations And The Way Ahead • Develop training program for RSA. • Traffic Engineering and Road Safety Courses should be taught both at undergraduate and graduate level in Pakistan universities. • Establish Regional multi-sector Road Safety Coordinating Committee who could overview major RSA Project. • Develop database for RSA findings particularly for design phase and share it with other relevant agencies to avoid these design shortfall in future project and utilize the same to improve road design standards. • RSA should be made mandatory for all projects costing Rs. 10 Million or more.

38. Recommendations And The Way Ahead • Establish Traffic Engineering & Safety Directorate • National Policy on Road Safety should be made covering both preventive and post-crash aspects of Road Safety encompassing initiatives such as RSA. • RSA procedure should be developed and updated regularly with input from highway agencies. • Designate a monitory organization to perform Quality Assurance/Quality Control on major RSAs.

39. Conclusion • RSA is a formal systematic procedure that translates traffic safety knowledge and experience into safe planning, design and operation of roadways. Through application of RSA, we can design and maintain our roads considering the needs of all road users with focus on reducing potential risks and hence making our roadways safer.