Problem: Vehicle safety features such as electronic stability control and advanced braking make a substantial contribution to reducing road traffic deaths and injuries. Despite these potential benefits, not all new and used vehicles are required to be equipped with these and other internationally recognized vehicle safety standards.

Solution: Governments should provide, through legislation, a minimum set of safety standards for vehicles.

Recommendation: A well-chosen combination of passive safety measures and new techniques like electronic stability control may give a strong benefit in LMICs’ road safety

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• Road Safety Manual - Road Safety Management - The Safe System Approach

Problem: Vehicle safety is increasingly critical to the prevention of crashes and contributes to substantial reductions in the number of deaths and serious injuries on the road.

Solution: Ensure the adoption of high-quality harmonized safety standards, through mandatory certification and registration systems for new and used vehicles based on established safety requirements and combined with routine inspections. Implement regulations for the export and import of used vehicles that are accompanied by inspections at entry and exit points, and mandatory periodic technical inspection of vehicles. Build demand for safer vehicles by encouraging independent new car assessment programs.

Recommendation: Apply harmonized legislative standards for vehicle design and technology to ensure a uniform and acceptable level of safety worldwide. Conduct periodic inspections for issuing required legal certificates and random inspections on the roads.

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• Road Safety Manual - Road Safety Management - The Safe System Approach

Problem: LMICs report very low compliance levels on overweight vehicle legislation due to overloading for cost saving and lack of enforcement. Overloading jeopardizes the safety performance of the overloaded vehicles.

Solution: Prevention and mitigation solutions for overloading include four steps: Legislation, well-formulated legal text with little room for interpretation among road users; Prevention and education; comprehensive information on potential consequences of overloading; Detection and enforcement, use of both static and movable scales along with law enforcement controls; Penalization, financial, operational or institutional penalties.

Recommendation: High-quality infrastructure that is well monitored and maintained is better able to withstand high loads. Inspections at key bottleneck areas, such as toll-posts, with the preferable capability of automation through cameras/weight sensors.

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• Overweight Vehicles: Impact on Road Infrastructure and Safet

Problem: 94% of road crashs are caused by human distraction, errors and similar factors, autonomous vehicles could prevent such crashes caused by impaired driving or largely suppress them.

Solution: LMICs should start with small pilot deployments of the most mature automated services; safety-related automated services are preferable, as road safety is the highest motivation for deployment.

Recommendation: LMIC governments and transport industry should be prepared to avoid being caught off guard and to not get left behind the global community.

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Automated Vehicles – Challenges and Opportunities for Road Operators and Road Authorities