Vulnerable road users: Diagnosis of design and operational safety problems and potential countermeasures

Following the World Health Organisation, nearly half of those dying on the world's roads are vulnerable road users (VRU). This proportion is much greater in low- and middle-income countries, because of the greater variety and intensity of traffic mix and the lack of separation from other road users, than in high-income countries. Compared to other road users the vulnerable user group is particularly exposed to injury as they are not protected by a vehicle shell. For years, pedestrians, cyclists, [...]

Road safety audit guidelines for safety checks of new road projects

This guideline is a comprehensive catalogue of design safety problems and countermeasures that outlines the common types of design failures in a definitive guide for road engineers and professionals working in the road transport sector. With the UN Decade of Action soon to be launched by the World Health Organisation and a commitment to reduce road deaths through careful planning and innovative solutions the guidelines provide an excellent resource for road agencies and the private sector. The guidelines [...]

Sustainable interurban roads for tomorrow

Ce rapport traite de l'amélioration de la planification et de l'exploitation des réseaux routiers interurbains. Les interactions entre la planification des transports intégrés, la planification régionale et l'aménagement du territoire sont examinées par une approche en quatre étapes et la méthode du cube. Le rapport examine ensuite trois sujets : la gestion opérationnelle, la gestion des accès, les terminaux intermodaux de fret. Pour chaque sujet, différentes études des cas sont [...]

PIARC Catalogue of design safety problems and potential countermeasures

This catalogue presents a set of commonly design errors and suggests a range of measures to overcome them; it also gives an indication of the comparative countermeasure costs to facilitate prioritisation of the work. The catalogue can be used both as a proactive safety tool to ensure the design faults do not arise in the first place, or a reactive safety tool to assist in designing cost-effective countermeasures where problems already exist on the road network. The situations considered are organized [...]

Human factors guidelines for safer road infrastructure

It is well known, that human factors have an enormous influence on the safe handling of technical systems. Human factors can be described as people's contributions to damaging events. It is the generic term for those psychological and physiological patterns, which are verified to contribute to operational errors in handling machines and vehicles. The human factors concept in relation to road safety, considers road features that influence right or wrong behaviour of the driver. It considers the causes [...]