More than 1.24 million people die and between 20 and 50 million people are injured on the world’s roads every year, with the largest portion of this burden carried by those in low and middle income countries. Improvement to road infrastructure is a key mechanism for improving safety in all countries. A variety of proven road safety infrastructure treatments are available. While these treatments are all capable of delivering safety improvements, one group of treatments (termed Safe System, or Primary treatments) are able to move closer to the eventual elimination of death and serious injury on our roads.
A workshop was held in Bangkok, Thailand as part of the 2012 GRSP / iRAP Asia Pacific Workshop involving delegates from governments and road authorities around the Asia-Pacific region. The aims of the workshop were to raise awareness regarding Safe System infrastructure treatments and to explore barriers to their implementation in low and middle income countries. This report provides a summary of the workshop, including information on issues relating to the further uptake of Safe System infrastructure.
Key implementation issues raised included cost, compliance issues, design and implementation difficulties, public acceptance and familiarity with use, and maintenance.
The workshop provided an important basis for understanding the issues that need to be addressed in order to accelerate the uptake of highly effective infrastructure treatments, and in raising awareness of these issues.
The report can be downloaded here:
http://www.arrb.com.au/Safe-Systems/UN-Global-Decade-of-Action.aspx?newsID=153