Action for Road Safety
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According to the United Nations:
- nearly 1.3 million deaths and between 20 million and 50 million injuries result from road crashes each year;
- developing countries are particularly badly affected, accounting for 90% of global fatalities;
- road traffic injuries are among the three leading causes of death for people between 5 and 44 years of age;
- road traffic injuries are predicted to become the fifth leading global cause of death by 2030 unless immediate action is taken; and
- the annual global cost of road traffic injuries is estimated at $518 billion, as well as costing Governments between 1 per cent and 3 per cent of their gross national product.
Following an advocacy by the FIA Foundation and its associated Make Roads Safe campaign, the United Nations has agreed that 2011-2020 will be the global Decade of Action for Road Safety.
In Ireland, the Garda National Traffic Bureau reports twelve deaths on Ireland's roads during March 2010, the lowest number of road deaths on record in a single month, and considerably lower than the number of deaths reported in the month of March for the last decade. Over the easter period the Garda have reported five fatal accidents and a further six accidents resulting in serious injury. On their website, the Garda "remind motorists that the single greatest contributory factor to fatal and serious road traffic collisions is inappropriate speed' and that Garda enforcement activity against speeding motorists will be conducted on sections of road with a propensity for speed related collisions as part of an European-wide operation between 19th and 25th April 2010.
In the UK, whilst the Government's new road safety strategy is still awaited, the latest Eurorap report has been published by the Road Safety Foundation. Dr Joanne Hill, director of the Road Safety Foundation is reported to have said that “we can save 10,000 deaths and serious injuries annually in less than a decade through safe road design alone. A quarter of all British rural road deaths involve hitting roadside objects, it is common to see unprotected steep embankments, poles or trees that have grown far too close to the road. A quarter die at junctions and there are simply too many junctions that do not provide protection to turning vehicles. Around 20 per cent of road deaths occur in head-on crashes and we must study other countries which are increasing protection on higher speed roads... This is a sound investment: modest spend on road markings, better junction design, crash protection at the sides and centres of roads would save the UK £6bn annually.”
Commenting on the findings of the report, Paul Watters of the AA is reported to have commented that “Lives are being saved by one of the cheapest measures in the road engineer’s toolbox: simple white lines, ... road markings feature in 70% of improvements annually. Without exaggeration, it is true to say that a simple pot of paint can save lives. In particular, highly visible markings at the edge and center of the road – that can be seen on a wet night – are enormously cost-effective in saving lives.”
TTRSA recently visited the international Intertraffic Amsterdam exhibition, and were impressed by technologies to improve the performance of road markings in wet conditions, including Chem Plus Inc.'s Bondee Elements which are mixed with traditional glass beads in road markings to improve wet weather visibility and LFK's improved PREMARK2 preformed thermoplastic markings. If any highway authority has experience of use of either project, let us know your thoughts.
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