Every day, 100,000 people are killed or maimed across the world on roads. Safer road infrastructure and safer speeds provide the vaccines for roads that permanently reduce the risk to all road users. Each of us as pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists or vehicle occupants in cars, trucks and public transport all deserve to get to our destination safely.
The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) partnerships with Donors, Development Banks, Governments, Mobility Clubs, NGOs, Industry and Research experts worldwide are now saving lives on a scale that matters. The elimination of high-risk roads and increased travel on 3-star and better roads is making a difference.
Lives are being saved. Journeys are being made safer.
This is a summary of our Decade of Action and our shared success.
We are killed in four main ways on the world’s roads. In head-on crashes, in run-off road crashes, at intersections and as pedestrians and cyclists simpling moving along or across a road. Every crash type has an engineering or speed management solution that can save lives.
Humans make mistakes and crashes will happen but roads and city streets can be engineered to be self-explaining and forgiving of error.
Footpaths,
raised crossings,
... and bicycle and motorcycle lanes that create safe spaces;
median barriers that physically separate oncoming traffic and prevent head on collisions;
Video credit: Tasmanian Government
roundabouts at intersections,
... and roadside treatments that make run-off-road crashes survivable are just some of evidence-based engineering treatments that protects.
Creating the metrics and business case for investment and supporting partners to eliminate high-risk roads and celebrate success is what iRAP is all about as a charity. Thanks to our major donor, the FIA Foundation, and all our partners and supporters worldwide here is a snapshot of our Decade of Action.
20 Achievements in our 2020 Vision
Born from a partnership of leading Governments and Mobility Clubs in Sweden, Netherlands, UK and Spain as part of EuroRAP, the Risk Mapping, Star Rating and Investment Planning methodologies have been at the heart of safer roads activity since 1999.
The open partnership approach has ensured innovation and success as each new programme partner identifies new needs and contributes new knowledge, expertise and tools for the mutual benefit of all.
AusRAP and the addition of crash likelihood to the models.
usRAP and the presentation of different crash risk maps.
FIA Foundation and the expansion of the tools to meet the needs of low- and middle-income countries to measure risk for all road users, predict crashes and prioritise investment.
kiwiRAP and urban risk mapping for all road users.
World Bank and the piloting of assessments across Costa Rica, Chile, South Africa and Malaysia
FedEx and the Star Rating for Schools
Netherlands Government setting national Star Rating policy targets - "No 1 or 2-star national roads by 2020"
ChinaRAP and the Star Rating Demonstrator
World Bank Global Road Safety Facility and the Star Rating for Designs
Belize safe system corridor investments with Caribbean Development Bank
Moldova and MCC star rating targets for new road upgrades
WHO and UN Member States adopting iRAP as the global standard for safer roads as part of the Global Road Safety Performance Targets
BrazilRAP and innovative PPP investments for 3-star and better roads
EuroRAP leadership on Star Ratings for connected and autonomous vehicles
AiRAP partnerships unlocking the power of technology, artificial intelligence and big data to save lives
Full-circle success that is shared in a free-to-air environment for the benefit of more than 100 countries worldwide. Success that scales globally to save lives.
Given the scale of the global road trauma identified in the World Health Report and the announcement of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, iRAP was formally registered as a UK registered charity in 2011. The donor support of the FIA Foundation ensured iRAP’s protocols, tools and training could be made freely available to governments, development banks, mobility clubs and road safety NGOs across the world regardless of income and capacity.
iRAP is the umbrella organization for self-governing national and regional road assessment programmes across the world. The small charity leverages a global footprint of life-saving work of enabled partners in more than 100 countries.
Along with global partners, iRAP supported the advocacy for the UN Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030) to include the target to halve road deaths and injuries.
The charity advocated for and supported the consolidation of the World Bank Safeguard Policies and the inclusion of road safety safeguards for the first time.
iRAP actively contributed to the WHO Save Lives initiative, the Sum4All Global Framework and United Nations Road Safety Collaboration materials, metrics and support for countries seeking to improve infrastructure safety and sustainability.
The Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Russia in 2009 laid the foundation for the Decade of Action. The 2015 Ministerial event in Brazil showcased the potential of minimum star rating standards for all new roads and the ongoing work of the charity and partners to eliminate high-risk roads worldwide.
The 2020 Ministerial event in Sweden saw the endorsement of the Global Road Safety Performance Targets and the use of the iRAP global standard for 3-star and better roads to drive investment. New MDB partnerships were established to drive results-based financing to achieve the targets.
iRAP partners worldwide have now undertaken over
1,100,000 kilometres of Star Ratings,
fatality and injury predictions and associated investment plans and over
1,500,000 kilometres of Crash Risk Mapping.
These safety assessments are informing road upgrades and road safety interventions that are saving lives every day.
Based on a sample of 358,000 km of road assessments across 54 countries, iRAP’s Vaccines for Roads highlights how safe the world’s roads are, the road attributes that increase risk to road users, the true human impact of injury and the economic Business Case for Safer Roads.
This is vital information for countries, their governments and road safety decision-makers, providing the evidence-base for activity and investment to save lives. Global and country snapshots, as well as case studies of success are shared freely at vaccinesforroads.org
During the Decade, Regional Road Safety Observatories for Africa (ARSO), Asia-Pacific (APRSO) and Ibero-America (OISEVI) have been developed to improve road safety data management, policies and practices to protect human life. Detailed analysis of iRAP Vaccines data from African and Asian countries has informed understanding of what is possible with safer road infrastructure.
iRAP’s ViDA online software is servicing 10,000 user accounts and holds over 26.7 million kilometres of data analysis. One single charitable investment to provide free protocols and software for the world to use is streamlining decision making and providing efficient solutions for governments worldwide.
Advanced analysis and reporting capabilities put wisdom in the hands of politicians, policy makers and practitioners alike. How safe are your roads? Where are people likely to be killed or injured in the future? How can I optimise investment to save lives? How has network performance changed over time? All questions that now have answers with ViDA.
Continuous innovation by partners is also ensuring the software is responsive to user needs. From Star Rating to Schools and user-defined investment plans; light data methodologies to Star Rating for Designs, the suite of tools adapt to the latest priorities worldwide.
In 2010, building on decades of road safety research, the Road Safety Toolkit was released as the result of collaboration between iRAP, the Global Transport Knowledge Partnership (gTKP), the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), Austroads and ARRB. The free resource provides free information on the causes and prevention of road crashes that cause death and injury. It has received more than 300,000 views and helped engineers, planners and policy makers develop safety plans for road users based on evidence-based science.
The Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) has dedicated USD$259 million over 12 years to implement interventions proven to reduce road traffic fatalities and injuries in low- and middle-income countries.
The initial programme from 2011-2015 focused on national partnerships for safer roads with the World Bank and resulted in assessments and safer road investment in Russia, India, China, Egypt and Vietnam.
From 2015 to 2019, iRAP supported the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) and local partners in the safer roads aspects of the initiative. More than 15,200 kilometres of roads in 10 cities and 5 countries were assessed for safety. The work has driven more than USD 8 billion of evidence-based interventions and road upgrades saving over 7,000 lives and more than 70,000 severe injuries from countermeasures already implemented or scoped in designs. The initiative has the potential to save 30,000 lives and 300,000 severe injuries if all countermeasures are implemented.
iRAP is now supporting BIGRS Phase 3 that will shape investment and save lives across 15 countries.
Video credit: World Bank Global Road Safety Facility
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. At the core of iRAP’s partnerships worldwide is the ability to measure the safety performance of road infrastructure and explain it in an objective, evidence-based and clear way for all to understand.
More detailed analytics drive the optimization of investment, but the simplicity of the 3-star or better policy targets have been recognised and adopted as the global standard for road infrastructure safety.
UN Member States have now agreed on Global Road Safety Performance Targets that include Target 3 for all new roads to be 3-star or better for all road users and Target 4 for more than 75% of travel on existing roads to be the equivalent of 3-star or better for all road users by 2030.
Infrastructure safety can now be measured.
Infrastructure safety can now be managed.
The iRAP protocols are recognised as the global standard for infrastructure safety performance. At the national level, iRAP partnerships for locally led programmes are well positioned to support countries achieve the Global Road Safety Performance Targets by 2030. Three-star or better policies and targets are now in place in many international agencies, countries and project-level specifications around the world. The evidence-base supporting the Star Rating, fatality and injury predictions and investment plans continues to grow.
To ensure broad governance of the iRAP global standard and programme an independent Global Policy Advisory Committee (GPAC) reports directly to the iRAP Board. The GPAC provides advice on strategic issues for the charity such as the institutional structures and governance, policy priorities, delivery mechanisms and programme support needed to maximise lives saved.
Model development and the technical integrity of iRAP protocols is overseen by the Global Technical Committee (GTC) comprised of experts from leading independent road safety organisations and research agencies from around the world. The GTC ensures that the latest road safety research is included and the model is consistently applied.
3-star or better policy has been adopted by institutions and national governments throughout the world:
In November 2020, 10 of the world’s largest Multi-lateral Development Banks (MDBs) committed to an ambitious and integrated approach to road safety, signing a high-level joint statement under the auspices of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration. The statement commits to providing further access to safe, affordable and sustainable transport systems for all with a focus on safe infrastructure for all road users. High-level Road Safety Champions will be appointed in each institution to promote road safety with bank operations.
iRAP works closely with global MDBs to build relationships and cooperation for safer roads investment. Agreements and projects exist with many of MDBs including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the New Development Bank.
In 2020, iRAP signed new partnership agreements with the Inter-American Development Bank and European Investment Bank to work together to promote programmes and projects that significantly improve the safety of the roads in their client countries worldwide. The partnerships focus on building local capacity and the business case for safer roads. Star Rating targets for new road projects are also providing a mechanism to specify and measure success and ensure the effectiveness of their investment partnerships.
The iRAP Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) partnership is saving lives on Central America’s Pacific Corridor across 7 countries of Latin America - Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
In 2010, iRAP supported the Bank to assess the 3,241km corridor - the most important land route in Central America. Based on the results, an investment plan was created and the IDB invested USD$1.76 billion dollars to improve safety.
Ten years later, iRAP is once again supporting the Bank to obtain a new Star Rating. The project will establish an objective comparison of progress in road safety levels and a detailed understanding of the impact of infrastructure investments.
With this project and the implementation of measures, it is estimated that savings of USD$265 million dollars will be generated by reducing road crashes on the corridor in the next 20 years.
The project has the potential to save...
65,000 lives
USD$265 million dollars
by reducing road crashes on the corridor in the next 20 years.
iRAP has helped over 100 countries to make their roads safer. From Portugal to Pakistan, Brazil to Bangladesh, Ethiopia to England and China to Chile, iRAP has supported governments, development banks, mobility clubs and road safety NGOs to advocate for, assess and improve the safety of their roads, set policy targets, build local capacity and mobilise investment to save lives on a scale that matters.
iRAP is the umbrella organisation for locally owned and led road assessment programmes (RAPs) around the world that are creating local life-saving impact. Supported with the free tools, systems, training and support of iRAP, the local transport ministry, road agency, research, mobility club and industry partnerships are formed with a focus on eliminating high-risk roads in that country.
Local partners, local suppliers and local experts saving local lives.
Innovation and success is shared globally for the mutual benefit of all partners worldwide.
17 people die on India’s roads every hour. Road crashes cost the country 3% of national GDP each year. But IndiaRAP, sponsored by FedEx is making a difference.
Read about the programme here and how targeted improvements on the Belgaum – Yaragatti State Highway-20 in Karnataka have halved road crash deaths. Achieving UN Targets 3 and 4 in India stand to save more than 83,000 lives a year.
EuroRAP is the umbrella membership association for 31 European countries and 20 national programmes in Europe.
It is supporting road authorities in the EU Road Infrastructure Safety Management Directive and leading the way with infrastructure that supports the needs of connected and autonomous vehicles. Achieving UN Targets 3 and 4 in Europe stands to save more than 18,000 lives a year with an economic benefit of USD$1.1 trillion.
BrazilRAP is a world leader for its national assessment and concession programme. It is star rating 63,000km of its national road network and 26,000km in Sao Paulo. The iRAP Methodology is being used on the largest 30 year concession project between Piracicaba and Panorama which includes USD2.4 billion of International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group) safety investment on the network. > Read more
ChinaRAP has star rated 283,000km of roads, trained 3,500 engineers and upgraded 100,000km through the Highway Safety to Cherish Life programme. USD$6.8 billion of road infrastructure investment has been made safer in the country.
Achieving UN Targets 3 and 4 stands to save more than 85,600 lives a year in China.
Road fatalities are the leading cause of death for children and youth. Every day, 500 children are killed in preventable traffic crashes, sometimes just yards from the school entrance. Each traffic death and injury is tragic for the family and the school community and violates a child’s right to an education.
Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) is an evidence-based tool for measuring, managing and communicating the risk children are exposed to on a journey to school. It supports quick interventions that save lives and prevent serious injuries from day one.
SR4S is an initiative of iRAP, sponsored by FedEx, the FIA Foundation and 3M. The android and web-based reporting application is made available for free through a Lead Partner Network who were instrumental in its development including:
Since its first global pilot, Star Rating for Schools has assessed more than 500 schools across 5 continents and informed school zone improvements that are saving kids’ lives.
Risk is often built-in to road designs from the start. We can quantify how safe the new design is and how many pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and vehicle occupants are likely to be killed or injured if a design proceeds to construction before it leaves the engineer’s desk.
The Global Road Safety Performance Target 3 to ensure all new roads are built to a 3-star or better standard for all road users is being increasingly adopted by:
Improving the Star Rating of Road Designs to a 3-star or better standard for all road users will be key to results-based financing that provides project owners with the confidence they are contributing to the global targets and achieving desired road safety performance levels. Stopping the construction of brand-new killer 1- and 2-star roads will be essential to saving lives and meeting the SDG target to halve road deaths and injuries by 2030.
iRAP is working with road designers, design software houses and the MDBs to achieve this goal.
iRAP’s Star Rating for Designs Tool, developed with the support of the World Bank GRSF, is streamlining the Star Rating Methodology into the road design process. The free tool is empowering designers and engineers all over the world to assess and improve the safety of their road designs before civil works begin; ensuring roads are built safely the first time.
Star Rating of Designs has been directly completed for nearly
9,000 km of road designs in 29 countries.
The iRAP Star Ratings of NACTO-GDCI’s Global Street Design Guide is helping to make city streets safer across the world. Released in 2020, the updated free resource, now with iRAP Star Ratings for the existing and improved designs, is providing a global blueprint for safer and higher-performing streets.
Downloaded over 10,000 times in its first 6 weeks of release
It is helping road designers worldwide understand the scale of the safety benefit that good road design can deliver. The Guide was originally released in 2016 by NACTO’s Global Designing Cities Initiative (GDCI) with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS).
Multi-billion dollar road infrastructure investments influenced by iRAP partners are delivering results with roads upgraded that are saving lives on a large scale. Thousands of lives are already being saved each year. Before and after studies on improved roads confirm the predicted lives and serious injuries saved in the enabling iRAP assessments.
An estimated USD$81.5 billion of road investment has been made safer in 53 countries
in part, or fully influenced by iRAP assessments. Further investment and decisions that cannot be tracked are also likely to be influenced by the free resources that iRAP provides for the world to use.
In 2018, a UN Road Safety Fund was launched by UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt to mobilise and unlock vitally needed financial and technical resources to help low- and middle-income countries make their roads safer. $13.6 million has been pledged by donors so far. The UN Road Safety Fund and World Bank GRSF, with the support of the Department For International Development (DFID), have announced their partnership to apply the UNRSC Ten Steps for Safer Road Infrastructure in Tanzania, supported by iRAP.
Building capacity and empowering countries to make their roads safer is essential to eliminating high-risk roads around the world. iRAP has trained
28,000 people from 121 countries
in the iRAP methodology and use of valuable road safety tools.
Training courses are offered in
15 languages, many free of charge
delivered in online self-paced format, group workshops and in the field.
130 suppliers have been accredited
to perform iRAP specification services and 14 inspection systems have been accredited for assessments.
iRAP accreditation helps ensure assessments are performed to the same consistently high level of quality worldwide and partners can undertake the work themselves or commercially procure iRAP assessments where required.
Harnessing the power of innovation and partnerships to create the tools needed to eliminate high-risk roads is a goal of iRAP’s Innovation Framework. The charity’s global partnerships with governments, mobility clubs, industry and research groups ensure innovative ideas from one programme partner can be shared immediately with others for the mutual benefit of all.
The Framework brings together teams of leading global innovators such as Google, Omdena, TomTom, and 3M, as well as key road safety partners such as Bloomberg Philanthropies, Fondation Botnar, ACEA and the World Bank GRSF (to name just a few). Involvement of iRAP’s 11 Centres of Excellence ensure the application of latest research and expertise. Star Ratings for the Self-Driving Car on Roads That Cars Can Read, AiRAP ( the ‘accelerated and intelligent’ capture of Star Rating road survey and coding data using artificial intelligence and machine learning), the Star Rating Demonstrator, Star Rating for Schools, Star Rating for Designs, User Defined Investment Plans and CycleRAP are just a few examples of iRAP innovation partnerships which will support the global achievement of the UN Targets 3 and 4.
Road crash data, iRAP Star Ratings and recommended countermeasures to improve infrastructure safety can now be simultaneously explored on relevant road networks thanks to a World Bank DRIVER enhancement project.
DRIVER aims to improve the collection, management, analysis, and reporting of road crash data by enabling multiple agencies such as the police, health care providers, and local/national government agencies, to geo-reference road crashes in a centralised database in real time.
The integration of the ViDA API means DRIVER users who also have Star Rating results can overlay them over the crash data and explore suggested countermeasures that can be implemented to improve safety.
In late 2020, 50 of the world's leading AI and machine learning experts partnered with iRAP to find a solution for the accelerated and intelligent collection and coding of road attribute data (AiRAP) to save lives.
The innovative Omdena iRAP Challenge is just one example of how the iRAP charity is partnering with the world's best to find technical solutions for the benefit of all countries of the world.
Based on iRAP participation alone, since 2011, the need for, role of and means to achieve safer road infrastructure has been profiled at nearly
700 road safety events in 80 countries.
The iRAP Innovation Workshop and Asia Pac Conference Series co-hosted with global partners such as the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, Inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, FIA, International Transport Forum of the OECD and the Global Road Safety Partnership amongst others, have brought the world’s leading safer road infrastructure stakeholders together on a regular basis during the Decade. The workshops in host cities including Manila, London, Beijing, Washington, Helmond and Stockholm facilitated collaboration and exploration of how innovation in policy, planning, design, financing, upgrading roads and sharing success could halve global road death and injury in the Decade of Action for Road Safety.
The role of safer roads and speeds has also been a key feature of 3 Global Road Safety Weeks since 2011 helping to energise and maintain road safety momentum during the Decade.
The United Nations Road Safety Collaboration partners, including national governments and research agencies, development banks, FIA Foundation, iRAP and the International Road Federation produced the Ten Step Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure Resource released in 2020 to support countries seeking to achieve the Global Road Safety Performance Targets 3 and 4. The Resource provides a 10-step “recipe” approach for countries to follow as they seek to improve their management, financing, specification, design, construction and maintenance of safer road infrastructure.
A webinar held in September 2020 achieved 1,243 registrations from 120 countries and profiled international speakers from WHO, International Road Federation (IRF), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNSRF), iRAP, World Bank and Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety to introduce the resource globally.
The 10-Steps Approach can be applied by countries directly or with external support from the UN Road Safety Fund or other development financing to create long-term institutional improvements in the management of their road assets.
The first country to implement the approach will be Tanzania with the mobilization of local organisations and experts to undertake the project in 2021 and 2022, supported by international funding from the UN Road Safety Fund, World Bank GRSF and UKAID. UNECA will lead the international partnership with support from IRF, iRAP, PIARC and the World Bank.
In 2020, iRAP was awarded a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for its charitable work saving thousands of lives in more than 100 countries worldwide. In a released video statement to winners, HRH Prince Michael of Kent said:
“Your achievements are significant, not just because they’re innovative, but because they’ve actually saved lives and will continue to do so in the future. Your commitment will certainly help to achieve the ambitious targets being set for the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety and your programme will provide encouragement for others."
Take a 5-minute tour of the world to see some of iRAP’s partners' life-saving impact eliminating high-risk roads during the first Decade of Action. This small selection of stories from Ghana, Australia, Zambia, India, China, Colombia, Belize, Slovakia, Mexico and Great Britain speak for themselves. After a year of COVID19 we hope you enjoy the international travel 😊.
Where to for the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030?
The Second Decade of Action 2021-2030 has reaffirmed the ambitious target of halving the raw number of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. iRAP will continue to play a key role in planning and supporting the next Decade of Action alongside the UN Road Safety Collaboration and iRAP’s more than 15,000 partners and connections worldwide.
The Second Decade will continue to reinforce the 12 Global Road Safety Performance Targets, including the achievement of Targets 3 and 4 for all by 2030.
The iRAP global Star Rating standard and supporting KPIs, Risk Mapping, fatality and injury estimations, investment plans and innovative tools like ViDA, Star Rating for Designs, Star Rating for Schools and AiRAP will empower partners to act and celebrate success.
We know road injury is preventable. We have the engineering know-how, a global road infrastructure safety standard for benchmarking, free tools, training and support to make the world’s roads safer. To assess risk, build safety into road designs and reduce danger for pedestrians, motorcyclists, cyclists and vehicle occupants. From world-class highways to toll concessions, rural roads and city streets where our children walk to school and live.
In simple terms, we will work with our global partners to make sure new roads are safe and high-risk existing roads are financed and improved on a scale that matters. We will evaluate impact and track performance. We will collaborate with partners to achieve SDG targets 3.6 and 11.2 and implement the Global Road Safety Performance Targets 3 and 4.
We will save lives.
Achieving Targets 3 and 4 in the Decade ahead stands to save
450,000 lives a year
on the world’s roads and
100 million deaths and serious injuries over 20 years
with $8 of savings for every $1 invested.
Help us make it happen and help us create a world free of high-risk roads for all road users.
Additional image credits - Opening image: Road Safety Pioneers; Men in tuk tuk: Adobe Images; Girl and school bus: Isabelle Acatauassú Alves Almeida; Crash Scene: Getty Images; Global Ministerial Conference: Road Safety Sweden; Safety of world’s roads revealed main image: iStock; Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety main image: Adobe Images; Development Bank partnerships main image: Adobe Images; IndiaRAP main image: iStock; BrazilRAP main image: Shutterstock; ChinaRAP programme main image: ChinaRAP; Star Rating for Schools main image: FIA Foundation; Improved safety in road designs image: NACTO-GDCI; Star Rating for schools main image: Automobile Association Philippines; Closing image night road: Adobe Images
Credits:
Created with images by Devanath - "rickshaw travel taxi" • Leon_Ting - "hanoi vietnam city" • cegoh - "excavators construction machine site" • real-napster - "highway traffic long exposure"