Preamble
Road crashes account for an estimated 1.24 million deaths and up to 50 million injuries worldwide each year with over 90% of the deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) (The World Health Group - The High Toll of Traffic Injuries: Unacceptable and Preventable).
Recognition of this problem led to the UN Decade of Action in Road Safety (2011-2020) which had the ambitious goal of stabilizing and then reducing the forecast levels of global fatalities. This has been followed by a Second Decade of Action (2021-203) aiming to reduce global road casualties by 50% before 2030. This Road Safety Manual is a key contribution to the UN Decade of Action by the World Road Association.
One of the major global requirements is to improve road safety performance through capacity building across the road safety management system. A range of guides to road safety interventions and management has been produced in recent years but further guidance on specific elements is needed, particularly in the areas of the safe planning, design, operation and use of the road network. Such a task requires understanding and consideration of the road safety management needs of low, middle and high-income countries as well as accurate, comprehensive and easily accessible technical information.
In addition, international organisations identify the Safe System as a best practice approach to managing road safety for both the long-term and the interim, and promote its take-up by all countries. The Safe System approach builds on the best of previous approaches and promotes innovation and the adoption of technologies that are based on well-established safety principles.
The next steps in road safety present challenges for road safety managers and professionals all over the world. This manual sets out ways in which road safety policy makers and practitioners, particularly those in low, middle and high-income countries, can establish, strengthen and consolidate their efforts to address the challenges before them.
The manual is designed to be a comprehensive, state-of-the-art international reference document and a 'living' tool that can assist all countries in fulfilling key objectives. The focus is on guiding the management of the safe planning, design, operation and use of the road network in low, middle and high-income countries. The manual highlights effective management and policy frameworks, technical references and provides overall guidance on the management of interventions to achieve results.
The Road Safety Manual (RSM) is a product of the World Road Association (PIARC) which and was first published in 2003 in hard copy to align it with Decade of Action objectives and the Safe System approach to managing safety. It brings together PIARC's own guidance and that produced by other international organisations. This version (2025) consolidates the knowledge from that first publication in 2003 and the update in 2015 and 2019. The goal of this 2025 update is not to rewrite the manual, but to consolidate all relevant knowledge into a single source and update information, best practice and new case studies.
ORGANISATION AND SCOPE OF THE MANUAL
The manual is organized into the following three Parts.
PART 1: STRATEGIC GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
This part provides a strategic global perspective of the scope of the road safety problem and key developments influencing current approaches to managing for results which underpin this guidance:
- Chapter Scope of the road safety problem outlines the global and growing crisis of road traffic injury for public health as low and middle-income countries (LMICs) motorize, the substantial societal value of road injury prevention and the challenges presented by the Safe System and achievement of its goals.
- Chapter Key developments in road safety discusses important new global directions and their implications in safe planning, design, operation and use of the road network for low, middle and high-income countries.
PART 2: ROAD SAFETY MANAGEMENT
This part provides guidance on road safety management. It presents the foundation for delivering targeted improvements using results-focused strategies, programmes and projects:
- Chapter The road safety management system outlines state-of-the-art frameworks focused on achieving results and the importance of governmental and top management leadership and management capacity.
- Chapter The Safe System approach outlines the approach based on the long-term goal to eliminate death and serious injuries, interim quantitative targets, well-established safety principles and system-wide interventions.
- Chapter Effective management and use of safety data addresses data requirements, the establishment, management and use of databases and how to determine and minimize levels of under-reporting.
- Chapter Road safety targets, investment strategies, plans and projects sets out guidance on establishing, growing and consolidating results focused long-term investment strategies.
PART 3: SAFE PLANNING, DESIGN, OPERATION AND USE OF THE ROAD NETWORK
This part provides detailed guidance for road planners, policy makers, engineers and other practitioners on the management of intervention for the safe planning, design, operation and use of the road network:
- Chapter Roles, responsibilities, policy development and programmes provides guidance on the progressive adoption and implementation of Safe System goals, plans and projects and the operational practice of road authorities.
- Chapter Design for road user characteristics and compliance addresses how road user capacities and behaviours can be taken account of in the safe planning, design, operation and use of the road network.
- Chapter Infrastructure safety management: Policies, standards, guidelines and tools provides guidance on the principles of infrastructure safety management and advice for all levels of government on policies, standards, guidelines and other tools for new and existing roads of all types.
- Chapter Assessing potential risks and identifying issues outlines the steps, processes and tools required operationally in identifying problems and selecting appropriate treatments.
- Chapter Intervention selection and prioritisation provides guidance on the process required to select and develop appropriate, affordable interventions within a Safe System context.
- Chapter Monitoring and evaluation of road safety interventions provides guidance on the often overlooked but essential monitoring and evaluation function at national, programme and project levels.
The different parts of the manual are shown in the figure below:
Substantial changes have been made within Part 3 to add the more detailed technical information from the 2003 manual that aligns with the Safe System. This has included the insertion of new sections for Appendices, Technical Sheets and Studes together with a new ‘Tools’ category – Calculators.
AUTHORS
This Road Safety Manual was updated by the FRED Engineering team under contract to a Special Project Oversight Team within TC 3.1 – Road Safety (2024-2027. All, this was made possible thanks the support and contribution of FHWA.
The contributors to the Road Safety Manual update are presented below in alphabetical order:
POT Team membership
Members of PIARC Technical Committee 3.1:
Agnes Velez
Lead Transportation Specialist/Multinational Relations,
Team Lead
FHWA
Washington DC
USA
Al Hasan YAZAN
XXX
XXX
Louisa Ward (POT Chair)
Team Leader, Safety Design
FHWA Office of Safety
USA
John Milton
State Safety Engineer
Washington State Department of Transport
USA
John Barrell
Independent Road Safety Consultant
UK
Stephen Read, PE
State Highway Safety Engineer
Traffic Operations Division
Virginia Department of Transportation
USA
Shafiul Alam
XXX
XXX
PIARC Secretariat:
Alain Charles
Information Systems Manager
France
Ethan Wilton
Information Systems Manager
France
Patrick MALLEJACQ
Secretary General
France
FRED Engineering team:
Antonino Tripodi (Italy)
Technical Director
FRED Engineering
Italy
Edoardo Mazzia (Italy)
Managing Director
FRED Engineering
Italy
Francisco Reina
Business Development Director
FRED Engineering
Spain
Paola Tiberi
Road Safety Engineer
FRED Engineering
Italy
Syntia Meli
Road Safety Engineer
FRED Engineering
Italy
The French and Spanish versions of the report were produced by FRED Engineering.
CASE STUDY AUTHORS
The case studies were provided by participants that are not necessarily part of the PIARC organization. Their names are mentioned at the end of each case study, typically being the "Contact names". This catalogue could not be realized without their contribution and the authors of this report acknowledge their valuable participation.