6.6 IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERVENTIONS

ACHIEVING RESULTS IN THE ESTABLISHMENT PHASES

For all countries, in the initial establishment phase, there are known interventions, which if implemented effectively, will deliver results (see Chapter 11. Intervention Selection and Prioritisation). These interventions include:

  • Safer speed.
  • Improved safety of road and roadside infrastructure.
  • Increasing seatbelt wearing rate.
  • Improving safety for vulnerable road users (pedestrians, two-wheeler riders, cyclists).
  • Reduced drink driving.
  • Improved post-crash medical care.

These recommended measures are applicable to all countries. However, there are further measures which would be relevant in targeting improved safety in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). These measures include:

  • Safer heavy vehicles (trucks and buses).
  • Safer heavy vehicle driver compliance with road rules.
  • And further measures for two-wheelers, especially motorcyclists should focus on helmet wearing and, at a minimum, the provision of hard shoulder on rural roads.

In addition to these interventions, supporting tasks may be necessary to enhance road safety performance, especially in LMICs. For these countries, demonstration projects and other methods, including ongoing strengthening of existing road safety activities and the development of digital data systems for licensing and offence records (and their linkage) will be a challenging, but rewarding process. Improvements to public sector governance and the implementation of the supportive, enabling systems necessary to underpin good public policy and good road safety performance, will take considerable focused effort over a number of years.

These are considerable challenges. This is not to discourage immediate action, but there needs to be a realistic sense of what can be achieved in the short-term. Success will depend heavily on:

  • The level of resources available.
  • The advisory expertise marshalled in support (particularly for overall project management and administrations).
  • The outcome focus of the activity.
  • The extent of high-level commitment to achieving change and performance improvement.

It is also vital that actions which inadvertently increase road crash risks are avoided even if the outcome is unintended. Box 6.4 details the unexpected impact of resurfacing of roads leading to higher travel speeds and therefore increased fatalities in former East Germany before remedial measures were implemented.

BOX 6.4: STATE OF BRANDENBURG, GERMANY, EARLY 1990S

The experience of the German State of Brandenburg in the years immediately after German reunification provides insight for other emerging countries. Initially there was:

  • Little road safety experience within the road authorities.
  • A high proportion of aged/unsafe vehicles on the network.
  • Many novice drivers with little pre-licence supervised driving experience.
  • Police reluctance to actively enforce road rules due to historical links to the former political system.

An early action reflected the lack of available knowledge. A programme of new asphalt resurfacing of existing roads without corresponding safety mitigation measures resulted in increased speeds and greater numbers of fatalities. Time was required to identify appropriate road safety actions. Within a few years road safety success was eventually achieved, with a reduction of 72% in severe crashes and 81% reduction in fatalities sustainably over 20 years.

Source: Wenk & Vollpracht, 2013

ACHIEVING RESULTS IN THE GROWTH AND CONSOLIDATION PHASES

For the growth and consolidation phases of investment, development of comprehensive strategies and action plans will be necessary and there will be capacity available by then to build meaningful proposals which can be fully assessed for their likely contribution to proposed targets. In the later part of the growth phase and beyond, the estimated aggregate impact of implementable actions could be used to set a target (see Section 6.4 Setting Targets).

In this phase developed capacity data, tools and knowledge have to be available to:

  • Enable a more detailed analysis of risks on a regular basis.
  • Analyse crash outcome risks.
  • Review existing action plans.
  • Develop countermeasure strategies and actions.
  • Evaluate implemented measures and economic measures (e.g. benefit-cost ratio, net present value and first year rate of return).
  • Guide initiatives through legislative and policy development processes.
  • Disseminate results (e.g. by work, knowledge exchange, and information campaigns)

In both HICs and LMICs there will be many potential interventions which can be applied in the growth phase and beyond. Later chapters address road safety engineering interventions in detail (see Chapter 11. Intervention Selection and Prioritisation), and other interventions (such as improved road user behaviour through legislation, enforcement, and licensing; improved vehicle standards; and improved post-crash care) are also important.

Interventions (i.e. countermeasures) to address the identified risks in the growth and consolidation investment phases can be developed based on evidence from demonstration projects and other jurisdictions, as well as from research. The Austroads Guide to Road Safety Part 7 (Beer et al., 2021) provides a conceptual framework for countermeasure selection, based on the Safe System approach, and sets out steps for:

  • Aligning countermeasures to problems.
  • Assessing whether particular countermeasures are likely to be successful.
  • The likely returns on investment.
  • The capacity to deliver particular countermeasures.