Tools for road infrastructure safety management in poland

Road safety can be improved by implementing principles of road safety infrastructure management (RIS) on the network of European roads as adopted in the Directive. The document recommends that member states should use tried and tested tools for road safety management such as: road safety impact assessment (RIA), road safety audit (RSA), safety management on existing road networks including road safety ranking (RSM) and road safety inspection (RSI). The objective of the methods is to help road authorities to take rational decisions in the area of road safety and road infrastructure safety and understand the consequences occurring in the particular phases of road life cycle. To help with assessing the impact of a road project on the safety of related roads, a method was developed for long-term forecasts of accidents and accident cost estimation as well as a risk classification to identify risks that are not acceptable risks. With regard to road safety audits and road safety inspection, a set of principles was developed to identify risks and the basic classification of mistakes and omissions

Tools for Road Infrastructure Safety Management – Polish Experiences

AbstractThe objective of road safety infrastructure management is to ensure that when roads are planned, designed, built and used road risks can be systematically identified, assessed, removed and mitigated. There are a number of approaches to road safety management. European Union Directive 2008/96/EC requires EU member states to use four basic tools of road safety infrastructure management. An overview of the methods in these countries shows a variety of approaches to how these tools are used in practice. The paper presents a systematics of these tools and a concept of how they could be developed in Poland. It looks at the life cycle of a road structure and the requirements of risk management processes. The paper focuses on elements of scientific support to help build the necessary tools. To help with assessing the impact of a road project on the safety of related roads, a method was developed for long-term forecasts of accidents and accident victims and accident cost estimation as well as a risk classification to identify risks that are not acceptable risks. With regard to road safety audits and road safety inspection, a set of principles was developed to identify risks and the basic classification of errors and omissions. In the case of road network safety management, measures of individual and societal risk were selected. A method for classifying dangerous road sections was developed as well. An estimation is given of the consequences and effects of applying the tools of road safety management on the network of national roads in Poland until 2020

The effects of selected factors on regional road fatalities – analysis of the Łódź region

Analysis of regional accident records shows that a country’s national road safety programme does not have the same effect in each of its regions. What may be a serious problem in one region may be of marginal significance in another. Polish and international experience shows that main risk groups and types of accidents related to the level of development and quality of the road network differ from region to region. The conclusion is that a centrally run road safety policy does not always produce the expected outcomes. This suggests that more can be achieved with a combination of strategic (national) road safety management and tactical (regional) and operational (local) road safety efforts. Poland’s regional road safety programmes were found to lack an analysis of the effects of selected factors on safety or fatality forecast based on mathematical models. This calls for a scientific tool to support regional road safety management. The article uses the example of the region of Łódź to present the main road safety problems, analyse safety based on risk assessment, present the effects of selected factors on road user safety and forecast fatalities for different scenarios of treatments

Tools for road infrastructure safety management in poland

Road safety can be improved by implementing principles of road safety infrastructure management (RIS) on the network of European roads as adopted in the Directive. The document recommends that member states should use tried and tested tools for road safety management such as: road safety impact assessment (RIA), road safety audit (RSA), safety management on existing road networks including road safety ranking (RSM) and road safety inspection (RSI). The objective of the methods is to help road authorities to take rational decisions in the area of road safety and road infrastructure safety and understand the consequences occurring in the particular phases of road life cycle. To help with assessing the impact of a road project on the safety of related roads, a method was developed for long-term forecasts of accidents and accident cost estimation as well as a risk classification to identify risks that are not acceptable risks. With regard to road safety audits and road safety inspection, a set of principles was developed to identify risks and the basic classification of mistakes and omissions

Conditions and capacity for implementing Poland’s vision zero

Since 1991 Poland has been systematically reducing its traffic hazard. Despite considerable progress Poland is still among the most dangerous countries in the European Union. The key types of actions that help to reduce fatalities include enhancement of pedestrian safety, reducing the number of speeding drivers and eliminating or reducing hazard on the road. The paper presents a brief diagnosis of the state of road safety in Poland and a synthetic evaluation of the implementation of further national road safety programmes. It proposes measures necessary for achieving Vision Zero until 2050 (adopted by the EU) and an assessment of their effectiveness

Selected Problems of Transport in Port Towns – Tri-City as an Example

Port towns are strategic places from the point of view of transport systems. They form integration junctions for various transport branches , apart from the traditional - road and railway ones , also for water( sea) transport which is active there. Moreover, air transport comes also into consideration , whose efficient functioning must be connected with good accessibility, that concerns sea transport as well. Efficient and safe servicing the ports is crucial for their functioning. Problems associated with the overloading of lorries, which leads to degradation of road surface structure , observed in Gdynia, are discussed as an example in this paper. Problems of road traffic safety (RTS) are presented in this paper on the example of Gdańsk. The two issues: the road traffic safety and road surface degradation constitute only some transport problems of port towns , but they are very important, from the point of view of their specificity, for integration junctions of all the transport branches for people and goods. However, in discussing selected aspects of transport in port towns it is necessary to refer to the managing of integrated transport system with taking into account its traffic safety aspects

Conditions and capacity for implementing Poland’s vision zero

Since 1991 Poland has been systematically reducing its traffic hazard. Despite considerable progress Poland is still among the most dangerous countries in the European Union. The key types of actions that help to reduce fatalities include enhancement of pedestrian safety, reducing the number of speeding drivers and eliminating or reducing hazard on the road. The paper presents a brief diagnosis of the state of road safety in Poland and a synthetic evaluation of the implementation of further national road safety programmes. It proposes measures necessary for achieving Vision Zero until 2050 (adopted by the EU) and an assessment of their effectiveness

Pedestrian safety management using the risk-based approach

The paper presents a concept of a multi-level pedestrian safety management system. Three management levels are distinguished: strategic, tactical and operational. The basis for the proposed approach to pedestrian safety management is a risk-based method. In the approach the elements of behavioural and systemic theories were used, allowing for the development of a formalised and repeatable procedure integrating the phases of risk assessment and response to the hazards of road crashes involving pedestrians. Key to the method are tools supporting pedestrian safety management. According to the risk management approach, the tools can be divided into two groups: tools supporting risk assessment and tools supporting risk response. In the paper attention is paid to selected tools supporting risk assessment, with particular emphasis on the methods for estimating forecasted pedestrian safety measures (at strategic, national and regional level) and identification of particularly dangerous locations in terms of pedestrian safety at tactical (regional and local) and operational level. The proposed pedestrian safety management methods and tools can support road administration in making rational decisions in terms of road safety, safety of road infrastructure, crash elimination measures or reducing the consequences suffered by road users (particularly pedestrians) as a result of road crashes