Urban Road Safety Workshop

ADB Transport Forum 2014

Urban Road Safety Workshop

18-19 September 2014, 14:00-17:30

B. Urban Road Safety

Day 1

The keynote on unique challenges of urban road safety was given by Ben Welle (Senior Associate, Health and Road Safety, World Resources Institute). The challenges mentioned include: (a) very dense and mixed traffic prominent in developing cities, and (b) who is in charge of road safety or the institutional set-up. Recommendations on how to improve urban road safety are: (a) improving basic design of streets; (b) making pedestrians safer; (c) making cyclists safer; (d) reducing and restricting vehicle travel (e.g. Electronic Road Pricing in Singapore); (e) moving people through mass transport; and (f) conducting road safety audits for cities. In conclusion, safety determines the quality of life.

Jaehoon Sul (Senior Research Fellow, Department of Transport Safety and Highway Research, Korea Transport Institute) presented a systematic approach to urban road safety based on Korea’s Transport Safety Action Plan. Their road safety management and transportation safety planning systems were very comprehensive and covered the following safety aspects: road safety policy, safety zone program, school zones and child accidents, drunken driving, speeding, seat-belt wearing, safety education, and emergency rescue.

M.A.N. Siddique (Secretary, Roads Division, Ministry of Communications, Bangladesh) discussed success stories and challenges in urban road safety in Bangladesh.

For the group work, participants were organized into three groups and asked to brainstorm on how to develop the right policy mix in their countries. Concrete priority policies/measures were developed.

Day 2

Road safety audit and how it is done in an urban setting was discussed by Greg Smith. Some examples of urban road safety audits in the PRC and Korea were also presented.

Jae Hoon Sul (KOTI) emphasized the importance of focusing on vulnerable road users – children in Korea. Through research, government policies and initiatives, Korea’s road safety measures for children resulted to 95% reduction of child traffic fatalities.

The initial plan to do a walk-about of the vicinity of ADB was cancelled due to bad weather. Instead, a video clip of road-vehicle-people interaction taken in Indonesia was shown and participants were asked to give recommendations to improve road safety.

What is Eco-driving?

Ecodrive.org states that eco-driving means smarter and more fuel-efficient driving. 

The website further shared "Golden Rules of Eco-driving" as follows:

1. Anticipate Traffic Flow

Read the road as far ahead as possible and anticipate the flow of traffic. Act instead of react – increase your scope of action with an appropriate distance between vehicles to use momentum (an increased safety distance equivalent of about 3 seconds to the car in front optimises the options to balance speed fluctuations in traffic flow – enabling steady driving with constant speed).

 2. Maintain a steady speed at low RPM

Drive smoothly, using the highest possible gear at low RPM.

 3. Shift up early

Shift to higher gear at approximately 2.000 RPM.

Consider the traffic situation, safety needs and vehicle specifics.

 4. Check tyre pressures frequently at least once a month and before driving at high speed

Keep tyres properly inflated as low tyre pressure is a safety risk and wastes fuel. For correct tyre pressure (acc. To loading, highest pressure and speed driven), check with car’s manual. 

 5. Consider any extra energy required costs fuel and money

Use air conditioning and electrical equipment wisely and switch it off if not needed. Electrical energy is converted from extra fuel burnt in a combustion engine, so electrical equipment doesn’t work “for free” – it always costs extra energy and money.

Avoid dead weight and aerodynamic drag.

The benefits from eco-driving are cited as follows:

Safety

• Improve road safety  
• Enhance driving skills

Environmental

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) 
• Fewer local air pollutants
• Noise reduction

Financial

• Save fuel / money (5-15% in the long-term) 
• Lower vehicle maintenance costs
• Reduce costs of accidents

Social

• More responsible driving
• Less stress while driving
• Higher comfort for drivers and passengers

The Department of Energy, together with the University of the Philippines National Engineering Center, have conducted short lecture on eco-driving in UP Diliman this 2013. Wouldn't it be great also if you could practice eco-driving? More articles and tips about this topic will be shared in the next posts.

Breaking the Accident Chain -part1

Road Safety Fact (Road Safety Manual, DPWH):

Studies have shown that the three contributing factors in motor vehicle crashes are:

• human factors (which are involved in around 95% of crashes);
• road environment factors (which are involved in some 28% of crashes); and
• vehicle factors (which are involved in some 8% of crashes).

Commonwealth Avenue “Killer Highway”

The Commonwealth Avenue has been tagged as “The Killer Highway” for quite some time because of the greatest number of road crashes among motorists as well as pedestrians resulting to remarkable number of deaths that happen along this corridor. 24 January 2010 Monday, however, marked the start of the MMDA campaign to introduce some traffic regulations and monitoring to improve and lessen the number of road accidents in Commonwealth Avenue.

Prior to the campaign, Commonwealth Avenue is a 9-lane wide and very long stretch of corridor where vehicles are free to move, swerve, and travel at desired speeds. There were few designated bus/jeepney stops, pedestrian overpass, and several u-turn slots which were not strictly followed by road users. Notable accidents that have occured involved motorcycles, buses, private cars and jaywalkers run over by vehicles. It is important to note that the high occurence of road accidents here may be due to lack of traffic regulations and monitoring on the part of concerned government agencies, lack of discipline among motorists, inadeaquacy in the physical design and signages of the road, and several other factors.

The MMDA, this week, introduced several changes both in the physical design and traffic regulation, monitoring and management. The physical improvements include a yellow lane on the two outermost lanes designated for PUVs/PUJs, the five middle lanes are for private cars and the two innermost lanes will be used to access the U-turn slots. A speed limit of 60kph was also imposed for the motorists. Several traffic enforcers using speed guns were assigned at certain parts of the corridor to monitor and apprehend overspeeding motorists.

It is hoped that through these improvements the Commonwealth Avenue will no longer be tagged as the killer highway. Yet better and safer road environment will only be achieved when the motorists comply and whole-heartedly follow the traffic rules and regulations, the MMDA, with utmost integrity, would maintain good physical design with adequate signages and continue in its traffic monitoring and implementation, and the pedestrians will only use the pedestrian overpass in crossing the highway. Assessments should also be done six months or a year after the implementation to measure the effectiveness of the changes introduced.

Would the improvements really change the nickname, “killer highway,” to something like “safest highway”? It is surely worth noting in the future what Commonwealth Avenue had become when all stakeholders actively have taken part to make it better and safer road corridor. Till the next post on Commonwealth Avenue!

Road Accidents

Engineer-einjel's note:

More than two years passed since I started to hear and learn about road accidents - its implications in a society's economy, lives lost, damaged properties, and medical costs. I did not have much journals or articles to read but my environment showed me the different issues with regard to road accidents.

Yesterday when I started to work on a road accident database, my perception and understanding of road accidents became deeper. As I read and noted every news clippings that tells about an accident, it gave a heavy burden in my heart. Take for instance this - "A man was run over by a huge truck cutting him into two at his midsection". Whew! A 50-year old house help was accidentally hit by a motorcycle which resulted to her death. The driver of a jeepney filled with teenagers which came from a beach party lose control of the vehicle's steering wheel, causing it to swerve to the right, flipped over many times, and turned turtle.

I remember even the times my father and brother encountered a motorcycle accident, a friend and his brother in another motorcycle accident as well. I could share a lot more accidents...

Only then have I realized how BIG really is the issue on ROAD SAFETY. There's a lot of folders to go through but I have somehow found a desire to finish it all and contribute to the road safety programs of the center.

Ciao! Back to work! =)

Philippine News on Road Transport (1)

07/31/2009

Philippine Global Road Safety (PGRS)
Source: http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20090731-218033/DOTC-top-firms-fund-road-safety-firm

The Philippine Global Road Safety (PGRS), a nonstock, nonprofit organization that aims to address global and local road safety issues was put up by the DOTC and a number of private firms.

The member firms include Automotive Association of the Philippines; Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc.; Ford Group Philippines; Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association; Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association; Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.; Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.; Tollway Association of the Philippines, and Truck Manufacturers Association which have donated P1 million each for the organization's seed fund.

Traffic Signs

Are you a true motorist? Then you should know by heart the different traffic or road signs. These signs are posted at the sides of roads to provide information and guide motorists.

Most traffic signs in the Philippines follow the Vienna Convention except for the MMDA's pink colored road signs.

So, what are the different traffic signs?

Regulatory Signs

1. Stop


2. Yield


3. Speed Limit


4. No right/left turn


5. No U-turn


6. Right/Left turn or Straight through only


7. Bus Lane


8. Bike Lane


9. Do NOT Enter


10. No Tricycles/ Pedicab

Warning Signs

1. Turn/Curve Ahead


2. Intersection


3. Pavement condition


4. Railroad/Light Rail


5. Speed Humps

Guide Signs

1. Destination and Distance


2. Expressway


3. Road Work Information

It is important to know and understand what these signs mean for your safety.

**To view some traffic signs, click PICTURES OF ROAD TRAFFIC SIGNS.