iRAP (the International Road Assessment Programme), the umbrella programme for Road Assessment Programmes (RAPs) worldwide has launched a new road safety toolkit.
To support the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021 – 2030, iRAP has launched the new and improved Road Safety Toolkit, to provide a one-stop road safety resource for engineers, road safety advocates, students and policy makers to help develop safety plans for pedestrians, motorcyclists, bicyclists, car and heavy vehicle occupants and public transport users.
First launched 10 years ago, the Road Safety Toolkit is an important online resource that provides free information on the causes and prevention of road crashes that result in death and injury. It will continue to be a freely available tool that provides practical, up-to date knowledge of how treatments can be implemented.
The update to the Road Safety Toolkit was funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies under their Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS 2020-2025) and was undertaken by the World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), with support from the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP). The review included peer review and road safety stakeholders survey to identify how the Road Safety Toolkit could continue to reflect the latest evidence and research in engineering safety. Global road safety leaders including Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), the Towards Zero Foundation, Global NCAP, Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport (EASST) and technical advisors provided invaluable support for the review.
iRAP’s Global Programme Director Greg Smith said “The Decade of Action for Road Safety calls for a halving of death and debilitating road trauma by 2030. The Toolkit helps every country on their journey to reach that target by making reliable, evidence based knowledge on road safety and practical case studies freely available.”
Said Dahdah, the Head of the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) and Global Lead Road Safety for the World Bank said “The World Bank and the Global Road Safety Facility through the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety are pleased to continue supporting the iRAP Road Safety Toolkit which was initially launched over 10 years ago with GRSF support. We hope this latest update will provide even more useful information to users, especially those in low- and middle-income countries where road safety needs are greatest.
This public tool provides easily accessible information on different road safety interventions, including their likely effectiveness and implementation issues. Thousands of visitors are accessing this Tool every month which will help road safety practitioners especially in low and middle income countries.”
The new Road Safety Toolkit (https://toolkit.irap.org/) has been updated to ensure it reflects contemporary knowledge, with revision to content such as:
- Road safety plans to reflect the recently published Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety.
- Bicyclists, to be better capture the range of bicycles and light mobility used and context.
- Speed management and traffic calming to capture a larger range of treatments and make linkages to contemporary information such as the GRSF Speed Management Hub.
- Vehicle safety devices to include content on ABS for motorcycles and AEB for vehicles.
- Larger focus on vulnerable road users.
There have also been significant improvements in usability and functionality including;
- Reflection of the new Global Plan and UN Global Road Safety Performance Targets
- Over 90 topics covered and reflection of all road users.
- Over 600 current images available, with the improved ability for the road safety community to access and submit images.
- Available in multiple languages including English, Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese and Hindi.
- Over 110 case studies now available.
- More than 100 references included and searchable.
- Mobile device friendly compatibility.
- User friendly URLs and shareable content for the online road safety community.
Overall the refreshed Road Safety Toolkit will encourage a more dynamic platform where the road safety engineering community can contribute through submissions of case studies and images.
The Road Safety Toolkit is originally the result of collaboration between the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), the Global Transport Knowledge Partnership (gTKP) and the World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF). Austroads and ARRB provided expert advice during the Toolkit’s development.
To access the Road Safety Toolkit visit toolkit.irap.org
