Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio L. Singson said on Thursday that effectively immediately, high-risk national roads in the country shall be subjected to a major road safety assessment under the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) of the World Bank.
Speaking at an official Steering Committee meeting, Singson said that the road safety inspections will help authorities to save lives by targeting safety improvements along high-risk sections of roads.
With the signing of a grant agreement between the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility and iRAP with project partners which include the Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP), University of the Philippines National Centre for Transport Studies (UP-NCTS) and the Land Transport Office (LTO), the assessment shall be undertaken to save lives through the provision of safer road infrastructure.
“Too many families have been touched by the tragedy of road death and injury. Worldwide, road crashes are the leading cause of death for young people aged 10 to 24 and a global killer on the scale of malaria or tuberculosis. In the Philippines, more than three people are killed on the roads each day,” Singson said.
World Bank Country Director Bert Hoffman welcomed the opportunity to support the iRAP Philippines project, which is funded by the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility.
“The safety assessment that will be undertake as part of this project will be vital in ensuring that roads which are critical to the Philippines’ economic growth, trade and employment are also safe,” Hoffman said.
“Worldwide, the social and economic impact of road crashes is shocking. As part of a systematic approach to road safety, involving safer road use, safer vehicles and safer roads, the iRAP Philippines project can help address this crisis and save thousands of lives,” he added.
Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Undersecretary Dante Velasco said: “The Philippines is taking great strides forward in road safety and we are now planning significant efforts as a part of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety from 2011 to 2020. With this iRAP project, we are now focusing on the elimination of high risk roads. ”
IRAP Asia-Pacific Regional Director Greg Smith said the iRAP Philippines project will use the latest digital imaging technology to more than 4,000 kilometers of the nation’s major roads, including almost 2,000 km of Daang Maharlika north and south of Manila.
“The inspections will focus on more than 30 different road design attributes that we know influence the likelihood of a crash and its severity. These include intersection layout, road cross-section and markings, roadside hazards, facilities for motorcyclists and the provision of footpaths and safe crossing points,” Smith said.
“The inspections will help us to identify affordable improvements that can dramatically reduce road death and injury. We know, for example, that the provision of flexible posts in the center of the road can significantly reduce head-on crashes. iRAP Philippines will benefit from our experience in road safety worldwide experience. Road assessment programs are now active in more than 60 countries and have assessed some 400,000km of highways,” Smith said.
Meanwhile, Millennium Challenge Corporation Country (MCCC) Director Matt Bohn has commended the DPWH for adopting a new system for road assessment as it will also provide data to improve the implementation of the country’s road and bridge projects.
Gus Lagman, president of the Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP), said one of the key aims of the project is to build a strong partnership between road safety specialists and organizations leading road safety in the Philippines.
“Working together with our local partners in road safety, the DPWH, DOTC, and UP-NCTS, we plan to identify simple and affordable improvements that will make roads safer for vehicle occupants, bicyclists, pedestrians and especially motorcyclists,” Lagman said.
All about the iRAP partnership:
The International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) works in close partnership with government and non-government stakeholder organizations (NGOs).
Oversight for iRAP Philippines is being provided by a multi-agency Steering Committee led by the DPWH and DOTC; with DPWH as the implementing agency.
The project is funded by the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility.
The detailed iRAP Philippines project will involve:
– The latest digital imaging technology to inspect more than 4,000km of the nation’s high-risk roads;
– Analysis of the road images to provide a detailed assessment of the road features that impact road crash likelihood and severity;
– Producing star rating maps that provide a simple and objective measure of the level of safety which is “built-in” to the road network for car occupants, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians;
– Generating an affordable and economically viable Safer Roads Investment Plans. These plans will include recommendations for road improvements and estimates of the numbers of deaths and injuries that could be avoided;
– Building and sustaining the capacity of stakeholder organisations through training and direct experience in using iRAP technology and software.
