Safety, road level

RSDI = 0,25 (traffic risk) + 0,10 (personal risk) + 0,10 (vehicle safety) + 0,10 (road level) + 0,25 (road users behaviour) + 0,05 (urban population level) + 0,05 (income level) + 0,05 (health level) + 0,05 (education level)... 

Analyses of road safety at levels below the national level have usually compared selected rates of road safety (such as the road fatality rate in relation to demography). Fatality is calculated as follows ... 

The tank is specified to have a capacity of 1950 m3. This figure is the sum of one week production of nitric acid (1500 m3) plus an extra 450 m3. This extra 450 m3 capacity will be the normal tank operating level and is available for product sales to external markets. This represents approximately 20 standard road-tanker loads. The dimensions of the tank represent a standard specification available through the Denver Company (United States). The tank internal diameter is 15.2 m and the tank height required is 10.7 m. The internal and external pressure loads require a wall, base and roof plate thickness of 16 mm (a standard plate thickness available through BHP, Australia) to meet the Australian design code for pressure vessels (AS1 210). This thickness gives a 100% safety factor over the maximum anticipated stresses. 

Standards in safety are referred to as measurable management performances. Standards are set for the level of work to be done to maintain a safe and healthy environment free from actual and potential accidental loss. Standards are established in writing for all the safety and health management systan elements. Without standards the management program has no direction or safety expectations established. (If you don t know where you re going, any road will take you there.)... 

Such containers are now available. Most of them are of type IV (polymeric inner liner, fuUy wrapped). Legally recognized test procedures exist as well (EC 406/ 2010, UNECE R134 [2]), so that vehicles may be approved with such tanks for use on public roads. It can be shown that these vessels are on the same safety level as metallic or metal-composite vessels. Naturally we do not yet have the long-term experience as we have it for metallic containers. 

This is especially true for hydrocarbons like methane, a molecule consisting of 80 % hydrogen. Even more interesting in this context are liquids because of their high density. Methanol, ethanol, and carbazol have been proposed in this context. In many cases the application was as fuel for road vehicles, because for stationary storage the density is less important. In terms of safety this would be about on the same level as the storage of gasoline or diesel. 

In order to assure road safety, countries have implemented intervention or threshold skid resistance limit values (levels) that, when reached, would require immediate action for surface skid resistance restoration. 

The dramatic growth of the road network, its ageing and the need to keep it at a sufficient level of safety and functionality... 

The expected safety level is defined by European and national regulations and guidelines, e.g. the EU directive on minimum safety level for tunnels in the trans-European road network (EP 2004) and the Norwegian national guidelines (NPRA 2006). The above-mentioned regulations do apply to both new and existing tunnels with the intention to secure... 

To address national development in the area of road safely, it is desirable to view road safely level in a global context. Road safely is a complex issue and there is a high number of factors and indicators involved in the accidents. This situation leads me to examine several theories and models in order to compare the achievements in road safety between diffeient countries and regions. The problem itself is underestimated in many countries, especially in developing countries where the issue is challenging. The progress in any country will be minimum unless the country has a good and standard measurement to rely on (e.g. RSDI), in comparisons and problem formulation. 

The road safety problem has seen in many countries as accidents that happen by chance. In the year 2004, road safety received a considerable attention at national and international levels. This was a result, among with other things, from the WHO health day on 17 April. WHO launched a global campaign titled Road Safety is No Accidenf to raise awareness about road traffic injuries and costs. The message of the campaign indicates that road injuries can be prevented by appropriate countermeasures and pohcy. However, many efforts still need to be taken to reduce the severity of this problem in the years to come. 

It is generally known that the amount of road safety problems in a country can be observed by the large number of accidents, large number of casualties, high severity level of accident consequences, high risks in travel, and high cost. There are many studies and much research in road safety that have attempted to formulate a theory or model that can explain why accidents happen. Hauer (1982) defined the road safety problem as the product of Exposure and Risk. Rumar (1999) illustrated the road safety problem as a function of three dimensions exposure, accident risk for a certain exposure and injury consequences. 

Data can be converted into (htferent forms some common forms include percentages, rates, and indices. The national multidimensional index integrates and summarises much information and knowledge about road safety into measurable indicators that will be then converted into a single value. In this section, I will discuss the overall concept of criteria and macro-performance indicators. This will also be useful in designing a multidimensional index Road Safely Development Index (RSDI) (this will be discussed in Chapter five). Figure 3.2 shows hierarchical development of the data and availabihty from local to national level. I focus in this part of the study on the indicators that are used in national and international levels. 

Figure 3.2 The pyramid of road safety indicators and levels of performance...

The first step in doing international comparisons is to come up with a comprehensive set of macro-indicators that includes all possible main valuable parameters in road safety of human-vehicle-road-environment-regulation instead of considering a few factors such as accident rates per population or per kilometre driven. Selecting a set of macro-performance indicators is a complex issue where the importance of each indicator depends on its type, avaUabUily and quality. Many previous studies and models (discussed in detail in the next section) have presented few indicators on the national level. The reasons can be given briefly here as follows (i) the lack of availability and rehabihty of dat (ii) the need for simpUfication in the study (model) to avoid any possible errors (iii) to reduce the costs of the study. 

I have attempted to identify a set of performance macro-indicators from a literature review, either in how they illustrate road safety level and development in a country or how they offer a significant affect on accident rates. The quantitative relationship between the indicators and risk was discussed in the previous section. The indicators should be selected on the basis of the discussed criteria for selecting macro-performance indicators. Special attention has to be paid to indicators covered by data, which is already available. The chosen categories and indicators will not provide a complete picture of road safety issues in a country, rather they will give summary information on the national performance in the country, which can help in comparing its progress and experience with other countries. 

The funds level are spent on road safety measures Low Not Rated Subjective... 

Nevertheless, some other studies have tried to explain why the curve of development (fatality rates) declines downwards as been noted in many countries and shown in Smeed s formula. The studies have analysed the factors and measures that influence the development of the curve of road safety. A review of these studies is reported by (Elvik Vaa, 2004) and (Hakim, 1991). Besides, Minter (1987) and Oppe (1991b) showed that Smeed s law is a result of a national learning process over time. The development in society at the national level is the result from the developments at the local level. In other words, the individuals (road users) can learn by experience in traffic where they improve their driving skills and knowledge, while the whole society can learn by better national policy and action plans. The Figure shown here illustrates these factors on the development curve of road safety. 

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