Delivered during the 2016 Southern African Transport Conference (SATC), held in Pretoria, South Africa.

1. Road Safety Tools for Road
Authorities
6 July 2016
Randall Cable Pr Eng

2. Overview
• Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility
• Pillar 4: Safe Road User
• Pillar 5: Post-Crash Responses
+/- 750 000 km

3. +/- 22 000 km

4. • The +/- 22 000 km represents only 2.9 % of the
750 000 km of RSA network
– but carries 33,1% of all traffic, and
– more than 70% of all long distance road
freight.
National Road Network

5. • Continue to invest in our national
asset
– 2010/11 to 2014/15, SANRAL
awarded 921 contracts worth R61.9
billion for new works, rehabilitation
and improvement, and various
maintenance cycles
– 2015/16, SANRAL spent R14,8 billion
National Road Network

6. • Massive Infrastructure Investment
• Role of Infrastructure in Road Safety is proven
• UN Decade of Action : Global Plan
–Safe Systems Approach
National Road Network

7. Safe Systems Approach
• Despite all efforts to prevent crashes, road
users will remain fallible and crashes will
occur.
• Safe System approach is to ensure that in
the event of a crash, the impact energies
remain below the threshold likely to produce
either death or serious injury.
• It stresses that those involved in the design
of the road transport system need to accept
and share responsibility for the safety of the
system, and those that use the system
need to accept responsibility for
complying with the rules and constraints
of the system.

8. Role of System Designers
• Rules and Constraints
– Human Error versus Human Fault
– Compliant Society
– Road Safety Competes on a Hierarchy
of Social Needs
• What is the reality?
• Infrastructure supporting better road user
compliance
Safe Systems Approach

9. “Conventional Road Safety
Engineering Thinking”

10. “Conventional Road Safety
Engineering Thinking”
Human Factors
93%
Vehicle Factors
13%
Road Environment
Factors
34%

11. Important Role of Infrastructure

12. Introduction

13. Introduction
Need for better understanding of
pedestrian behaviour on freeways

14. Engineering / Infrastructure
Interventions

15. Engineering / Infrastructure
Interventions

16. Engineering / Infrastructure
Interventions

17. Engineering / Infrastructure
Interventions

18. Engineering / Infrastructure
Interventions

19. Engineering / Infrastructure
Interventions

20. Engineering / Infrastructure
Interventions

21. Engineering / Infrastructure
Interventions

22. Engineering / Infrastructure
Interventions

23. • Engineering interventions guided by
Leading Fatal and Serious Injury Crash
Types
– Vulnerable Road Users Specifically
Pedestrians
– Vehicular Crashes
• Intersections
• Head on collisions
• Single vehicle (run off road type)
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

24. Drivers,
4066, 30%
Passengers,
5023, 36%
Pedestrians
4678, 34%
Passengers 32% Drivers 27%
Pedestrians 37% / Cyclist 4%
Road Fatalities in SA
Between 5 000 and 6 000 pedestrians
killed every year

25. The Case for Pedestrians
• Genuine need for pedestrians to cross or travel along
major routes.
– Vulnerable Road Users
– Captive Road Users - Poorest of the poor
• Poor land use planning resulting in unsafe desire lines

26. Retrofit existing infrastructure
A Safer Place to Walk
After
Before
26

27. 27
Retrofit existing infrastructure
A Safer Place to Cross

28. Or…… we can calm traffic …..
60

29. • Engineering Priorities: Intersections
– Are by nature conflict points
– High Speeds or Reach Capacity
– Upgrades
• Intersection Control Type
• Turning lanes
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

30. • Engineering Priorities: Intersections
– Are by nature conflict points
– High Speeds or Reach Capacity
– Upgrades
• Intersection Control Type
• Turning lanes
• Roundabouts
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

31. • Engineering Priorities: Intersections
– Are by nature conflict points
– High Speeds or Reach Capacity
– Upgrades
• Intersection Control Type
• Turning lanes
• Roundabouts
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

32. • Engineering Priorities: Head-on Collisions
– Dual carriageways
– Overtaking opportunity
• Climbing lanes
• 2 +1
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

33. 2+1 Lane Configuration
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

34. • Engineering Priorities: Single Vehicle Runoff
Road Crashes
– Delineation
• Signs
• Road Marking
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

35. • Engineering Priorities: Single Vehicle Runoff
Road Crashes
– Delineation
• Signs
• Road Marking
– Rumble Striping
• Shoulder
• Centre
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

36. • Engineering Priorities :Single Vehicle Runoff
Road Crashes
– Delineation
• Signs
• Road Marking
– Rumble Striping
• Shoulder
• Centre
– Recovery Zones
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

37. Good
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility
Poor
• Engineering Priorities :Single Vehicle Runoff
Road Crashes
– Delineation
• Signs
• Road Marking
– Rumble Striping
• Shoulder
• Centre
– Recovery Zones

38. Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility
• Pedestrian Hazardous Location Programme
– In many instances these are known to us
– These are “quick wins”
– Remedial measures NOT ONLY infrastructure
– Road User Behaviour needs to be influenced as
well, Road Safety Education and Awareness
• Covered under Pillar 4 Safer Road Users

39. Land Use Development

40. 0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
No.ofpedestrians
Number of pedestrians crossing at N7 per hour of
day, for a Friday
Land Use Development

41. Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility
• Pedestrian Hazardous Location Programme
Province 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16
KZN 2 2 3 4 4 5
FS 1 1 - 1 1 -
WC 4 1 2 2 3 2
NC - 2 1 3 2 3
EC 3 3 3 4 3 4
LP 1 2 - - 4 3
MP - 1 - 1 - -
NW - - 2 - 1 2
GP 2 - 1 0 - -
Total 13 12 12 18 18 19
92 Sites

42. Road Network Assessment
• Method to determine road safety risk - mitigate
• Network Level Tool
• Overcome limited accurate crash data available
• Inform where to intervene and invest
•Highest Return for our Road Safety Investment
• Develop a Model that other Road Authorities can use
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

43. • NetSafe©
– Identify and prioritize locations where road
safety improvements and/or interventions are
likely to be most effective
– Locations for further investigations
• Further safety investigations must be undertaken at a particular
site in order to:
• To identify appropriate safety improvements
• Cost efficiency of safety improvements
• Other remedial measures such as Road safety education and
awareness, and traffic law enforcement, that could compliment
engineering/infrastructure interventions
Pillar 2: Safer Roads and Mobility

44. Ri = RL + ∑ RP
∆ L
• Where:
• Ri = Risk index per km road length
• RL = Risk index related to length-based factors
(per km)
• RP = Risk Index related to point-based factors
(e.g. intersections)
• ∆L = Length of section road (e.g. 10 m)
Risk Index
NetSafe©

45. RP = FS x RPO X F1P X F2P .....
• Where:
• RL = Risk index related to length based factors
• FS = Adjustment factor for accident severity
• RLO = Baseline risk index per km road length
• F1L, F2L = Length based accident factors
RL = FS x RLO X F1L X F2L .....
Where:
RP = Risk index related to point based factors
FS = Adjustment factor for accident severity
RPO = Baseline risk index per point
F1P, F2P = Point based accident factors
NetSafe©

46. • Video Data Collection
NetSafe©

47. NetSafe©

48. Netsafe Results
Distance km
RiskIndex

49. NetSafe© Road Safety Risk Index

50. NetSafe© Road Safety Risk Index

51. NetSafe© Road Safety Risk Index

52. Netsafe Analysis
N2 Section 5 (km 0 to km 81)

53. Crash Data

54. Risk Index

55. ITIS Crash Data

56. Speed Limits

57. Speeds

58. Query 1: Speeds

59. Accesses and Intersections

60. Query 2: Accesses and Crashes

61. Vertical Alignment

62. Query 3: Overtaking Conditions

63. Pedestrians / Schools

64. • Proactive means of ensuring that we can
provide road infrastructure, that is more
forgiving, self-explaining, meets the needs of all
road users.
• Promotes a culture of road safety among
Designers
• Promoting Safe System Philosophy
– Maximise the safety of the road system
– Special emphasis on high risk issues (fatal and
serious injury crashes)
Role of Road Safety Audits

65. Thank You !