ECOROADS

Strict application of two specific EC directives leads to a fragmented approach to road safety inspections, which has important safety implications. Adewole Adesiyun spoke about the Ecoroads project’s work in establishing a common approach to road safety infrastructure inspections and tunnel safety management

The Sierre coach crash in a Swiss road tunnel in March 2012 was a traumatic event, causing 28 deaths and leading to a renewed debate on how the safety of European roads could be improved. The work of the Ecoroads project, an ECbacked initiative bringing together researchers from a number of European countries, will make an important contribution to the debate. “The general objective of the Ecoroads project is to overcome the barrier established by the interpretation of two directives – 2008/96/ EC and 2004/54/EC,” says Adewole Adesiyun, the project’s Coordinator. These two directives relate to road safety standards in tunnels (2004/54/EC) and standards on the open roads (2008/96 EC); Adesiyun says this leads to a fragmented approach to road inspections, which may have safety implications. “We are investigating whether, if the barrier between these two directives had not existed, the accident in the Sierre tunnel could have been prevented,” he explains. “We’re looking at how we could develop a uniform approach to road safety inspection and road safety audits, both in tunnels and on the open road.”

This is not currently the case, contrary to what many drivers may believe. While road travel is a relatively safe mode of transport, regular inspections are required to maintain and improve standards, and there are many factors to consider. “When we talk about road safety inspections, we are talking about infrastructure, the pavement, the emergency parking facilities in tunnels, and other issues,” points out Adesiyun. Car manufacturers of course consider safety measures in vehicle development, while information on road conditions is also available to drivers; the project’s focus however is the road infrastructure. “We looked at how do tunnel experts and road experts understand safety operations in these two different environments?” says Adesiyun. “Currently, the people that do tunnel inspections are often not the same people as inspect open roads – it’s typically two separate teams. Instead of having two separate teams, why don’t we have one team that conducts inspection both on open roads and tunnels?”

The first step in this is bringing the two groups together to share expertise and best practice. From there, experts can discuss key issues and look to establish a common approach to road safety inspections. “We discussed, for example, mitigating the risks associated with lay-bys and the transition between tunnels and open roads,” says Adesiyun. The project aims to provide recommendations for road safety audits and road safety inspections; pilot joint safety operations will be conducted on five sections of road in Europe, featuring both tunnels and open roads. “We have an international team comprised of road and tunnel safety experts that conduct these road safety inspections and audits on these five sections of road. Currently, most of the people who inspect a road are from the home country, but in this project we have an international team,” continues Adesiyun. “We’re bringing together expertise and experience from different parts of Europe.”

This will form the basis for guidelines and recommendations on road safety inspections. The ultimate goal is to help improve road safety; Adesiyun hopes the project’s work will have an impact in these terms. “We are hopeful that the project will enhance the application of road safety audits and inspections in tunnel safety, through the joint road safety operations,” he says.

The ECOROADS project aims to establish a common enhanced approach to road infrastructure and tunnel safety management by using the concepts and criteria of Directive 2008/96/CE on road infrastructure safety management and the results of two related European Commission (EC) studies. Directive 2008/96/EC covers open road safety management, and Directive 2004/54/ EC covers tunnels. Dr Adewole Adesiyun FEHRL, Boulevard de la Woluwe 42 1200 Brussels Belgium T: + 32 2775 8234 E: adewole.adesiyun@fehrl.org W: www.ecoroadsproject.eu Dr Adewole Adesiyun is the Deputy Secretary General of FEHRL. He is responsible for the management of FEHRL research and project activities as well as monitoring the financial aspects of such projects. He provides support to FEHRL member institutes wishing to participate in cooperative research.