Tools for Road Infrastructure Safety Management – Polish Experiences

AbstractThe objective of road safety infrastructure management is to ensure that when roads are planned, designed, built and used road risks can be systematically identified, assessed, removed and mitigated. There are a number of approaches to road safety management. European Union Directive 2008/96/EC requires EU member states to use four basic tools of road safety infrastructure management. An overview of the methods in these countries shows a variety of approaches to how these tools are used in practice. The paper presents a systematics of these tools and a concept of how they could be developed in Poland. It looks at the life cycle of a road structure and the requirements of risk management processes. The paper focuses on elements of scientific support to help build the necessary tools. To help with assessing the impact of a road project on the safety of related roads, a method was developed for long-term forecasts of accidents and accident victims and accident cost estimation as well as a risk classification to identify risks that are not acceptable risks. With regard to road safety audits and road safety inspection, a set of principles was developed to identify risks and the basic classification of errors and omissions. In the case of road network safety management, measures of individual and societal risk were selected. A method for classifying dangerous road sections was developed as well. An estimation is given of the consequences and effects of applying the tools of road safety management on the network of national roads in Poland until 2020