Road Safety policy-making
Checklist recommendations for pre-crash and post-crash policy interventions
A toolkit for policymakers
The checklist looks at recommendations for pre-crash and post-crash policy interventions in each of the following areas: road safety management, safer streets, safe speeds, safe school zones, safe road users, safe vehicles, road and street improvements/ redesign, emergency care, and health facilities.
Further information can be found in our report, A best practice toolkit for mitigating crashes in Africa.
While not exhaustive, this checklist can help in addressing the present gaps in road safety policy and the overall planning environment for each of the studied countries.
PRE-CRASH POLICY MEASURES
Road safety management
Set up an institution as a lead agency, legally mandated to handle road safety matters in the country.
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Include representatives of stakeholders at various levels of governance, educational institutions, and civil society.
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Coordinate all funding, implementation, monitoring and evaluation activities on road safety.
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Foster accountability and capacity building on road safety.
Check out SSATP’s report, A study of lead agencies in Africa, for a comprehensive overview, good practices and recommendations.
© ITDP
Safer streets
Safer street designs – Implement streetscape features that protect pedestrians, cyclists, and vulnerable road users and promote safe, sustainable modes.
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Cohesive street network and street hierarchy.
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Dedicated walking and cycling infrastructure.
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Car-free zones and car-free days.
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Public transport infrastructure.
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Safe intersection design and operation.
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Participatory planning Implement physical speed reduction measures such as lane narrowing, vertical deflection, horizontal reflection, and access restrictions.
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Redesign of black spot locations of stakeholders at various levels of governance, educational institutions, and civil society.
Street elements and recommended parameters for safe streets
Development of urban street design manuals - Adopt and enforce national street design guidance that demands safe, complete urban streets and that distinguish urban, peri-urban and urban settings.
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Design standards for design speeds, street elements, and intersection design for urban streets.
Example of compact intersection and features (Institute for Transportation & Development Policy & United Nations Human Settlements Programme, 2022)
Safe speeds
Speed limits - Establish and enforce national speed limits.
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Set safe speed limits.
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Evaluate the areas around schools and implement 30 km/h zones.
Enforcement of speed regulation is important to ensure compliance with speed limits. Automated enforcement (such as fixed camera and mobile in-vehicle fitted devices) systems are cost-effective and useful in low-resource settings. However, many nations continue to use manual speed enforcement.
© ITDP
Safe road users
Enforcement - Develop an enforcement strategy to mitigate the key behavioural risk factors, including police checkpoints.
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Establish best practice guidelines for drunk driving, motorcycle helmet, seatbelt, and child restraint regulations.
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Use ITS to enforce speed limits by recording speed offenders in real-time.
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Traffic police in static operations to enforce drunk driving, seatbelt, motorcycle, and child restraint regulations with spot penalties.
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Communication to road users of key enforcement principles.
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Set maximum age of imported vehicles.
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Inspection of imported vehicles with respect to safety regulations (brakes, steering and suspension, tyres, seatbelts etc).
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Periodic inspection of vehicles to ensure roadworthiness.
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Data collection on vehicles involved in crashes to improve inspection parameters.
In 2002, Tunisia introduced a law mandating seatbelts for all drivers and front seat passengers. This law was not enforced very well and there were very few fines. However, Tunisia showcased that with political will results can improve.
The Tunisian government started to encourage this law in 2017 using a publicity campaign and a police checkpoint. A year later there was an 8.8% reduction in fatalities and 99% of cars stooped at the checkpoint were found to be observant of the law.
Source: Small, M., & Addo-Ashong, T. (2021). Road Safety Strategies for African Cities: A Guide to Development. Washington, DC: SSATP.
Education and awareness – Promote safe road user behaviour in schools and widely through adverts, campaigns and training.
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Revise school curriculum to educate the school community on safe user behaviour.
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Training sessions in schools that promote and demonstrate the correct way to use helmets, and seatbelts to ensure safety.
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Community-based programs to challenge unsafe road user behaviour.
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Regular road safety courses for drivers, including public transport and private vehicles.
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Media partnerships to raise awareness on drinking and driving and NMT priority.
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Car-free days and open street events.
POST-CRASH POLICY MEASURES
Emergency care
Invest in community training, reducing response times, and transportation to trauma-care facilities.
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Development of emergency medical response systems, including a single universal access number and emergency ambulance services.
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First-aid courses.
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Prehospital transport.
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Good samaritan laws to protect bystanders that assist at the scene from lawsuits.
Health facilities
Invest in facilities, equipment and training of health care professionals.
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ROAD crash clinics.
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Quality improvement programs for trauma care.
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Implementation of a trauma registry.
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Uganda's Ministry of Health scaled up a WHO pilot intervention that halved the number of hospital deaths from emergency conditions.
The pilot only cost US$ 3500 per hospital, which included WHO basic emergency care training for hospital staff, the introduction of simple WHO emergency unit protocols (including checklists and triage) and identifying and organising a simple resuscitation area with existing resources.
For more information and good practices, check out the report
"A best practice toolkit for mitigating crashes in Africa".