The International Road Assessment Programme or iRAP assesses roads all over the world and aims to significantly reduce road casualties by improving the safety of road infrastructure.

History

iRAP was formed in 2006 as an umbrella organisation for

EuroRAP European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP) is an international nonprofit (Association without lucrative purpose, vzw) organisation registered in Belgium. It operates from Worting House, Basingstoke, Hampshire. In partnership with national m ...

, usRAP and AusRAP and also to facilitate work in middle and low income countries. In 2006 and 2007 four pilot studies in Malaysia, Chile, Costa Rica and South Africa have been undertaken. These studies showed that road assessment is also helpful in developing countries. High-risk roads where large numbers are killed or seriously injured are inspected and affordable programmes of

safety engineering Safety engineering is an engineering Branches of science, discipline which assures that engineered systems provide acceptable levels of safety. It is strongly related to industrial engineering/systems engineering, and the subset system safety en ...

are identified. As the percentage of vulnerable road users, like

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

s and

two-wheeler A two-wheeler is a vehicle that runs on two wheels. The two wheels may be arranged in tandem, one behind the other, as with single-track vehicles, or arranged and also side by side, on the same axle. If on the same axle, the vehicle may have no ...

s among the road deaths is high in those countries, iRAP focuses on measures to improve road design especially for these users. The pilot studies have been supported by national motoring organisations, authorities and by teams that have been formed as part of

, usRAP and AusRAP.

Pilot projects

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

* 46% of road deaths are pedestrians and 10% are cyclists (2004) source: iRAP * usRAP team coordinates the work in

* regional team consists of ACCHI (Chilean Automobile Club), AAAFTS (

American Automobile Association American Automobile Association (AAA) is a federation of motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a privately held not-for-profit national member association and service organization with over 60 million members in the United States and Cana ...

Foundation for Traffic Safety), MRI (

Midwest Research Institute MRIGlobal is an American independent, not-for-profit, contract research organization based in Kansas City, Missouri, with regional offices in Virginia and Maryland. In addition to its own research laboratories, MRIGlobal operates research facilit ...

), ISU (

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricult ...

), RACC (Spanish Automobile Club) * 2500 km of roads have been inspected (18% of paved national roads) * inspections included 6 of 13 regions in Chile

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

* 57% of road deaths are pedestrians (2005) source: iRAP * usRAP team coordinates the work in

* regional team consists of ACCR (Automobile Club Costa Rica), AAAFTS (

Foundation for Traffic Safety), MRI (

), ISU (

), RACC (Spanish Automobile Club) * project supported by Cosevi (Road Safety Council) and by the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation * 2500 km of roads have been inspected (58% of paved national highway network). * parts of the

Pan American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

(Routes 1 and 2) from

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

has been included in the inspections

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

* 66% of road deaths are motorcyclists (2006) source: iRAP * AusRAP team coordinates the work in

* regional team consists of AAM (Automobile Association Malaysia), JKJR (Road Safety Department), AAA (

Australian Automobile Association The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) is an Australian motoring organisation that lobbies for road users across Australia. This includes advocating for the safe maintenance of land transport networks and increasing transport affordability ...

), ARRB Group * project supported by Ministry of Works and Ministry of Transport, JKR (

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

), LLM (

Malaysian Highway Authority The Malaysian Highway Authority (, LLM) is a statutory body under the Malaysian Ministry of Works (MOW). The agency was founded on 24 October 1980 by the Highway Authority of Malaysia (Incorporation) Act 1980 to monitor the works and administra ...

), MIROS (

Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (; abbreviated as MIROS) is a government statutory body under the Ministry of Transport. Established in 2007, MIROS responsible for planning and conducting studies and assessments related to areas in ...

), JPJ (

Malaysian Road Transport Department The Road Transport Department ( Malay: ''Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan'', abbreviated JPJ; Jawi: ), is a government department under the Malaysian Ministry of Transport. This department is responsible for registration of vehicles in Malaysia and iss ...

Royal Malaysian Police The Royal Malaysia Police (often abbreviated RMP) (; Jawi: ), is a (primarily) uniformed national and federal police force in Malaysia. The force is a centralised organisation, and its headquarters are located at Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur. The ...

, PLUS & MTD (Toll road operators), UPM (

Universiti Putra Malaysia University of Putra Malaysia ( Malay: ''Universiti Putra Malaysia''), abbreviated as UPM, is a Malaysian public research university located in Serdang, Selangor. Formerly it was named Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Agricultural University of ...

), IKRAM (Institut Kerja Raya Malaysia) * over 3000 km of roads have been inspected (5% of Malaysia's paved roads) * Express Tollway (E1, E2, E8) and Federal Roads (F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F8, F67, F68, F76) have been inspected

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

* 42% of road deaths are pedestrians (2006) source: iRAP *

team coordinates the work together with

ADAC The ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest automobile association. The ADAC is the largest wikt:Verein, ''verein'' (club) in Germany, with around 21 million members. Its headquarters are located i ...

* 2100 km of roads in

Kwazulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

have been inspected (4% of South Africa's paved roads) * regional team consists of AASA (Automobile Association South Africa), TRL (

Transport Research Laboratory TRL Limited, trading as TRL (formerly Transport Research Laboratory) is an independent private company offering a transport consultancy and research service to the public and private sector. Originally established in 1933 by the UK Government ...

and SWECO

References

External links

EuroRAP Official Homepage

iRAP International Road Assessment Programme
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331000540/http://www.irap.net/ , date=2014-03-31
AusRAP Australian Road Assessment Programme

usRAP United States Road Assessment Programme
Traffic collisions Road safety