Speed management: A road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners and decision-makers for safety manual A road Speed Global Road Safety Partnership management c/o International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies PO Box 372 17 chemin des Crêts A ROAD SAFETY MANUAL CH-1211 Geneva 19 Switzerland FOR DECISION-MAKERS Tel. : (41 22) 730 4249 Fax : (41 22) 733 0395 AND PRACTITIONERS E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.GRSProadsafety.org ISBN 978-2-940395-04-0 good practice Speed management A road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners Speed management: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners ISBN 978-2-940395-04-0 Suggested citation: Speed management: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners. Geneva, Global Road Safety Partnership, 2008 © Global Road Safety Partnership 2008. A hosted programme of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. All rights reserved. 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In no event shall the Global Road Safety Partnership, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies or the authors be liable for damages arising from its use. Design by Inís Communication: www.inis.ie Speed management: a road safety manual Table of contents Acronyms . vi. i Preface . i. x Contributors . x. i Acknowledgements . xi. i Executive summary . xiii Introduction . x. v Background to the series of manuals . xvi. i Background to the speed management manual . .xix 1. Why focus on speed? . .1 1 .1 Road traffic crashes and injury involving speed . .3 1 .1 .1 Speed, energy transfer and injury . 3 1 .1 .2 How does speed affect road traffic collisions and injury? . .6 1 .1 .3 What factors contribute to speeding? . 10 1 .2 What is speed management? . 11 1 .2 .1 Aims of speed management . 11 1 .2 .2 Setting speed limits . 13 1 .2 .3 Safe systems and the role of speed . .14 1 .2 .4 Benefits of speed management . 17 Summary . 19 References . .20 2. How to assess the situation . 23 2 .1 What do you need to know? . .26 2 .1 .1 Road functions and setting speed limits . 26 iii Table of contents 2 .1 .2 Speed and crash data . .27 2 .1 .3 Legislation and regulation . 28 2 .1 .4 Speed risk profile and vulnerable road users . 30 2 .2 How to measure the problem . .31 2 .2 .1 How big is the speed related injury problem? . 32 2 .2 .2 How to measure speed . 34 2 .2 .3 Speed variance . 39 2 .2 .4 Assessing community attitudes to speed management . .40 2 .3 How are speed limits set, communicated and enforced? . .41 2 .3 .1 How are speed limits set? . 41 2 .3 .2 How are speed limits communicated? . .42 2 .3 .3 How are speed limits enforced? . 42 2 .4 Understanding management arrangements . 43 2 .4 .1 Who has responsibility for the regulation of speed on public roads? . 43 2 .4 .2 Who are the road safety stakeholders? . .43 2 .4 .3 What funding is there for speed management? . .45 Summary . 46 References . .46 3. What are the tools for managing speed? . 47 3 .1 Speed zoning and speed limits . .50 3 .1 .1 Classifying roads by function and activity . .50 3 .1 .2 Speed zoning and speed limit reviews and guidelines . .54 3 .1 .3 Informing drivers of limits – signs and default limit information . 59 3 .2 Changing behaviour – regulating and enforcing speed . .61 3 .2 .1 Road rules, legislative and regulatory settings . 61 3 .2 .2 Speed enforcement methods . .62 3 .2 .3 Penalties – fines, demerit points and licence suspensions . .66 3 .3 Changing behaviour – public education . .68 3 .3 .1 Social marketing and public education . .69 3 .3 .2 Increasing public perception of being detected by police . .70 3 .3 .3 Speed compliance incentives . 71 3 .3 .4 Community-based programmes . 71 3 .3 .5 Licensing and speed restrictions . .72 3 .4 Engineering treatments . 73 3 .4 .1 Treatments to slow down motor vehicles . 73 iv Speed management: a road safety manual 3 .4 .2 Separation of vulnerable road users . 79 3 .5 Use of speed-limiting technology and intelligent speed adaptation . 81 3 .6 Speed management by employers . .84 3 .6 .1 Legislative measures . .85 3 .6 .2 Education and feedback . .86 Summary . 87 References . .88 4. How to design and implement a speed management system . .91 4 .1 Gaining political and community support . 94 4 .1 .1 Need for providing convincing evidence . .94 4 .1 .2 Securing involvement of government leaders . .95 4 .2 Stakeholders and roles . .97 4 .2 .1 A Working group of government stakeholders . 98 4 .2 .2 A reference group of other stakeholders . 101 4 .2 .3 Sustaining the involvement of stakeholders . 102 4 .3 Preparing a plan of action . 103 4 .3 .1 Setting programme objectives and targets . .104 4 .3 .2 Deciding on activities . 107 4 .3 .3 Choosing and applying tools . .111 4 .3 .4 Making decisions about speed limits and signs . 112 4 .3 .5 Making decisions about behavioural change programmes . .112 4 .3 .6 Making decisions about engineering treatments . .115 4 .3 .7 Ensuring an appropriate medical response . .117 4 .3 .8 Estimating required resources . 118 4 .4 Preparing for implementation . 122 4 .4 .1 Legislative requirements and timing . 122 4 .4 .2 Enforcement requirements . 122 4 .4 .3 Revised speed limit signs . .124 4 .4 .4 Engineering measures . 124 4 .5 Informing, influencing and involving the public . 125 4 .5 .1 Working with the media . .125 4 .5 .2 Planning the campaign roll-out . 126 4 .5 .3 Carrying out the campaign . .126 4 .6 Planning and using pilot projects . .126 v Table of contents 4 .6 .1 What is a pilot project? . .127 4 .6 .2 What are the benefits? . .127 4 .6 .3 How to plan and implement a pilot project . 127 Summary . .129 References . 130 5. How to evaluate the programme . 131 5 .1 Planning the evaluation . 133 5 .1 .1 Aims of evaluation . 134 5 .1 .2 Types of evaluation . 134 5 .2 Choosing the evaluation methods . 136 5 .2 .1 Study types for formative and process evaluation . 137 5 .2 .2 Study types for impact and outcome evaluations . 138 5 .2 .3 Conducting an economic evaluation of a programme . 141 5 .2 .4 Choosing the performance indicators . .143 5 .3 Dissemination and feedback . 146 Summary . .147 References . .148 Appendices . .149 Appendix 1: Methods of speed data collection . .151 Appendix 2: Speed enforcement – Victoria, Australia . 152 Appendix 3: Examples of suspension or withdrawal of driving licence and other non-monetary penalties applied to speed offences . .153 Appendix 4: Traffic calming in Ghana – rumble strips and speed ramps . 154 Appendix 5: The International Road Assessment Programme and network safety upgrading . .157 Appendix 6: Effective use of police resources . 163 vi Speed management: a road safety manual Acronyms ABS Anti-lock braking system ARRB Australian Road Research Board BAC Blood alcohol concentration BRRI Building and Road Research Institute (Ghana) CEA Cost-effectiveness analysis CBA Cost-benefit analysis DFID Department for International Development (UK government) ECMT European Committee of Minsters of Transport EDR Electronic data recorder EMS Emergency medical services EU European Union FIA Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile FIA-Foundation The FIA Foundation for the automobile nda society GHA Ghana Highway Authority GPS Global positioning system GRSP Global Road Safety Partnership iRAP International Road Assessment Programme ISA Intelligent speed adaptation km/h Kilometres per hour LMIC Low and middle-income countries MP Member of Parliament NHTSA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (USA) OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OHS Occupational Health and Safety ORN Overseas research note (published by TRL/DFID) QALY Quality-adjusted life year RCT Randomised control trial RSL Road speed limiters SARTRE Social Attitudes to Road Traffic Risk in Europe TARC Thailand Accident Research Centre TRL Transport Research Laboratory (UK) VKT Vehicle kilometre travelled VRU Vulnerable road user VTI Swedish transport research institute WHO World Health Organization vii Acronyms viii Speed management: a road safety manual Preface Road traffic injuries are a major public health problem and a leading cause of death and injury around the world.