SENSoR Project
The objective of the SENSoR project was to inspect and assess the road safety level of 19,315 kms of trans-European and national road network in 14 countries of SE Europe, including Greece. The assessments took place between 2012 and 2014, following the internationally recognized EuroRAP protocols, which have been implemented in more than 90 countries worldwide for the inspection of more than 650,000Km of roads.
During the inspections, a specially equipped and certified vehicle, collected information from the roads and the environment regarding 52 risk attributes for each 100m of 19,315 kms carriageway lengths – the total work included analysis of 10 million data points!
This information was then coded using the iRAP’s specialized software in order Safety Stars to be awarded to each of these road sections (Star Rating process).
Road Safety Assessment (Star rating)
The results of the inspection showed, amongst others, that:
- 50-70% of roads in individual countries do not achieve 3-star rating for vehicle occupants
- More than 4,800 pedestrian crossings surveyed, 2,150 (44%) were of poor quality
- Commonly, pedestrian activity expected on more than 40% but footways are generally available on less than 10% of the network
Raising the safety standards of the networks inspected can be achieved with on-going maintenance, specific accident reduction programmes and road rehabilitation. Within SENSoR project the Safer Roads Investments Plans for each country surveyed had been developed based on the cost/benefit ration. The cumulative results show, amongst other, that:
- Commonly, an average of EUR 0.2-0.3m per carriageway is needed for upgrading for improving safety level of networks
- Typically, 30-50% of fatal and serious injuries would be saved over 20 years if SRIPs implemented
- Safer Roads Investment Plans’ Benefit Cost Ratios of typically 5 or 6 would be achieved
In Greece, the inspection was carried out on 3,600km of the Trans-European Road Network. The analysis characterized 51% of the length of the roads examined as not adequately safe (1 or 2 stars) for vehicles occupants.
Travel Risk Assessments (Risk Mapping)
The SENSoR activities included also work on the assessment of travel risk on the examined network. The Risk Maps present the risk of fatal or serious injury to individual road users as they are travelling on the road network. This is calculated by taking into account the traffic load on each section and the number of fatal and serious crashes that have been historically recorded.
This risk is divided into 5 easily understandable bands, from green representing low risk, to black representing high risk. These bands are then plotted on map to allow comparisons of road safety performance on both a national and transnational basis.
Risk Maps produced in SENSoR describe individual travel risk for more than 27.000 km of roads in South East Europe. With significant differences between countries, they show on the cumulative level that 30 to 60% of roads are high risk roads.
In Greece, the analysis showed that 56% of the road network examined was classified as high or medium to high risk for the travellers.
Announcing the results in Greece
The results of the project were presented at a Conference entitled “Road Safety infrastructure” organized on Thursday 20-11-2014 by Make Roads Safe Hellas in Athens. The attendance of more than 100 public service executives, private organizations, scholars and experts on road safety, revealed the concern of the society about road accidents. The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, Mr. Michalis Papadopoulos, attended and addressed the Conference. During his speech, the Deputy Minister welcomed the efforts of Make Roads Safe Hellas, which can contribute with good practices and tools to the national plan for improving road safety.
