KiwiRAP, the programme that assesses the safety of New Zealand’s
rural highways, has won a prestigious ‘global road achievement award’.
The International Road Federation awards recognise excellence and innovation in road development worldwide.
An independent, international panel of judges chose KiwiRAP to receive the 2013 global safety achievement award.
KiwiRAP was developed in partnership by the NZ Transport Agency, NZ
Automobile Association, Ministry of Transport, NZ Police and ACC. It has
played a role in reducing the number of fatal and serious crashes on
our highways.
Ernst Zollner, director road safety at the NZ Transport Agency, says it is an honour for New Zealand to receive this award.
“The
KiwiRAP team has done an excellent job in helping us better understand
risk on our roads so we can target efforts to the highest risks first,
and make the greatest gains in reducing deaths and serious injuries,”
Zollner says.
AA motoring affairs general manager Mike Noon says
KiwiRAP has been an important factor in the significant fall in our road
toll that has taken place in recent years.
“KiwiRAP is setting
the standard globally for road assessment programmes,” says Noon. “A
huge number of crashes have been prevented and lives saved because of
this work.”
KiwiRAP comprises three protocols: risk mapping, star
rating and performance tracking. It began in 2006, with the launch of
the first risk mapping results in 2008; the star rating results in 2010,
and initial risk map performance tracking in 2012.
KiwiRAP risk
mapping has been highly successful. It uses historical traffic and crash
data to produce color coded maps illustrating the relative levels of
personal and collective risk over the road network.
The latest
KiwiRAP report shows that targeting high collective risk routes
(identified in the 2008 risk maps) by the NZ Police and the Transport
Agency, achieved a 30% reduction in fatal and serious injury crashes on
those lengths of highway.
KiwiRAP also allocates a star rating
from 1 star (poor) through to 5 stars (excellent) for the safety levels
of rural highways. The rating is based on 18 road infrastructure
features which have an increased impact on the likelihood or severity of
a crash.
The system has been incorporated in a wide range of
policies and plans and is a key tool for the Transport Agency’s
prioritisation of resources. It is being used to prioritise safety works
nationally and star-rating policy targets have been developed to ensure
new road designs meet target safety levels.
KiwiRAP risk maps and star ratings are available online at www.kiwirap.org.nz
