Road safety in France: the hard path toward science-based policy

Jean Chapelon Sylvain Lassarre

Scientific research on road scientific management Haarlem – 16 & 17 november 2009

Introduction

number of fatalities (last twelve months)

0

4 000

8 000

12 000

16 000

1972

1975

1978

1981

1984

1987

1990

1993

1996

1999

2002

2005

average decrease 1974-2001 : 2,1 %

average decrease 2001-2005 : 10,6 %

Very considerable advances have been made in road safety over the past 30 years

PLAN French organisation of road

safety and the role played by the Road Safety Observatory

What is a science-based policy?

What governance?

French organisation of road safety and the role played by the Road Safety Observatory

CISR

Deleguate

ONISR

Expert committee

CNSRSustainableDevelopment

Interior

Justice

Others…

Prefect

Projet leader Localauthorities

ODSR

Organisation of road safety in France

French organisation of road safety and the role played by the Road Safety Observatoryold structure The force: The Inter-Ministerial Road Safety delegate responsible for road safety in

France. the Inter-Ministerial Road Safety Committee (Comité Interministériel de

Sécurité Routière - CISR) which take decision, the local organisation with the important role played by the Prefect the

projects leader and the local observatorythe weakness: The inter-ministerial character of the delegation is more paraded than real.

Of course, there are five or six advisors detached from different ministries, such as Interior, Justice, Education and Health, but their ties with their ministries of origin are loose and they have very little influence over their ministry’s actions in the area of road safety, which remains in the hands of the new Ministry of Sustainable Development, assisted by a Secretariat of Transport.

the majority of road safety decisions are taken at meetings of officials on the basis of administrative and legal rather than technical and scientific factors

French organisation of road safety and the role played by the Road Safety Observatory

new structure the National Inter-Ministerial Road Safety Observatory which is under

the authority of the road safety delegate, is to gather scientific information for the benefit of decision-makers in order to improve the quality of decisions, as well as to guide the activities of departmental road safety observatories (ODSR).

the committee of experts composed of a small number of specialists, who are not necessarily the most qualified experts themselves but are able to call on the most competent specialists in every area they have to deal with. (for instance an in-depth study on drinking and driving, which required more than six months’work)

the National Road Safety Council: a sort of Road Safety Parliament. It enables all the parties involved in road safety (Members of Parliament, highway administrators, insurance companies, motor manufacturers, accident victim defence associations, associations representing particular categories of road user) to meet and debate all road safety issues. As far as our area of interest is concerned, it has the enormous advantage of disseminating the culture of road safety in such a way that all the parties involved have the same level of information.

PLAN French organisation of road

safety and the role played by the Road Safety Observatory

What is a science-based policy?

What governance?

What is a science-based policy?

The information system Evaluating the risks Risk management

What is a science-based policy?

The information system Quick indicators (accidents, deaths, injuries and

hospitalised victims): publication of results each 7th of month Accident records: controlled by departmental observatory with a web

portal Risk exposure Speed measurements: each 4 months, 200 000 measures Measuring mobile phone use: each year, along the road

Evaluating the risks

Risk management

What is a science-based policy?

The information system Risks assessment

Risk attributed to alcohol Risk attributed to speeding Risk attributed to the use of telephones

while driving Risk management

Risk attributed to speeding

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 70-80 80-90 90-100 100-110

110-120

120-130

130-140

140-150

150-160

160-170

170-180

180-190

+ 190

percentage of drivers under a speed limit in 2001 and 2006

average speed 118,9

average speed if averyone respect speed limit = 114,8

2001

2006

Risk attributed to speed in motorways is: (114,9/118,9)**4 -1 = -13,1%

Risk attributed to the use of telephones while driving

the extra risk of phoning while driving: 3.8 for hands-free sets and 4.9 for hand-held phones (McEvoy et al., 2005)

the average proportion of drivers observed holding a phone to their ear is 1.9% (1.8% on country roads,1.9% on urban streets, 2,6% on connecting motorway)

attributed risk = 1,9% x (4,9 -1) = around 7 %

What is a science-based policy?

The information system Evaluating the risks Risk management

Monitoring: monthly analysis of the situation taking account of the effects of weather and seasonal and time-of-year factors

Bench marking: a method for comparing the performance of each department by standardising the risk

Policy making

Monitoring: monthly analysis of the situation taking account of the effects of weather and seasonal and time-of-year factors

annual equivalent of number of fatalities corrected by meteo and seasonnal effect

0

1 000

2 000

3 000

4 000

5 000

6 000

7 000

july 0

5oc

t-05

january

06

april

06jul

y 06

oct-0

6

january

07

april

07jul

y 07

oct-0

7

january

08

april

08jul

y 08

oct-0

8

janv-0

9av

r-09

Bench marking: a method for comparing the performance of each department by standardising the risk

with j the department (from 1 to 96) and i the network (from 1 to 5), such that:

t (i,j) is the number of deaths on network i in department j

e (i,j) is the risk exposure on network i in department j

r (i) is the average risk on network i throughout France.

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96

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Bench marking: a method for comparing the performance of each department by standardising the risk

PLAN French organisation of road

safety and the role played by the Road Safety Observatory

What is a science-based policy?

What governance?

What governance? (1) Two action plans: the road accident victims register of

the department of the Rhône and research in road safety economics

Additionally, the Observatory has developed a programme for evaluating the policies pursued with teams of researchers and technicians from the Ministry, and the resulting reports have been published – one on automatic speed cameras (ONISR, 2008) and one on drinking and driving (ONISR, 2007).

The experience of the past few years has shown the importance of developing simple but rigorously constructed methods and tools, providing telling results for decision-makers and the public.

What governance? (2)Nevertheless, the situation is far from perfect. Firstly, these tools are perfectible, and

benchmarking the methods promoted by the European Commission as part of projects like DaCoTA and Safety-net, will help get them shared more widely.

In terms of risk selection, the Observatory does not

cover all the issues, far from it.

Furthermore, experience shows that, over and beyond the results obtained and the tools used, a permanent concern is getting decision-makers to assimilate and validate them.

Thank you

Jean Chapelon Sylvain Lassarre

Scientific research on road scientific management Haarlem – 16 & 17 november 2009