ANNUAL MEETING: ASIA-PACIFIC ROAD SAFETY OBSERVATORY
5 December 2023, ADB Headquarters, Manila, Philippines

reCase Studies of Progress

Action towards implementation of the Global Plan inAsia and the Pacific

Mr. Ishtiaque Ahmed, PhD
Economic Affairs Officer, Sustainable Transport Section, Transport Division, UNESCAP, ahmed200@un.org

Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030

The second Decade of Action
for Road Safety 2021 – 2030
was declared through the UN
Resolution on Improving Global
Road Safety in August 2020.

The Global Plan

The GLOBAL PLAN has beendeveloped by the World HealthOrganization and the United Nations
RegionalCommissions,
incooperation with partners in theUnitedNations
Road
SafetyCollaboration and other stakeholders,
as a guiding document to support theimplementation of the Decade ofAction 2021–2030 and its objectives.

The Global PlanDevelopment of the Regional Plan

The Second Decade ofAction for Road Safety2021-2030

Global Plan for theSecond Decade of Action

September

October

2020

2021

Regional Action Programme
for Sustainable Transport
Development in Asia andthe Pacific 2022-2026

December

2021

Regional Plan of Action
for Asia and the Pacificfor the Second Decade ofAction for Road Safety
2021–2030

November2022

The Regional Planof Action for Asia and the Pacific for the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030

The Regional Plan of Action isintended to guide and support
efforts to reduce road traffic deaths
and injuries by at least 50 per centfrom 2021 to 2030 and to achieve
the Sustainable Development Goal
targets related to road safety,
including target 3.6, by 2030.

The Regional Plan
Asia-Pacific Focus
The Asia-Pacific Region is unique & the most diverse on earth(This is considered in the Plan):1.

the most wonderful diversity of cultures, religions and peoples

2.

permafrost to tropical islands to monsoon to hot desert and cold high-altitude deserts

3.

the highest mountains to the lowest to sea level countries

4.

the most populous countries to some of the smallest

5.

tiny land masses to the largest

6.

extraordinary frenetic streets with every form of transport mixing at once to well-arranged tightlymanaged streets

7.

containing all political systems

8.

high to middle to low income countries, with very different road safety issues .……..

The Basis of the Regional Plan
The Safe System Approach: Shared Responsibility
Accepts that human error is inevitable and accommodates errors;

Incorporates speeds, roads, and vehicles that limit crash forces to levels that are
survivable for the human body;

Motivates those who design and maintain the roads, manufacture vehicles, andadminister safety programmes to accept and address shared responsibility for safety;

Adheres to the underlying premises that the transport system should not compromisesafety for the sake of other factors such as cost or faster transport times;

The Regional Plan – 7 Arenas of Road Safety Interventions

Arena 1: Safe Road InfrastructureThis is a vital element of advancing from trying to fix road users

Example:Providing
footpaths

Arena 2: Vehicle Safety
Safe vehicles offer major opportunities for improving safety through threemechanisms.
Vehicles can, with good technology:• protect their occupants (safety belts, airbags, structural protection ofsurvival space)• protect those outside the vehicle in the event of a crash (moreprotective vehicle fronts for pedestrians, and under-run guards ontrucks to protect other vehicle occupants in a crash)• vehicles can prevent crashes or reduce the speeds of impact throughactive safety features such as electronic stability control andemergency brake assistance.

Arena 3: Safe road use
why USE enforcement not crash FEAR?
Psychology: Optimism Bias, driver-overconfidence

Better than average(over-confidence)
Mostdrivers

About average
Worse than average(cautious)
Only 2.1%

Arena 4: Post-crash Care
➢ This is another area with potential in technological advances➢ Twice as many injured people who die before reaching hospitals in LMICs as in HICs.
Many factors, but significantly including the speed & quality of emergency care.
➢ Rapid effective emergency care not only saves lives but may also reduce long-term disability for survivors ofroad crashes and many other incidents.
➢ The people, processes, and funding required to achieve this are substantial, and largely outside the purview ofroad safety, as they should be based on the breadth of issues emergency care addresses.

Arena 5: Safe Speed, a cross cutting issue
Added as an arena of action in the A-P Plan because:• Speed is critical to road safety: speed is a major factor in both crashes occurring and incrash severity and these are universal effects to every country• Speed represents especially powerful cost-effective opportunities across the Asia-PacificRegion.
The best evidence combined from many countries:

Each 1% decrease in speed delivers:
Around a 4% decrease in deaths &around a 3% decrease in serious injuries

Arena 6: Modal shift, land use planning, and Reduced Road Use Exposure• Roads are the most dangerous form of transport: 97% of global transport system injury-related deaths arecaused by road transport.
• Reducing road use is an effective road safety intervention.
• Road use can be reduced in two ways:
1. moving people and freight from road transport to other transport (rail, metro, water, and air).

Provide and incentivize non-road transport options
2. reducing the need for mobility.
Good land use/city planning and controls can close the distances between people and the employment,
services, and good they access.
• Reduced motorized road use will also serve other global agenda (climate change, the health effects of airpollution and noise pollution, and increased active transport).

Arena 7: Road Safety Management and Leadership
Added as an arena of action in the A-P Plan because:
1. Management & leadership is an arena of strong opportunity in the A-P Region.
2. The activities and expertise required for this work cannot be achieved by a committee orcouncil, but can be achieved a strong well-resourced expert lead agency dedicated to roadsafety and working with a high-level committee which remains valuable.
Road safety is a product that can be delivered. Its delivery is achievable through selecting andresourcing actions across each arena, as presented in the Plan. This, in turn, requires
effective Management and Leadership of road safety.

Road Safety Initiatives in the Asia-PacificRegionCurrently, in Lao PDR, drivers are insufficiently
educated, trained, and tested for road safety
awareness and skills prior to the issuance ofdriver licenses. Against this background, thisproject is expected to improve the behaviors ofdrivers to drive safely through better training
and testing in the process of licensing andensure the competency of drivers when issuingdriving licenses.

Road Safety Initiatives in the Asia-PacificRegion

This project is expected to support better
mobilization and harmonization within the leadagency, resulting in efficient and effective
management and long-term outcomes (adecrease in the number of road deaths andinjuries) by improving data collection andintegration, developing a framework formonitoring and evaluation, establishing asystem for effective budget allocation, andsetting up a network for road safety research.

Road Safety Initiatives in the Asia-PacificRegion

Motorcyclists are vulnerable due to the lack ofprotection compared to car occupants. One ofthe most effective motorcycle safety
technologies available to date is the motorcycle
anti-lock braking system (ABS). Research has
shown that motorcycle ABS can increase rider
stability, reduce stopping distances, anddecrease rider fatalities.

Road Safety Initiatives in the Asia-PacificRegion

There are numerous reasons for Nepal's poor roadsafety situation. The most significant one, however,is the National Road Safety Council's (NRSC)
inability to serve as a lead organization on roadsafety. This project aims to strengthen Nepal's
leading road safety agency, the National Road
Safety Council, in order to enhance road safety.

Success Stories in the Asia-Pacific Region
DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIC PLAN FOR INCREASING HELMET USE IN NEPAL➢ Many riders in Nepal still do not wear
helmets or wear substandard helmets, which
can lead to serious injuries or even death inthe event of a crash.
➢ Against this background, NRSC developed astrategic plan to increase helmet use in Nepal,
that is currently in action as of May 2023.
➢ The strategic plan for the implementation ofhelmet usage is an important initiative thataims to promote helmet usage among riders
and create a safer, healthier community.

Success Stories in the Asia-Pacific Region
DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIC PLAN FOR INCREASING HELMET USE IN NEPAL

The plan includes:➢ Raising awareness among the public about theimportance of wearing helmets,➢ Making helmets more affordable and accessible,➢ Enforcing strict regulations to ensure that only
standard helmets are sold and used.

The plan will involve all relevant stakeholders inthe process, including helmet manufacturers, lawenforcement agencies, and transport authorities
in the implementation process.

Success Stories in the Asia-Pacific Region
IN-DEPTH MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION IN THAILAND➢ 1,001 motorcycle crash cases (2016-2020) wereinvestigated and supported by Honda and Yamahain Thailand.
➢ The causes and consequences of Motorcycle
accidents are identified.
➢ The data were used to develop propercountermeasures to reduce the number andseverity of motorcycle accidents in Thailand.
➢ This investigation recommended countermeasuresand policies.

Success Stories in the Asia-Pacific Region
HAZARD PERCEPTION TRAINING IN THAILAND➢ Studies have been performed from apsychological standpoint to better understandmotorcycle crash risks in Thailand.
➢ A training curriculum for Thai drivers onhazard perception has been developed andvalidated.
➢ It assesses how well the driver can spot
hazards when driving on the road and how torespond safely.
➢ This will aid in anticipation and enhancing
awareness and understanding high-risksituations.

Success Stories in the Asia-Pacific Region
MOTORCYCLE ANTI-LOCK BRAKE SYSTEM (ABS) ADOPTION IN THE ASEAN COUNTRIES➢ One of the most effective motorcycle safety technologies
available to date is motorcycle anti-lock braking system(ABS).
➢ In ASEAN, the implementation of an ABS motorcycle
regulation in the region is likely to be able to save the lives ofup to 8,000 motorcyclists every year.

➢ Endorse and implement a region wide mandate to regulate formotorcycle ABS for all powered two wheelers that are capableof travel speeds of 50km/h or greater.

Success Stories in the Asia-Pacific Region
MOTORCYCLE ANTI-LOCK BRAKE SYSTEM (ABS) ADOPTION IN THE ASEAN COUNTRIES➢ The ABS on motorcycles appeared in Vietnam in the late 2010s.
Leading motorcycle manufacturers, such as Honda and Yamaha,
began equipping high-end models with ABS from those years.
➢ Currently, Thailand and Malaysia are mandating motorcycle ABS
to accelerate its uptake.
➢ The life saving potential of motorcycle ABS is huge. In Thailand,
the use of motorcycle ABS is estimated to be able to save nearly
6,000 to 9,000 lives in the 5 years after the ABS regulation isimplemented.
➢ On 24 May 2022, the Malaysian Minister of Transport announced
the mandatory installation of an anti-lock braking system (ABS) on
new motorcycles with an engine capacity of 150cc and above, inline with a study conducted by the Malaysian Road Safety
Research Institute (MIROS).

THANK YOU
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