INGENIEUR
International Road Assessment
Programme in Malaysia:
Towards Safer Roads
By Alvin Poi Wai Hoong, Nusayba Megat Johari,
Hizal Hanis Hashim & Dr Siti Zaharah Ishak
Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS)
Road traffic injuries and death are
seen as a global epidemic where
each year, more than a million
people die in road accidents each
year (World Health Organisation,
2013). The number of seriously
injured victims quadruples that
number. Although most crashes are
identified to be caused by human
error, and that remedial measures
include educating and enforcement,
it is evident that people will always
make mistakes. As such, engineers
have taken to focusing on mitigating
the outcome of a crash by designing
safer vehicles and safer roads. The
combination of safer road design
as well as safer vehicle design may
give road users a certain amount of
protection in the event of a crash
due to human error.
8 6
VOL
2017
VOL 70
55 APRIL-JUNE
JUNE 2013
R
oad Assessment Programmes (RAPs) grew
out of the successful partnership between
European road agencies and auto clubs
that formed the successful EuroNCAP (new car
assessment programme) that star rates cars.
Many of the same authorities identified potential
to benchmark the safety of roads in the same way
the benchmarking of car standards has driven
both consumer awareness and manufacturer
competition to improve safety. The EuroRAP
programme began with a focus on risk mapping
- using crash and traffic data to measure total
performance; and later introduced star ratings
for the infrastructure components based on
road inspections. This programme was picked