Auto insurance provides
policyholders protection against financial loss should an event such as
a motor vehicle crash occur. Auto insurance generally includes coverage
for property, liability and medical care. It is often said that “An
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. To this end, many programs
can assist drivers with effectively navigating roadways.
The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), formed in 2006, is
the umbrella nonprofit organization of EuroRAP, usRAP and AusRAP. Its
primary purpose is to assess worldwide roads and improve safety to
significantly decrease road casualties within member countries and
assist with efforts in middle and low income countries.
The European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP) includes EuroRAP in
Sweden - www.eurorap.se and EuroRAP in Switzerland - eurorap.tcs.ch
among other organizations. The motoring clubs involved in EuroRAP
include the following: OEAMTC (Austria), Touring Club Belgium (Belgium),
HAK (Croatia), ADAC (Germany), The AA Motoring Trust (Great Britain),
FFAC (France), AA Ireland (Ireland), ACI (Italy), ANWB (Netherlands),
FIB (Iceland), NAF (Norway), SATC (Slovakia), AMZS (Slovenia), RACC (Catalunya),
RACE (Spain), Motormannen (Sweden), TCS Homepage (Switzerland).
Prior to EuroRAP there was no international road safety standard
measurement for consumers, governments and engineers. Instead road
safety was determined if a road met engineering standards during the
time in which roads were constructed.
A report by the EuroRAP shows that approximately one-tenth of Britain's
roadways are the location for half of all road deaths. Further, the
report identifies those roadways with risk 10 times higher than others.
According to John Dawson, EuroRAP Chairman, more than 2 million
Europeans have been killed or injured on European roads. Two percent of
the European GDP has been steered to cover road casualties.
Most road accidents that lead to significant injury or death have
contributing factors. Addressing any contributing factor can prevent a
crash which can result in significant repercussions. Road management has
fallen below achievable, affordable safety standards that can save more
lives.
EuroRAP is targeting roads across Europe that routinely experience
death, serious injury, and avoidable accidents. Changes to the layout
and design of roads are ongoing. EuroRAP is also highlighting life
saving improvements made by leading authorities. The installation of
road markings and safety fencing are examples of simple safety
improvements that reduce accidents, injury and save lives.
EuroRAP has become a major force blossoming from a 4-country pilot into
a force of 20 countries. The programme has become a global road safety
model. Its EuroRap website allows users to look up roads for risk
rating, star rating by country or countries for road performance
tracking.
A Road Protection Score (RPS) is a method to Star Rating roads on how
well the roads protect users from consequences of a crash. It differs
from other rating systems in that it assesses the overall road standard
rather than individual blackspots. It assesses how well a user is
protected from death or disability resulting from a crash. The
assessment evaluates the built in safety of road layout, road design and
traffic management.
Road design data and safety standard features data are collected by
drive-through inspection. Trained inspectors use special vehicles
equipped with video imaging devices using a standard inspection formula.
Assessments can be made in real time while traversing the road or
subsequently using video images of a route.
By making roads safer, casualty reduction can be targeted, creating
safer roads and fewer accidents using practical methods to save lives.
Using practical methods in addition to funds, authorities are
significantly reducing the death toll and serious injury on high risk
roads as much as 74%. Fewer car crashes also mean insurance rates remain
affordable.