Local road safety plans aim to raise awareness of road safety issues among municipalities and the general public. This involves analysing the situation, finding the places where the accidents occurred, setting objectives and drawing up an action plan.
Municipalities can use (pdf) as a framework for their own road safety plan and to lay the foundation for coordinated and targeted work methods, as well as to promote more effective prioritisation of road safety projects in cooperation with the Icelandic Transport Agency, the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration.
Prerequisites and preparation
It is the role of the municipal council to decide whether to undertake a comprehensive road safety plan for the municipality. It is important to establish clear lines on how ambitious the strategy should be. It is better to see the plan realistic than ambitious that the proposed measures never see the light of day.
It may be best in small municipalities to limit the scope of the programme. Evaluation of the current situation and objectives should, however, always take place. When completed, proposals may be made for projects and their evaluation.
Following the decision to commence this work, the council must consider, among other things, the following questions:
What methods are possible to use?
What human, financial and data resources are available?
How is the programme coordination group composed?
Define the project manager.
Ensure cooperation with the Icelandic Road Administration and the police and investigate cooperation with neighbouring municipalities.
Picture a future vision for the road safety of the municipality. Agree on realistic and ambitious goals that are in accordance with the size of the municipality.
Establish a consultative group. Include relevant stakeholders from the start.
Estimate the time and cost.
Maintain an overview.
When municipalities work together on projects related to road safety, they can use and learn from each other's experience. The road safety plans of the municipalities that have completed their work can be seen. The Directorate of Communications may provide accident data and assist in processing it, free of charge to the municipalities. Casualty data indicates accidents in several countries, their causes and possible ways to fix the problem. The Icelandic Road Administration can also provide recommendations on solutions to road safety issues.
It is a good idea to start developing a road safety programme by generating interest and sending a clear message about the work ahead in road safety in the municipality. This can be done, for example, by holding a thematic day for the municipal council and/or the traffic committee (the municipal planning and building committee). The purpose of the thematic day is to present general points on road safety, address the purpose of the road safety plan, create discussions on the situation of these issues in the municipality and increase general knowledge of the issue.
The council should initially appoint a project manager who is in charge of and responsible for the development, presentation and enforcement of the road safety plan. The project manager shall ensure that the knowledge and experience gained through the process is transferred to administration. In addition, it is the role of the project manager to encourage colleagues, managers and local authorities to support and promote work in the interests of road safety.
A plan that is prepared in cooperation with residents and stakeholders in the municipality is very likely to yield good results. It is therefore desirable to offer interested stakeholders a seat in a consultative group which reflects society. This group should not be too large, but it is an advantage if it appoints representatives from all the key stakeholders and regions within the municipality. The groups can possibly be more than one for a large municipality, e.g. a group for each urban area within the municipality or a larger one within an urban area. Examples of stakeholders: Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration, the Icelandic Transport Agency, the police, the municipal planning committee, healthcare institutions, educational institutions and parent associations, professional drivers in the area, driving instructors, Landsbjörg, representatives of all age groups (youth councils, senior citizens), representatives of all road user groups in traffic (walking, running, cycling, riding, riding, etc.).
This list is not exhaustive, each municipality must assess which organisations, institutions and stakeholders can contribute to improving road safety and speak to the consultation group.
The group may meet 3-4 times during the preparatory work, for example, before the research work begins and before and after the proposals for the programme have been sent for presentation. Meetings may be held with different stakeholders in turn. This will give you the opportunity to examine and discuss the problems of all parties.
It is the job of local authorities to approve the objectives of the road safety plan and the final prioritisation of projects. The consultative group may take part in discussions and make suggestions and comments, but surely the council members can reject the recommendations of the consultative group. The municipality should set out the purpose of the contribution of the consultation group and it should also lay down lines for its work and impact. The participants need to know what role they have in the process, what issues they should work on and how their suggestions and opinions are used. It is not the idea that the consultative group should replace the municipal council. It is important to use the knowledge of the group of road safety matters in the municipality.
The tasks of the coordination group could be as follows:
Discuss and evaluate problems in locations that have been identified in accident mapping.
Review lists of road safety problems in all areas of the municipality.
Participate in preparatory work for a questionnaire or observations on school routes.
Discuss results of questionnaires or observations on school routes.
Discuss projects and their priorities.
Comment on the draft road safety plan or part thereof.
Not all municipalities have road safety experts in their ranks. If necessary, the municipality may purchase advice immediately in the preparation of the road safety plan. It is also important that the project manager of the municipality is in charge of the project and is responsible for the planning process. When the preparations are complete, it is desirable to seek advice from road safety experts in the situational evaluation and analytical work, the design of the actions and their prioritisation. Various engineering firms have specialised in such consultancy and work.
It is a good idea to prepare a work schedule and timetable for the preparation of a road safety plan. The plan shall state when each stage is to take place, what work shall be done within each stage and who shall participate in each stage. The number of participants at each stage shall be limited. It is important not to lose your perspective and avoid letting people's expectations down.
Status assessment and analytical work
A thorough situational assessment and analysis is essential in order to improve road safety in the local authorities. The assessment of road safety offers a basis for the ability to identify places where many accidents have occurred and places that road users experience as hazardous.
Status assessment involves, for example, the collection and processing of existing accident data. The information gathered forms the basis for evaluating the causes of the problems identified and for suggesting improvements.
It is important to systematically evaluate the safety situation in the municipality. How orderly this is depends on the available information but it is important that the municipality gains an adequate overview of accident statistics, known causes and where dangerous or dangerous places are located. If the assessment is too superficial, there is a risk that the wrong areas will be concentrated. It is therefore important to take care of the task from the outset.
It is important that information from status assessment is presented in a clear and meaningful way for the local government and residents of the municipality. Statistics and other information shall be presented in such a way that their content and message are clear. It can often be useful to divide the results into two sections, one at a general level in the whole municipality and the other a few smaller sections for individual areas within the municipality. It is recommended that a single comprehensive map be drawn up showing accidents and dangerous places or obstacles.
Focus on local problems
Get an overview of what problems are common in the municipality.
Checking which problems need to be solved, according to residents and local authorities.
Data collection
For detailed information please see the data on road accidents that have occurred in Iceland from 1 January 2007 to 2020 onwards. It is possible to choose from one type of accident and the severity, i.e. accident without injury, accident with little injury, serious accident or fatality. You can then display information on the relevant accident/incident, see a drawn diagram of what happened, as well as information on the time, location, vehicles and injuries. It is then possible to transfer data to a spreadsheet and thus obtain information on accidents in a particular neighbourhood, municipality or even county.
View relevant data for the municipality.
Analyse accident statistics for the past few years.
Identify the municipal street network, current speed limiting measures and map out walking routes.
Use observations of school routes, questionnaires, interviews or other methods to examine alternate places and obstacles in the street system.
Count traffic and measure speed where necessary.
Create a list of possible resources.
Processing and presentation of data
Show the accidents in a summary picture and identify black spots if any.
Going on field trips.
Show the current speed limiting measures in a summary picture and mark street sections and places where the safety of road users can be improved.
Make an easy to understand and organised presentation for the municipality, perhaps for individual areas within it.
Processing and presentation of data
Show the accidents in a summary picture and identify black spots if any.
Going on field trips.
Show the current speed limiting measures in a summary picture and mark street sections and places where the safety of road users can be improved.
Make an easy to understand and organised presentation for the municipality, perhaps for individual areas within it.
Mapping accidents
For detailed information please see the data on road accidents that have occurred in Iceland from 1 January 2007 to 2020 onwards. It is possible to choose from one type of accident and the severity, i.e. accident without injury, accident with little injury, serious accident or fatality. You can then display information on the relevant accident/incident, see a drawn diagram of what happened, as well as information on the time, location, vehicles and injuries. It is then possible to transfer data to a spreadsheet and thus obtain information on accidents in a particular neighbourhood, municipality or even county.
When the analysis of the number, type, development and cause of accidents in the municipality is completed, a map showing the location of accidents can be produced which gives a good overview and is a prerequisite for finding particularly dangerous places in traffic, the so-called black spots. The time period for mapping must be at least 3-5 years to be able to give a credible picture of the most dangerous places.
Accident data does not tell the whole story about the state of road safety in a municipality. As has been mentioned, accidents are under-recorded in public records and there are also spare places where no accidents have occurred, but the circumstances are such that accidents can occur in the future. An important part of the assessment is therefore an academic road safety audit and an assessment of desirable actions. If municipalities do not have specialists in road safety in their ranks, they can get advice from specialists in the field.
A review of the street network and footpaths is carried out by consultants, where the current speed limiting measures are mapped, and suggestions are given as to where to improve the safety of road users with further measures.
The mapping should take into account the experience of road users at dangerous points and obstacles in the road network. It is an important basis for the organisation of the municipality. Such studies can lead to an increased acceptance and general understanding of the work of the municipality in the interest of safety and thus increase the likelihood that road users will adopt safer behaviour in traffic.
In addition to the professional evaluation of street network and pedestrian traffic experts, three methods are in particular that can be used to identify dodgy places and obstacles in the street network:
Checks on school routes.
Questionnaires distributed to the house.
Interviews with key parties.
Checks on school routes give an answer to how students experience road safety. Children are easier to express their opinion than adults and speak more often of their experiences in traffic. School routes have been explored in several municipalities in Iceland and they include visits to grades 3, 6 and 9 of primary school. Children in these years have then been given a map of their neighbourhood and they have been asked to mark on the maps the way they go to school. In the process, the children are asked to tell them where they experience dangers in traffic. Such observations have been useful to these municipalities for location of pedestrian crossings and speed limiting measures.
Questionnaires distributed to the house give all residents an opportunity to present their own suggestions. It has proved to be beneficial to give residents the opportunity to express themselves on the municipality website, although this may not be the case for all residents. Distribution of questionnaires is an efficient way to attract community members and learn about local traffic conditions. Response rate increases when only local circumstances are asked. With the help of pictures and drawings, residents are more likely to express themselves and point out intersections, roads/streets and walking routes that they consider hazardous. A questionnaire also opens up the possibility to gain insight into travel behavior, such as choice of travel mode and which actions the residents think are most important with regards to road safety.
Interviews with key parties can prove useful, for example talking to managers of educational institutions, residential associations, trade associations, organisations with disabilities or other concerned parties.
Regardless of the method used, they need to be used relatively locally. For example, residents find it much easier to answer questions about the area they live in than about areas nearby.
This discussion is above, which provides detailed information on road accidents that have occurred in Iceland from 1 January 2007 to 2020 (see status assessment and data collection above).
A field trip should be organised where local officials, councillors in the municipality in the area of road safety and representatives from the police, the Icelandic Road Administration and possibly residents associations form their opinions regarding the nature and extent of the problems and try to find solutions together. During the trip, the main places where accidents have occurred or are considered to be a problem for traffic experts¬ or road users shall be inspected according to the status assessment. The field trip often leads to the necessity to check further factors such as speed measurements or traffic counts. It is highly recommended to make use of speed measurements as a tool in road safety work. Speed measurements and counting can be used to identify accident sites and to support residents suspicion of traffic volume or traffic speed.
Make a list of black spots as well as the places that have been identified as being of concern. Plan your trip in such a way that you can view all the places in one day.
Take representatives from community organisations, the police and the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration, as well as a councillor with regards to local road safety.
Include a good map for drawing on and writing notes. All the locations must be clearly displayed on the map. Take pictures of the locations.
Include data on accidents for the purpose of assessing possible problems. Perform a short status evaluation for each location.
Speed is measured in principle in two different ways: Police speed measurements and automatic speed measurements and traffic counting with traffic branches. With modern technology, it is possible to automatically record speed, length and timing of vehicles. This allows for many statistical calculations, e.g. for average speed and circulation over a period of time (days, days of the week, season). When speed is measured by the police, this is usually done for the purpose of measuring speeds above the maximum allowed. It is also possible to manually record measurements from police radiometers, and in some cases the municipalities have borrowed them for purposeful speed measurements and collection of statistical data on speed. The Icelandic Road Administration can assist in the processing of such data. Whereas automatic speed measurements have almost become essential for assessing road safety; If a municipality does not have equipment for such measurements, it is possible that municipalities in the vicinity or the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration possess such equipment. It is also possible for traffic advisors to own such equipment and be able to undertake measurements and processing of data.
Road safety is a major concern of the behaviour of the inhabitants of the road. It is therefore important when working towards improving road safety that the residents are considered an important target group. When the inhabitants are allowed to participate in the process, it is necessary to listen to their opinions. Their participation leads to more work than later in the process and therefore the advantages of letting them participate are demonstrated, increasing general knowledge and external support. In order to maintain interest in the community they have to feel that their contribution has meaning for the community.
Therefore, when the status assessment is completed, a town hall meeting may be held at this point, the road safety situation is presented, the next steps are reviewed and residents are invited to participate in the discussion.
Service provider
The Icelandic Transport Authority