National capacity building and more than 18,000km of iRAP assessments have recently been supported by ThaiRAP, working in partnership with the Department of Highways and the Children and Youth Council. These efforts will inform lifesaving action to improve road safety in Thailand.
In the last six months, ThaiRAP has supported an important Department of Highways’ (DOH) project with three key outcomes:
- The completion of an iRAP assessment of 18,129km of national highways and the development of Safer Road Investment Plans to inform strategic investment.
- The training of 124 DOH staff in the iRAP methodology and coding, fostering local expertise for ongoing analysis and ViDA insights.
- Local system development aligned to the iRAP methodology to support the calculation of risk scores and Star Ratings.
In addition, following an invitation by the Children and Youth Council of Bangkok, ThaiRAP supported the training of 45 students in iRAP Star Ratings.
The workshop lifted students’ awareness of road infrastructure safety and the role that Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) and the Youth Engagement App (YEA) can have in supporting risk analysis, advocacy and most importantly, evidence-based safety improvements at the roadside.
It may be the promising start of a future programme of nation-wide annual training courses in SR4S and YEA, delivered by ThaiRAP and the Council.
Thailand’s Road Safety Master Plan 2022-2027 (led by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Ministry of Interior) sets targets under Strategy Three to “Develop a safe environment and sustainable transport,” increase the proportion of 3-star roads and train local staff.
ThaiRAP’s capacity building efforts are supporting implementation of the Master Plan and an ever-growing cohort of road safety practitioners, policy-makers and advocates skilled and knowledgeable in road safety assessment and risk reduction to eliminate Thailand’s highest risk roads.
Kasem Choocharukul, ThaiRAP Lead and Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Chulalongkorn University said, “We are excited to commence the new year and work with partners to apply their learnings for safer roads in the country.
“ThaiRAP is working with the DOH and Department of Rural Roads (DRR) to apply the new baseline Star Ratings to their budget allocation processes, optimising investment in infrastructure improvements that can save the most lives and serious injuries.”
ThaiRAP was recognised in 2022 with a Prime Minister’s Award for Road Safety. ThaiRAP partner activity has assessed over 150,000 km of roads and designs over time, including motorways and 10 schools, influencing the safety of US$1.6 million of road infrastructure investment. Chulalongkorn University is one of 11 iRAP Centres of Excellence helping to guide the development of the global road infrastructure safety standard and tools.
For more information on ThaiRAP, visit thairap.com
Images credit: ThaiRAP
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