TII Safety Research
Safety Research
Transport Infrastructure Ireland is involved in extensive road safety research activities. TII Safety is engaged in a wide range of analysis aimed at improving safety for all road users on the national road network.
In addition to ongoing internal research, TII Safety actively participates in transnational road safety research programmes. Collaboration with road authorities and road safety research groups outside of Ireland allows for a transfer of knowledge, experience and ideas that are beneficial to the work of TII Safety and the wider strategic objectives of the organisation. For more information on TII’s research strategy, see here.
Previous research commissioned by TII includes a project analysing collision data in Ireland which encompasses a review of the contributory factors (vehicle, road infrastructure, driver behaviour, etc.) collected for past collisions. This research was conducted by Risk Solutions who developed a report entitled Contributory Factors Analysis for Road Traffic Collisions. This report assessed what improvements could be made in the way collision data is collected and the relative importance of different types of contributory factors.
TII have written a report for the International Symposium on Highway Geometric Design (ISHGD) examining The Application of Crash Modification Factors (CMFs) from the Perspective of 2 Road Safety Inspections within Ireland’s Motorway Network. TII also commissioned research into historical collision data from 2014 to 2017. A report was published in January 2019 available here. All appendices have been redacted from this publication. Further information can be sought from infosafety@tii.ie.
Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR)
TII Safety is also involved in transnational research through the Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR). CEDR provides a means for road authorities across Europe to share information, research and common experiences.
To date, TII have participated in all of the safety related CEDR research calls since the first research call in 2012 which included three safety research projects; ASAP (Appropriate Speed saves All People), BROWSER (Baselining Road Works Safety on European Roads ) and SAVERS (Selection of Appropriate Vehicle Restraint Systems)
In 2013, another CEDR research call initiated an additional 3 research topics including ESRET (European Safety Review Tool), EUSight (European Sight Distances in perspective) and PRACT (Predicting Road Accidents - a transferable methodology across Europe)
The most recent safety research underway came from the 2016 CEDR research call. This included the following research topics; PROGRESS (Provision of Guidelines for Roadside Safety), IRIS (Incursion Reduction to Increase Safety in road work zones), ADVERTS (Assessing Distraction of Vehicle drivers in Europe from Roadside technology-based Signage), SANA-4U (Safety in Non-Urban Areas for VRUs). The initial results for these projects were presented at the Transport Research Arena Conference in Vienna 2018.
Prior to the formation of CEDR, the majority of research was conducted through ERA-NET roads, whereby eleven countries came together to jointly fund and develop trans-national research programmes. One project commissioned in 2009, under the chairmanship of Ireland, was Forgiving Roadsides and this work continued through CEDR. The objective of the project was to minimise the consequences of driving error. By minimising the risk of vehicles leaving the carriageway and ensuring adequate recovery space as well as addressing roadside objects to limit the impact force on vehicle occupants thus reducing serious and fatal injuries. TII have been continuously working towards implementing this safe systems approach in Ireland, and have published a Guidance Document on Implementation of the CEDR Forgiving Roadsides Report