National Road Safety Authority

Research is the government’s principal means of guaranteeing road safety policies and the tools for their implementation are based on expert, up-to-date and relevant information. Each line of action taken in the field is the result of an extensive research program providing direction and content and is subject to a follow-up study to assess quality of implementation and effectiveness.

Israel’s research capability in all aspects of traffic safety must be encouraged in order to ensure a scientific-informative basis for lines of action and projects. Without this capability, decisions on various measures – especially those relating to what is known as “the human factor” – are based on hunches and prejudices without proper examination of their suitability and effectiveness, giving way to serious concern that their application will prove ineffectual[1].

Research capability does not entail the systematic investigation of each and every issue – an impossible and unwarranted task. Rather, research is a vital and on-going commitment, providing the means to evaluate the quality of outside research, to weigh the soundness of conclusions drawn from researched data and their relevance to broader issues, to assess the implications of putting research findings into practice, to assess experience gained by other countries, and to develop local academic awareness in the field – all for achieving a safe road environment.

Due mainly to the funding and budgetary restraints of academic research institutes, the past decade has seen a continuing decline in research capability and in the number of experienced senior researchers active in the field of road safety in Israel.

Budget is a foremost consideration for the NRSA, and the budget provided for research in previous years has proved insufficient. Although the 2005 research budget was increased, no allowance was made for the long-term commitments necessary for conducting research. This presents a tough administrative obstacle.

The Transportation Research Institute at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) has been the most prominent center of excellence in the following fields: traffic engineering, traffic planning, logistics and intelligent transportation systems. The majority of Israel’s transport experts earned their qualifications and completed advanced studies at the Technion. The Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is another academic institute that is developing a multi-disciplinary center of excellence for road safety, which has yet to be fully exploited. There remains a lack of focused centers of excellence researching the behavioral sciences, education, communications, publicity and promotion of safety issues, road crash casualty rescue and trauma treatment, as well as multi-disciplinary research into transport policies.

Road safety research programs are, as a rule, long-term. A large number of subjects for research evolve from previous research findings as well as from forecasted needs and requirements, in coordination and cooperation with transport policy shapers. A far lesser degree of research activity is required for ad hoc issues that are of special public interest or of pressing importance to decision makers in the field of transport.

The National Road Safety Authority at the Ministry of Transport is Israel’s national agency for transport safety and, as such, it is incumbent on the NRSA to revive research infrastructure and provide it with a permanent and appropriate annual budget. It is also imperative that other government ministries (such as the Ministry of Science and Technology; the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor; the Ministries of Justice, Health and the Environment) be involved, together with the business sector (logistics, haulage, road construction, traffic control equipment, safety and motor vehicles) as partners in initiating, managing and funding research and development.

The NRSA intends activating focused policy tools to nurture quality safety research infrastructure. One essential tool is the allocation of funds to university-based centers of excellence to formulate proposals for an integrated, long-term, high potential action plan for advancing safety policy. To realize this policy, the NRSA aims at creating a research database of academic centers experienced in the field of road safety and with proven research capability.

The NRSA’s policy regarding road crash data is to broaden data input in order to facilitate the decision making process. Creating a system that is content-rich, up-to-date, credible, searchable, and accessible to researchers and decision makers is a prerequisite for establishing an appropriate road safety management research infrastructure. Each system source is responsible for monitoring data from its area of expertise, both for self-use as well as for the use of other interested bodies. The wider the variety of information sourced from the database, the greater its influence and credibility. The NRSA will be responsible for monitoring particular or new safety characteristics and for funneling data from outside sources into the database for the use of researchers, decision makers and those with authorized access.

The NRSA has been working on establishing the national road safety database since 2004. The following activities are being carried out mainly through the Central Bureau of Statistics, and provide road crash and casualty data as the initial stage in creating the database:

· Input of MDA rescue files (MDA – Magen David Adom – the national emergency medical and ambulance service).

· Setting up a procedure for the input of insurance company data files (including claim data, crash location, economic value of bodily injury).

· Assisting in improving and refining data sourced from the Israel Police (crash location, also by GPS).

· Utilization of the GIS module for presenting crash data on the Central Bureau of Statistics web site.

· End-user interface enabling presentation of diagrams, reports, and cross-sectional mapping of road crashes.

During 2005 the NRSA plans to carry out a series of surveys for measuring various traffic and road safety parameters, such as the rate of safety belt use, the extent of traffic light/sign compliance, and travel speed compliance.

From a research perspective (to be distinguished from the investigative perspective whose objective is to identify the guilty party) road crash investigation can be classified into three categories:

1. The collection of information using a fixed, uniform format in order to prepare the groundwork for statistical analysis of road crash causes and factors, and identification of the relative frequency of different crash types. This is currently being carried out by Israel Police traffic accident investigators, and in our opinion, there is no alternative mechanism that will carry out these investigations more effectively. Therefore, emphasis must be placed on improving the quality of data gathering through organizational and technical means (updated report form, hand-held computers, GPS) as well as supplementary courses and instruction for road crash inspectors.

2. Investigation into the technical/mechanical factors in road crashes. This type of investigation is carried out by the Israel Police and the Ministry of Transport, at their discretion, in cases of severe crashes in which there is concern that a technical fault may have been a cause.

3. In-depth multi-disciplinary investigation into a limited number of exceptionally severe crashes, or crashes in which it can be assumed that the findings will have systemic and civil implications. The only tool currently enabling implementation of such an investigation is an inquiry committee initiated by the Minister of Transport.

A research program incorporates a number of independent research projects, each project examining various facets of a problem or various paths to problem resolution. Each individual research project produces findings that, although of interest in their own right, must be integrated in a predetermined manner into the findings of the other research projects taking part in the program. Resources for each research project are identified in advance and allocated as required. The program also presents a framework for research cooperation between government ministries, research institutes, researchers, engineers, planners, economists and other professional experts. The role of the NRSA is to define the research and oversee its implementation.

A large-scale research program methodically examines the value of each of the central components of safety management, such as: the effectiveness of interurban road infrastructure improvements; driver instruction and licensing mechanisms; urban safety management by road safety headquarters; fleet management. Likewise, the monitoring of safety management characteristics and their funneling into the database is also considered an important and permanent area of research.

1) the human factor and road user behavior: Israeli driver characteristics and pedestrian behavior;

2) health and driving: effect and prevalence of fatigue, alcohol, drugs and medication on driving;

3) driver instruction: evaluation of various elements of the teaching process and young driver training;

4) safety infrastructure: development and assessment of different methods of infrastructure;

5) vehicles: safety standards, load securing, the technical/mechanical factor in road crashes;

6) ITS-eSafety: use of information, communication and remote sensing technology to improve safety.

Each of the subjects noted above is either currently being researched or at the planning stage.

8. NRSA-Ministry of Science and Technology Joint Promotion of Research and Development

The Ministry of Science and Technology in collaboration with the NRSA, aim to promote research and development in the field of Intelligent Transportation Systems and road safety. The objective of their joint research program is to advance applied research, develop road and vehicle systems and standards, implement ITS evaluation and assessment, assist research groups and provide ITS expertise as a means of improving road safety.

A further objective of the program is to promote research into the human factor in road safety, including research into the behavioral sciences: psychology, sociology, criminology, education and public administration.

Within the framework of the joint research program, calls for proposals are being published on the NRSA and the Ministry of Science and Technology websites, inviting researchers and entrepreneurs to present proposals on specific research subjects. A review committee is appointed by the NRSA and the Ministry of Science and Technology to examine the proposals according to set evaluation principles. The review committee is authorized to recommend modifications, within the scope and cost of the research proposal; to recommend cooperation between research groups who have presented proposals; and to recommend partial interim financing for carrying out a visibility study of the proposed research.

1. Academic requirements for positions in road safety professions, such as local authority safety managers and traffic safety officers, in order to raise personal and professional levels of competence and to enhance the status and importance of the field of expertise.

2. Increasing the proportion of road safety subject matter in traffic engineering and transport planning curricula, and postgraduate traffic engineering studies, with the aim of strengthening the influence of safety considerations on planning processes.

3. Encouraging researchers specializing in road safety within the framework of academic research institutes, thereby cultivating and developing the research community active in this field.

Together with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the NRSA has authorized the granting of six “Eshkol” scholarships to doctoral candidates specializing in road safety. The NRSA is considering offering post-doctoral scholarships to enable researchers to continue their road safety research.

¹ Two current examples: the initiative for compulsory practice (skidding) on driver training grounds; the assumption that using a hand-held cell phone while driving is more distracting than using a handsfree cell phone.

Road Safety Research and Information Policy