Safe mobility and infrastructure

Key messages

• Twelve countries (37.5%) have road inspection laws.
• Nine countries (28.12%) have inspection laws that focus on protecting all road users.
• The countries in the Region are far from achieving Target 4 of the Global Plan 2021-2030, which states that by 2030 more than 75% of travel on existing roads will be on roads that meet technical road safety standards:²⁴
• Eleven countries are investing to improve high-risk locations with the safety of all road users in mind.
• Eight countries are investing to improve black spots, hot spots, or hazardous stretches of road.
• Five countries are investing to improve the safety of their systems.
• Eight countries have an investment plan to make roads safer.
• Despite some progress, most countries still fail to conduct audits or implement systematic approaches to assess roads and protect all road users.
• Thirteen countries are implementing systematic approaches to assess or audit new road construction.
• Nine countries carry out official audits or give star ratings on some of their road networks, and four countries do this nationwide.
• Fifteen countries have set targets to meet technical goals to ensure the safety of all road users.
• The technical standards of approximately half the countries align with international conventions based on currently recognized good practice.
• Twenty countries have technical standards for new infrastructure.
• Seventeen countries have design standards that comply with international conventions, including UN conventions.
• Two countries have adopted the star ratings system to audit their roads.
• Only six countries have global design guidelines for pedestrians and cyclists.
• Twelve countries have design standards establishing speed limits. Eighteen countries have design guidelines that incorporate safe crossings, and 15 have guidelines for traffic segregation.
• Sustainable mobility is unequal across countries. Thirteen countries have national policies promoting public transport, seven focus on promoting cycling, five on encouraging walking, and five promote alternative means of transport.

Strengthening road infrastructure

WHO promotes a safe systems approach as a theoretical and action framework for improving global road safety. One of this approach’s principles is that road safety must be proactive. In other words, action must be taken to prevent crashes from occurring. Where crashes are unavoidable, the safety conditions of the system’s different layers must provide the necessary protection to mitigate their negative consequences. One of these layers is road infrastructure.

Infrastructure affects choice of mode of transport and accessibility to goods, services, and social relationships. Road capacity and travel time are two of the main pillars around which infrastructure planning and development has been organized in urban and intercity areas. This has reduced the incentive for alternative and sustainable forms of mobility, especially active mobility and public transport. It has also been linked to crashes and deaths among vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists.

Developing new infrastructure that considers the safety of all road users and promotes sustainable modes of transport, maintaining existing infrastructure, and adapting it to people’s varying needs is essential to achieving the target of the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, namely reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50% during that period.

The countries of the Region of the Americas are striving to achieve the targets of the Global Plan 2021-2030. Target 3 promotes the use of guidelines and standards to assess and audit road quality. These include star rating systems, such as the International Road Assessment Programme or the Global Street Design Guide. Target 4 also promotes the development of infrastructure that considers the safety of all road users.

The next section describes the current laws of countries in the Region regulating the following: road network inspections; investment in improving road safety; audits; guidelines and standards governing the design, development, and maintenance of new and existing roads, and promoting sustainable mobility.

Road network inspection laws

Effectively enforcing laws that align with internationally recognized good practice improves road safety. This section describes laws regulating road network inspections and explicitly promoting the safety of all road users.

As Table 2 shows, 12 countries in the Region have national legislation regulating periodic safety inspections on the existing road network. A similar, but ultimately smaller, number of countries (nine) reported having legislation providing for the protection of all road users.

Table 2. Countries with laws regulating road network inspections

Countries with legislation regulating inspections or audits on new and existing roads are in the minority. Even fewer have laws providing for the protection of all road users. A key way to improve road infrastructure is to create legal frameworks regulating mandatory safety inspections, in accordance with good practice. This means working with legislators and decision-makers to help them understand the relevance and impact of urban and intercity road infrastructure. It is also important to garner public opinion, to generate demand and support for changes to legal frameworks. Social media campaigns can be a useful way to achieve this objective. Box 6 shows Colombia’s progress in conducting road safety audits and inspections.

Investment to improve road quality

This aspect refers to countries investing to improve the safety of their road systems. Specifically, it includes investments to improve high-risk areas, reduce or eliminate black spots or hot spots, improve systems, and invest in safer roads.

As Table 3 shows, 11 countries are investing to improve high-risk areas on their roads, considering the safety of all road users. Not all countries are investing in the same type of improvements: eight countries are focusing on black spots or hot spots, five on improving the safety of their systems, and eight on improving their roads.

Table 3. Countries investing to improve the safety of their road systems

According to available data, countries in the Region of the Americas are still far from achieving Target 4 of the Global Plan 2021-2030. This target is that, by 2030, more than 75% of travel on existing roads must be on roads that meet technical standards for all users. One indicator of this target is to design and implement road improvement plans. However, most countries are not investing in this area. No progress has been made in this regard since the previous PAHO report in 2019 (9).

Countries in the Region must invest to improve the quality of their infrastructure. This requires reliable information. Identifying the areas of greatest risk and their surrounding environmental conditions is the first step towards improvement. Creating road observatories is a good initiative to carry out this task. Establishing bilateral collaborations between countries with and without experience in this area may prove useful. PAHO has facilitated and supported this type of collaboration in the past.

Road audits and assessments

This aspect refers to carrying out road quality audits and assessments. Audits must align with international conventions, including but not limited to UN conventions. It also involves assessing safety conditions for vulnerable road users and establishing temporary objectives and goals to create safe roads.

As Table 4 shows, 13 countries carry out systematic assessments or audits on all or some of their new roads, considering the safety of all road users. Four countries use nationwide star rating systems, and nine use these systems on some of their road networks.

Only four countries reported the percentage of roads audited. Canada and Dominica reported auditing more than half of their roads. Cuba audited between 20% and 50% of its roads. Peru reported having audited less than 20%.

Less than half of the countries (15) in the Region set technical goals to achieve safety for all road users. Ten countries aimed to achieve this by 2030. Four countries aimed to do this sooner.

Table 4. Countries using audits, assessments, and systematic approaches to ensure road safety for all users

Around a third of countries carry out systematic assessments or audits on their road infrastructure using star rating systems; however, not all of them do so on all of their roads. In the previous PAHO report (9), 18 countries conducted audits. The number is slightly lower in this report. This puts the Region of the Americas some way from meeting Target 3 of the Global Plan 2021-2030, which states that by 2030 all new roads must achieve technical standards for all road users (that take into account road safety), or meet a three star rating or better. More countries must therefore systematically audit their new and existing roads. A first step towards this may be establishing objectives and time frames to meet technical goals. However, there are also delays in this regard. Countries must also have systematic information on their assessment processes. Despite the importance of this metric, very few countries reported the percentage of roads they had audited. Support from PAHO, other international organizations, and countries with improved audit processes may be key to the Region’s progress.

Guidelines and design standards for new roads

This aspect refers to guidelines and standards for creating new roads and assessing or improving existing ones. These guidelines and standards are important, as they allow for an objective assessment of the minimum acceptable safety for new and existing roads. They include star rating guidelines and standards, global design guidelines, and audit guidelines. They also include design standards for roads used by pedestrians and cyclists. Land-use design standards aimed at promoting the use of intermodal transport are also involved.

Table 5 shows that 20 countries have technical standards for developing infrastructure that protects all road users. The design standards for 17 of these countries comply with international conventions, including UN conventions or equivalent. Few countries use the star rating system or global design guidelines to audit their roads. This is also the case when creating pedestrian and cyclist routes. Twelve countries have guidelines for setting speed limits within a safe system. Eighteen have guidelines for ensuring safe crossings. Fifteen have guidelines for segregating different modes of transport. Finally, 14 countries have standards recognizing the extent to which land use influences intermodal transport use.

Table 5. Countries with design guidelines and standards

Targets 3 and 4 of the Global Plan 2021-2030 each have two global indicators. These global indicators state that by 2030 all countries must use systematic approaches to assess or audit new and existing roads. However, while progress has been made, countries in the Region are a long way from having widespread technical standards and guidelines. Some countries use star rating systems or global design guidelines. Some countries’ standards do not comply with international regulations promoting good practice, including UN regulations and equivalent.²⁵ Box 7 describes the experience of two countries that have recently implemented a road infrastructure assessment.

Countries in the Region of the Americas still need to make efforts to adopt technical standards that protect vulnerable road users. The use of intermodal transport is poorly promoted. In contrast, greater efforts have been made to improve safety conditions for individual motor vehicles. This may be one reason for the sustained rise in the number of cars compared to alternative modes of transport, and the number of crashes and fatalities among vulnerable road users. Sustainable and active modes of transport cannot be promoted without developing the infrastructure that ensures their safety.

Sustainable mobility

This aspect includes indicators on initiatives designed to increase the use of sustainable modes of transport. It includes statistics on cycling, walking, and travel using non-motorized personal devices. It also considers policies that promote these forms of mobility as an alternative to car use.

Table 6 shows that there is little incentive for sustainable transport in the Region. Available information on personal devices, such as electric scooters, is scarce. Only one country has data on this mode of transport, which is understandable, given its relatively new and limited use. In contrast, there is slightly more information on walking and cycling. Nine countries have data on cycling and seven have data on pedestrian transport.

Public transport is promoted more than cycling and walking at the national and subnational level. Eighteen countries have policies aimed at promoting the use of public transport. Thirteen promote cycling, and 10 promote walking. Boxes 8 and 9 present the experience of two cities in the Region of the Americas that have created cycle lane networks and public bicycle schemes. As a result, they have seen an increase in cycling as a mode of transport.

Table 6. Countries with statistics and policies on sustainable modes of mobility

The targets of the Global Plan 2021-2030 do not explicitly include promoting sustainable transport. However, Target 4 is to improve existing roads considering the safety of all users. To achieve this target, it is important to develop policies aimed at encouraging the use of modes of transport other than personal motor vehicles. These include active mobility, the use of electric scooters, or public transport. It is worth noting that the number of countries that reported promoting public transport was slightly lower than in the 2019 PAHO report (9). Investing in accessible, safe, and quality urban infrastructure is important to encourage users to use sustainable modes of transport instead of personal motor vehicles.

One of the many positive effects of sustainable mobility is traffic calming. This goal is linked to Target 6, which aims to reduce speed-related injuries and fatalities. Despite the road safety benefits of sustainable mobility, very few countries in the Region reported having any type of strategy designed to promote it.

Developing policies that encourage sustainable mobility requires information on modal split across different modes of transport. Data provided by countries in the Region indicate that few are making efforts in this area. Big data analytics based on smartphone and public transport system usage can be valuable initiatives for generating data on urban and intercity travel. Other sources of information may come from origin-destination studies and empirical studies on perceived needs and obstacles reported by users of different modes of transport in their daily travel.

Conclusions

• Countries must develop information systems that provide reliable and systematic data on the safety of their roads, identified needs, modes of transport used, and investments made.
• Many countries lack legislation regulating road inspections and the protection of all road users. It is therefore essential to establish legal frameworks with mandatory safety inspections.
• Investment in road infrastructure must go hand in hand with accurate data collection on risk areas and their surrounding environmental conditions. Road observatories and international collaboration have an important role to play.
• Despite improvements in road infrastructure audits, there is still a long way to go, especially to achieve the technical standards and targets of the Global Plan 2021-2030.
• More must be done to promote sustainable transport, rather than individual motor vehicles. Policies encouraging alternative, safe modes of transport are needed.
• Sustainable mobility not only benefits road safety but leads to traffic calming. Policies promoting this type of mobility are therefore essential. Developing and strengthening information systems on modal split across different modes of transport is required, with a particular focus on sustainable mobility.