Do You Feel Safe on the Road Abroad? Survey on road safety for the World Bank operational travelers

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Do You Feel Safe on the Road Abroad?Survey on
road safety forthe World Bank operational
travelers

• Presented by
• Dr. Jasminka Goldoni Laestadius
• Seminar on International Tourism and Road Safety
• Paris, 24 September 2008

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Background

• Road safety is an important issue for the World
  Bank staff
• Number of business travelers/year 6,690
• Number of missions/year 36,394
• Days on missions/year 333,432
• Destinations developing countries
• Trend of increasing road safety risk Traffic
  fatalities and economic growth. Kopits E, Cropper
  M. Accid Anal Prev. 2005 Jan37(1)169-78
• 2007 data, staff at HQ enrolled in the MIP,
  consultants and CO assignments excluded

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The World Bank Road Safety Task Force

• Anthony Bliss
• Dr. Lennart Dimberg
• Dr. Jasminka Goldoni Laestadius
• Mouhamadou Moustapha Ly
• Elias Nassif
• Linda Carole Patnelli
• Dr. Anne Gaëlle Selod
• Christian Andreas Shorter
• Marc Sanford Shotten
• Dr. Jian Ye

SDN
HSD
GSD
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Main Goal and Tasks
Driver medical clearance
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Road safety surveys structure

• Baseline Survey
• General data
• Travel data
• Near crash situations
• Road crashes
• Banks drivers
• Banks vehicles
• Road safety advice for travelers

Follow-up survey
Circumstances
Health consequences
Financial consequences
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Road safety study timeline
2008
Final Report
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Results (1)

• Demographics
• Response rate 3,760/16,000 (25)
• Gender 48 male
• Base 44 in CO
• Travelers 86
• No. of missions 20,000 annually
• Near crashes 4,100 reported
• in the past 3 years 2,375 described
• 1 near crash per 15 missions
• Top 3 countries India, Kenya, China
• Crashes 341 reported
• in the past 3 years 231 described
• 1 crash per 175 missions
• Top 3 countries India, China, Indonesia

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Results (2)

• Crashes contributing factors
• two and more factors 50
• most often reported
• drivers decision error, speeding, road/weather
  conditions
• 50 reported incidents in taxis, 20 in Banks
  cars
• 40 of victims reported NOT wearing seat-belts at
  the time of their crash

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Perception of road safety risk by country
Q Please check all the countries where you FELT
MORE AT RISK from the road safety viewpoint while
traveling on mission in the past 3 years
Top five India Kenya South Africa Egypt Nigeria
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Incidence rates of near crashes by country
Top five Oman Yemen Bangladesh Guyana Camerron
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Incident rates of road crashes by country
Top five Bahrain Guyana Mauritius Saint
Lucia Zimbabwe
12
Five indicators map-incidence of near crashes,
incidence of crashes, safety concerns, number of
near crashes, number of crashes
Top six Afganistan Bangladesh Cambodia Egypt Chin
a India
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Comments (1)

• Recommendations
• Drivers ? training (defensive/first
  aid/maintenance/road rules)
• ? language proficiency
• ? medical clearance
• Vehicles ? seatbelt
• Environment ? no night/dusk travel
• ? improved infrastructure
• CO Bank ? list of preferred taxi/car rental
  companies
• ? more more available Banks cars and
  drivers to travelers
• ? road safety information/emergency numbers

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Comments (2)

• Experiences
• In rural countries, like Paraguay, robberies
  occur, there are no lights, and cows sleep on the
  road!
• In Mongolia, it is cheaper to rent a right hand
  car than a left hand drive car. BUT THE ROADS ARE
  RIGHT HAND DRIVE!!!!!!!! So it is a risk to be on
  long stretches of narrow highways speeding in
  dust storms or blizzards
• There is a culture of not making a big deal when
  sitting in a car without seat belt, with an
  insane driver on terrible roads with other insane
  drivers
• Taxi drivers want to vaunt their skills in fast
  driving and dangerous maneuvers
• We've had cars with drivers who don't speak any
  English, cracked windshields, no seat belts, bad
  tires. There has to be a better standard for
  determining the rental companies we use.
• If I am injured or die on mission, I am sure it
  will be from a car accident

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Conclusions

• The World Bank travelers are concerned about
  their road safety
• Individual risks are low but still significant
  and vary across regions/countries
• Staff risks are set to grow
• The institutional and personal impact of staff
  road crashes is high
• Staff have strong expectations that the risks
  they face should be managed, and realistic views
  on what would be good practice measures.

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Recommendations

• Minimize, as far as is practicable, the road
  safety risks faced by traveling staff
• A systematic approach required
• A minimum package of staff road safety measures
• Vehicles, drivers and passengers
• Environmental factors
• Emergency medical services
• Management responsibilities to be clarified
• Strong promotion at all levels
• A roll-out program starts in the identified high
  risk regions and countries

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Contacts

• Anthony Bliss, Lead Road Safety Specialist
• Email abliss_at_worldbank.org
• Dr. Lennart Dimberg, Lead Occupational Health
  Specialist
• Email ldimberg_at_worldbank.org