Problem definition
Although poor road safety is the leading cause of death worldwide for people up to 25 years of age and increasingly affects older people, insufficient work has been done in Europe in recent years to improve this condition.
Monitoring and improving road safety are complex concerns that touch on a wide range of disciplines including engineering, mechanics, psychology and sociology. In order to improve road safety across Europe, the EU Directive 2008/96/EC introduced a road infrastructure safety management system in 2008 and updated it in 2019, which is applied by all relevant staff of the responsible authorities. The challenges here are that the directive can only be implemented efficiently if the relevant people are well trained, gain experience in this field and constantly expand their knowledge. In addition, international exchange at the European level is necessary in order to standardise the implementation of high safety standards through suitable methods and instruments.
Activities in the EuroS@P project
This is where the EuroS@P project comes in: Through the development of innovative didactic materials, the level of training of responsible persons in authorities and at universities is to be raised and thus ultimately road safety improved.
The following steps are planned within the project:
- The development of an e-learning platform with access to the project results,
- The development of teaching and training materials for the implementation of courses at universities and training courses for employees of road traffic authorities,
- Increasing competences and skills in RISM by changing university curricula and providing students and staff with didactic material based on innovative RISM methods and tools,
- Laying the foundations for certification as a road safety expert,
- The development of a lasting relationship and the continuation of active international cooperation between the project partners with the possibility of its extension to other institutions.
The EuroS@P project is aimed at the following groups:
- Students, researchers, academic teachers at universities.
- Staff of road authorities at national, regional and local level.
- Experts, professionals and practitioners involved in road safety activities.
Funding
Within the framework of ERASMUS + CAPACITY BUILDING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION (Grant Agreement Number - 2020-1-PL01-KA203-081964), the consortium consisting of TU Gdansk, Bauhaus University Weimar (Chair of Transport System Planning), the Universities of Catania and Zagreb and the European Institute of Road Assessment is funded until the end of August 2023.