The Netherlands
The Netherlands contributes in the development of a European Accident Causation Database covering all EU countries, in the definition of possible countermeasures and in the determination of clear goals and priorities for further RTD., through a relation with the EU project VERONICA (Vehicle Event Recording based on Intelligent Crash Assessment), on the study of accident and event data recording technology.
The involvement in the projects EVI (Electronic Vehicle Identification), CVIS (Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure Systems) and GST (Global System for Telematic) contributes in the development of specifications for interfaces and communications protocols for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications.
Through a collaboration with the EU project PEPPER (Police Enforcement Policy and Programmes on European Roads), whose objective is objective to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of police enforcement in the field of road traffic in the EU, the Netherlands are involved in the Impact assessment of eSafety Systems.
The Netherlands are also involved in SpeedAlert, whose main objectives are to harmonise the in-vehicle speed alert concept definition and to investigate the first priority issues to be addressed at the European level, such as the collection, maintenance and certification of speed limit information.
112 is the only emergency number in use for all emergency services from Police, Ambulance and Fire brigade and the calls are answered at least in English (mandatory); some operators are able to respond in German and French as well. As for E112, caller location is not yet transmitted from the Mobile Network Operators into the PSAPs for calls from mobile phones but there are plans to upgrade the 112/E112 infrastructure in the 1st quarter of 2007. PSAPs are public, by law assigned to the Police (24 regional and 1 national PSAP for all GSM 112 calls).
The Ministry of Interior has not signed the MoU but is committed to implement eCall. The National Police Agency KLPD has signed the MoU and is committed to implement eCall as well in close cooperation with the Ministry of Interior. One activity undertaken to support the implementation of eCall is the institution of the automotive platform ADI with the mission to institute one eCall platform in which public authorities (PSAPs and Ministry of Interior), service providers, and automotive branch at large are represented. There will be a Service Level Agreement with this platform and the Ministry of Interior on how to operate eCall in The Netherlands in triangular organisational concept of emergency call PSAP Service provider. One major element will be the institution of a central database with all automotive data on make model model year and technical details, accessible on line via eCall to provide all necessary data on handling all types of vehicles in emergency service operation.
A list of activities in the Netherlands for RTTI is the following one:
o A National Data Warehouse for traffic management and traffic information was established;
o In 2007 TomTom will start NL service using Vodaphone GSM data;
o A commission has been created to cope with data ownership, privacy, contracts and regulation (cie Laan);
o A platform in ITS-NL for projects was created.
o A new service was launched: parking places in cities show their occupancy rate in TMC;
o There are 8 stations transmitting different TMC services;
o New events;
o Translation of the information in progress;
Possible other users as heart patients, aphasia patients were involved in the business cases study to promote the introduction of intelligent integrated road safety systems.
By joining the eSafetyAware! Platform, the Netherlands (Dutch National Police Agency) will participate to future eSafety awareness campaigns that explain the benefits, functioning and use of the intelligent integrated road safety systems to the consumers.
A national eSafety special interest group hosted by ITS-Netherlands focuses on business case and joined efforts with GST/RUC/T&T etc. The Netherlands proposed to host an eSafety Observers Regional meeting in 2007.
From the point of view of ICT applied to clean mobility, different measures are currently put in place:
1. Measures that are directed at accessibility with environmental side-effects: highway network: flexible lane use (tidal lane use, rush hour lane use), ramp metering, local parking directing, bus priority, environmental friendly enforcement (trajectory speed enforcement).
2. Measures, directed primarily at environmental effect: heavy goods vehicle traffic light priority.
Transport policy include infrastructural measures aimed at reducing the negative impact of mobility on environment through noise reduction screens alongside the highways, through the maintenance of an ecological main structure (for animals to move through), through the construction of tunnels below green areas or below heavy populated areas and through the compensation for building road infrastructure with green-type infrastructure (woods and parks).
Driver education and support for environment-friendly driving is encouraged by the so called The new driving advertisement campaign, initiated by the Ministry of Traffic and Water management. Furthermore, driving schools have integrated this concept in their driving instructions. Key points are: low revolution shifting gears, gradually and gently applying throttle, compliance with speed limits and better anticipation enabling to release the throttle when applicable instead of keeping throttle position to the last seconds and then applying full brakes.
Road Safety Vision, Plans, and Targets
The Dutch road safety policy centres on the concept of sustainable road safety. In the 1980's, the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, set the following road safety targets: 50% fewer fatalities and 40% fewer hospital admissions resulting from road crashes by the year 2010 compared to 1986. In 1991, it became apparent that these targets would not be met if traditional policies were continued, even if the related activities would be intensified, and new, scientifically based and data-driven policy was developed with the aim to develop a sustainable and safe traffic system. This comprises an infrastructure that is adapted to road user capacities and limitations, safer road vehicles, and road users that are adequately trained, informed and where necessary controlled.
An intermediate fatality reduction rate was set at 25% for the year 2000 (compared to 1.527 fatalities in 1986). The number of killed persons on Dutch roads in 2000 was 1.082 (actual reduction of 29%). In 2001, the number of road fatalities dropped below 1.000 (993 killed persons). The following national road safety plan was the Start-up Programme for 1998-2001, and regional road safety plans are being developed from the national plan. The next step will be to integrate a Long-term Road Safety Programme (MPV) into the Dutch National Traffic and Transport Plan (NVVP).
Road Safety Priorities
In order to achieve the policy targets for 2010, the Dutch road safety priorities and measures cover a fairly wide gamut of activities. Because the Netherlands has a fairly good road safety record (together with Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom the best in Europe), much has already been achieved in the past. Because of the high number of cyclists, the Netherlands has a well-developed and extensive network of cycle paths, in most cases physically or visually separating bicycles from other traffic. Safety audits for new road design and redesign is becoming standard practice. As one of the last countries in the EU, the Netherlands has banned handheld phone use by all road users except cyclists and pedestrians (May 2002).
- Speed. As speeding is one of the major causes of road accidents, the Dutch consider speed enforcement and speed management as one of the road safety priorities. Infrastructural traffic calming measures (particularly in urban areas, such as chicanes, speed-humps (sleeping policemen), roundabouts and so-called woonerven, et cetera) are widespread. Speed cameras both on motorways, secondary roads and urban areas are very common. Recently a pilot project on Intelligent Speed Adaptation in the town of Tilburg has been completed, and there are plans for a follow-up project.
- Enforcement. This covers the full spectre of road user behaviour as a component of a broader strategic programme. New enforcement techniques are being developed, tested and implemented for e.g. tailgating (close following), trajectory speed enforcement, testing on truck overloading by means of weighing-in-motion (WIM), and drugs recognition.
- Vehicles. Periodical roadworthiness tests for road vehicles. Also, the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management supports the European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP), in order to provide the general public with passive vehicle safety (crashworthiness) performance.
Road Safety Management Organisation
The Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management has the central responsibility for safety policy and allocates funds for specific road safety activities. Dutch road safety policy is designed and executed at different government levels: national/state, regional, and local. Furthermore, various government sectors (road authorities, police, justice, and education bodies, etc.) are involved in policy setting; each with its own tasks and powers. Ensuring coherent road safety policy calls for horizontal co-ordination (between sectors) and vertical co-ordination (between levels). Since 1992, horizontal co-ordination at the national level has been undertaken by the Consultancy Body on Road Safety (OVV), in which all bodies involved at that level are represented. In 1994, important agreements were made about the vertical and horizontal co-ordination in the Decentralisation Agreement under which each province has a Provincial Safety Board (ROV). This measure aims to harmonise regional traffic and transport policy.
Various non-governmental organisations are also active in promoting road safety, such as 3VO (the co-operation of three road safety organisations) and the Dutch automobile club ANWB. Also various road safety research support organisations are active, such as AVV (a research and advisory body of the Ministry of Transport), SWOV (organisation for scientific road safety research), TNO (Netherlands organisation for applied physics research), and a wide spectrum of medium-sized and small research and consultancy firms.
Road Safety Programme Monitoring and Evaluation
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of road safety policy at various governmental levels, both the Dutch Ministry of Transport, provinces and municipalities are responsible for monitoring and evaluation. At the national level, Road Safety Policy Effect Reports released once a year, with a comprehensive report every four years. Monitoring details cover the number of crashes, fatalities, casualties (at various level of seriousness), and risk exposure. Road user behaviour, drink-driving, seatbelt use and average speeds as well as traffic counts are monitored.
Links
The Transport Safety Board http://www.rvtv.nl/english/index.html is the result of bringing together various organisations which carried transport research. Certain investigative responsibilities of government inspectorates have also been transferred to the new board. This pooling of forces in an independent board not only provides a better guarantee of the independence of the investigation, the investigators will also benefit from each others knowledge and expertise, making them more effective and efficient.
RDW, http://www.rdw.nl/eng/index.htm the RDW Centre for Vehicle Technology and Information is dedicated to forming an effective bridge between the public and private sectors. It keeps a close eye on international developments and adjusts its activities accordingly. By applying its core competences, RDW strives to offer extra social added value in the form of tangible products and services for both private enterprise and various levels of government.
The AVV, Transport Research Centre http://www.rws-avv.nl/ (part of the Rijkswaterstaat organisation) makes an active contribution to improving the Dutch transport system by supplying knowledge for the formulation and implementation of Dutch transport policy.
SWOV http://www.swov.nl/, an independent, scientific institute pofessionally involved in traffic and road safety in the Netherlands, aims at safer traffic using scientifically founded knowledge. SWOV wants to make a contribution to promoting road safety by means of knowledge from scientific research. All of its knowledge is public information and available to the public.
|
