TRASPORT RESEAI TITLE by RCH LABORATORY Road safety research in Papua New Guinea B L Hills and N M Thompson Overseas Centre Transport Research Laboratory Crowthorne Berkshire United Kingdom . I;-,,- Hills, B L and N M Thompson, 1990. Road safety research in Papua New Guinea. In: REAAA. Proceedings of the Sixth Conference of REAAA, Kuala Lumpur, 4-10 March 1990. Kuala Lumpur: Road Engineering Association of Asia and Australasia. ROAD SAFETY RESEARCH. IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA B L HIlls, Transport and Road Research Laboratory, UK. and - N M Thompson, Department of Transport, PNG ABSTRACT *Over the past ten years, Papua New Guinea has established one of the best nationwide road accident reporting systems available among Developing Countries. In 1987, it switched over f-rom a mainframe system to a microcomputer system developed by the Overseas Unit of TRRL. Seven years of data, some 35,000 accident records, are now available on microcomputer. This paper reports progress on a programme of co-operative road safety research that is designed to exploit this valuable source of data. The work covers three areas of research: (i) accident black~spot investigations and the evaluation of countermeasures; (ii) the effects of highway geometric design on accident rates; and (iii) a survey of driver alcohol levels. The accident blackspot work employs the techniques developed by Local Authorities in the UK over the past 15 years. This system is particularly orientated towards low-cost engineering measures and has proved to be highly cost-effective in the UK; it offers. considerable potential for Developing Countries. Measures being evaluated in PNG include small island roundabouts, lane dividers, chevron boards, low-cost footpaths alongside rural highways and speed reduction devices. The factors being investigated in the geometric design,'accident rate study include horizontal and vertical curvature, road 'width, shoulder width, drainage ditch design, cross-sectional profile up to i5m from the edge of the shoulder and skid resistance. The.PNG National Roads and Bridges Invent oty is a valuable source of data for the study. *INTRODUCTION Papua New Guinea's Road System 1. Papua New Guinea has a total land area of about 460,000 square kilometres, which makes it larger than. Malaysia. On the other hand, its population is only about 3.5 million compared with Malaysia's 16..5 million. 2. Papua New Guinea comprises a-large mountainouis and very heavily forested mainland and some 600 smaller off-shore islands. A massive mountain range running north-west to south-east forms the backbone of the mainland with peaks in the centre up to 4,500 metres. 3. The country is divided into 20 Provinces. The major areas of population have traditionally been in the Highland valleys and basins, and around 33% of the population is still drawn from the five Highland Provinces. The two major urban population centres (and ports) are Port Moresby, the capital city with a-po'pulation of about 200,000 people, and Lae with over 50,000 people. 4. The transport system reflects the geographic and demographic characteristics of the country, and its improvement- has generally been limiruted to the areas of high population and those with high potential -for development. Initially, transport was largely limited to sea and air, but over the past 20 years a system of ten National Highways has been established and is being progressively upgraded. The most important of these is the Highlands Highway, which is about 500 Kms, long linking Lae to the Highlands region. 5. The present network comprises some 18500 Kms of road, of which about 5% (1000 Kmis) is paved. Arterial and trunk roads (4.5 to 7 metres wide) make up 5000 Kmis, the remainder being collector and feeder roads. The National Government is responsible for about 20% of the roads, known as National roads, iincluding about 800 Kmis that are paved. 6. The number of registered vehicles in Papua New Guinea in 1987 was 51,000, and this has not increased significantly since about 1980. 7. Road accidents have been of concern for the past ten years and the current fatality, rate of 60 deaths per 10,000 vehicles is relatively high by Developing Country standards. Also, they have been estimated to cost PNG around k25 mililion per annum, that is about one per cent of the Gross National Product, and this waste of scarce resources places a heavy burden on the PNG economy. TRRL Overseas Unit's Road Safety Research 8. The Overseas Unit of TRRL, began its research into the road safety problems of Developing Countries in 1972. Early research concentrated on accident rates, trends and costs, and road user behaviour and knowledge (eg Jacobs and Sayer 1982; Downing and Sayer 1982). In recent years, the emphasis has shifted towards techniques of accident data collection and analysis with a view to establishing the cost-effectiveness of road safety countermeasures in developing countries, for which there is, at present, very little data indeed (Hills and Jacobs, 1980; Hills and Yer-rell, 1988). 9. Within this research programme, the Overseas Unit has had a long interest in the effects of geometric design standards on accident rates in developing countries (Jacobs 1976). This problem is of particular interest to the international aid agencies. Since the Unit's early research into gaeometric design, there has been very little additional work published and ahigher priority is now being given to this particular area of research. 10. It has long been realised that alcohol is a major contribu- tory factor to road accidents in many Developing Countries, with the 'pay-day Friday' problem being a common phenomenon. This is another area of its road safety research that the Overseas Unit wishes to develop, partly as a result of a recent WHO initiative. Collaboration between TRRL and PNG Department of Transport 11. In 1986 the TRRL Overseas Unit staff took part in a road safety study which was commissioned by the PNG Department of Transport and funded by the Asian Development Bank. As part of this work, the TRRL's Microcomputer Accident Analysis Package, which was specially designed for Developing Countries (Hills and Elliott, 1986), was installed on a trial basis. In January 1987, this Package became the national system of PNG, running, on microcomputer .systems both in the Department of Transport and in the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) headquarters. The RPNGC had previously established a good accident reporting system but had experienced difficulties with the mainframe computing facilities. In addition, the Department of Transport found it needed more in-depth analyses of accidents than this mainframe system could provide. The police accident report form was modified both to improve its content and to enable direct entry of data from the form into the microcomputer. PNG thus became the first country to adopt the TRRL Package on a national basis. The mainframe accident data from 1982-1986, totalling over 25,000 accidents, were transcribed to the micro system. 12. The introduction of the microcomputer accident analysis system combined with the existing accident data base at the current stage of development of the PNG road system offered an excellent opportunity for research that could be of considerable value not only to PNG but to many other developing countries. For these reasons, a programme of cooperative research was agreed between the Department of Transport and the Overseas Unit in 1986. Initially it was agreed that the programme of road safety research would mainly cover the following two areas of work: A. The evaluation of road safety countermeasures, especially low-cost engineering measures at accident blackspots; and B. An investigation of the relationships between the various elements of geometric design and accident rates. 13. In March 1988, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Department and TRRL was signed whereby a TR.RL counterpart officer would spend two years resident in Port Moresby to enable faster progress to be made on the research pr-ogramme. The; original programme was extended at this stage by adding a study of the relationship between alcohol consumption and accidents. Details of the current programme are summarised in Figure 1. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT, PNG TRANSPORT & ROAD RESEARCH LABORATORY, UK CO-OPERATIVE ROAD SAFETY RESEARCH PROGRAMME 1. Accident Blackspot Investigations .identification and analysis * site studies, implementation, evaluation 2. Geometric design standards and accident rates * horizontal and vertical curvature * gradient * road width and shoulder width * drainage ditch design * recoverability (survivability) from running-off the road * effects on accidents of sealing a road * etc 3. Proposed Alcohol study • roadside survey of driver alcohol levels • police measure alcohol levels of drivers in accidents • hospital measure- alcohol levels of casualties 4. Protection of Pick-up Passengers * effectiveness of roll-over bars, back-supports etc .... ... F i.g u e .. ....... ROAD ACCIDENTS IN PAPUA NIEW GUINEA 1987 14. The entry of 1987 accidents into the micro system was completed at the end of 1988 and following a period of analysis of. these data, a report 'Road Accidents Papuia New. Guinea 1987'was published in May, 1989.. It was intended as the first of a series of annual reports presenting the road accident situation in Papua New Guinea and it formed the basis for the planning of the Department's road safety programme. The main findings presented in this report were as follows: (i) 15 % of all vehicles on the road in Papua New Guinea were involved in a reported accident in 1987. (ii) 46% of all accidents in Papua New Guinea involved only one vehicle, and these accidents caused 75% of all casualties,. 80% of all hospitalised casualties and 86% of all fatalities (see Figure 2). These single vehicle accidents were alnost entirely made up of (a) Pedestrian accidents; (b) 'Rollover' accidents; and (c) 'Struck object off the road' collisions. (iii) Rollover (or overturn) accidents were the biggest single cause of casualties in Papuia New Guinea. Although they only represented 12% of accidents, they gave rise to 30% of all casualties and 29% of all ,fatalities (See Figure 3 ). (iv) 44% of all casualties were the occupants of pick-up type vehicles, whereas these vehicles made up 33% of registered vehicles (see Figure 4). (v) For cars, pick-ups and Heavy Goods Vehicles involved in accidents, about 8% of drivers in each class were injured, whereas for motor-cyclists the figure was 73%. (vi) 14% of all accidents in Papua New Guinea were reported as 'Alcohol Suspected'. On Saturdays and Sundays, about 20% of drivers involved in accidents were classed as 'Alcohol Suspected' (see Figure 5). (vii) The National Capital District (NCD) with 32% of all accidents had only 10% of fatal accidents, whereas the Highlands Region with 22% of al accidents had 39% of fatal accidents. Thus, accidents in the Highlands Provinces tended to result in more serious injuries than accidents in the NCD. (viii) There were, on average, 0.37 fatal or hospitalised casualties per reported accident over all Papua New Guinea. For all the National highways this figure was 0.82, and for the Southern Highlands, Ramu and [ ............ :::;B illions R 1 w

1 e i An.' ove- ac INJURY SEVERITY by COLLISION TYPE 1987. Accidernt Vehicles Involved HeadOn 356 679 PearEnd 812 1650 90degraee 482 951 SideSwi--e 884 1706 OverT urm 599 611 Obiectoan d 101 114, Object aff Rd 657 671 ParkVehicle 193 387 Pedestrian 549 561 Other 161 18P5 Nuimber of Casuaffies Fatal Hoispital Not-Hoso 24 170 189 1 1 43 62 6 56 85 1 1 116 129 87 4.52 386 2- 2 3, 2 2-0 - 37 251 18S3 2 1 3 1 2 104 300 208 1 5 68 58 To~~J 4794 7515 2 91 8 3 13 2 Tctal 38.3 116 147 255 925 50 471 27 612 141 14,97 1331 31Z7 Tctal 299 ...... --- I ::.: 7,
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F:i g u r 5 1987 ACCIDENTS - Casualty Statistics RPNC /Dept of Transport Fadd 4cc~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hs U, ~ E U _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Pedn h~ sOu-e CLASS OF ROAD USER ... .r. 4 ..... .byC .s .... Use Enga Higways it was 1. 15, 1.17 and 1.44 respectively. The Highlands Highway had by far the largest total of injuries. -(ix) Although there was an overall reduction in the total number of recorded accidents from 1981 to 1987, fatal accidents have increased steadily since 1982. This almost certainly indicates an increase in under-recording of. minor injury and damage only accidents, rather than a genuine reduction in total number of accidents. 15. In addition to analyses of the accident data at a national level, lists of worst junctions and links in the NCD were included in the report and these formed the basis of a list of priority sites for treatment which was agreed with the NCD) Interim Commission' s engineers. Rural sites were also investigated and the worst sites along the .major rural highway of PNG, the Highlands Highway, were identified (see Figure 6). THE EVALUATION OF ENGINEERING COUNTERMLEASURES 16. This is a continuous programme of work involving the identification of accident blackspots, analysis of the factors involved, site studies, implementation of countermeasures and evaluation of their effectiveness. Techniques and Training, 17. A significant element of the co-operative research programme is seen as the training of Transport Department staff to under-take the necessary accident investigation techniques which lead up to the development of a "preferred" solution and in the subsequent evaluation methods. The process requires, as a first stage, the identification of *accident blackspots on the road network, using the TRRL accident analysis package, and their prioritising according to accident frequencies with a severity weighting based on accident costs. An in-depth study of the individual sites is then made, including the use of "stick diagram analysis" with the TRRL, Package, and the preparation of collision diagrams, in an attempt to idetiy groups of accidents displaying particular, significant characteristics. This should then lead to the identification of appropriate countermeasures. 18. During, the course of the programme, appropriate staff have been given formal and informal training so that they can carry out all stages of accident investigation through to implementation. Thus for example, one of the Department's staff produced the collision diagram shown in Figure 7. It demonstrates both the problem of rear-end shunts associated with the pedestrian crossing at the site, and the problem of vehicles turningW across the road into premises with direct frontal access to the highway. ACCIDENTS ON A ROUTE ACCIDENT FILE: CONDITIONS SET: PNG87LOCATION CODE 1= HHY KILOMETRES 0 -9 10 -19 20 -29 30 -39 40 -49 50 - 59 60 - 69 70 -7 9 80 -89 90 - 99 :100 - 109 110 - 119 120 - 129 130 - 139 140 - 149 150 - 159 160 - 169 170 - 179 180 -. 189 190 - 199 200 - 209 210 - 219 220 - 229 230 - 239 240 - 249 250 - 259 260 - 269 270 - 279 280 - 289 290 - 299 300 -309 310 - 319 320 - 329 330 - 339 340 - 349 350 - 359 360 - 369 370 - 379 380 - 389 390 - 399 400 - 409 410 - 4 19 420 - 429 430 - 43 9 440 - 449 450 - 459 460 - 469 470 - 479 480 - 489 490 - 499 ACCIDENTS 341 13690 2.6 03111022351 91 21 45800371 5241 912101311 81 56223 51 21 11 31 14060 * *yJJxxxxxxxxxxxcxxxxxxxxxQcjxxxxxxx*xxxxxxxxxx*xx*XxxXXx *XxxxX= * X **xx *xx xxX * xxxxxxxxxxxxxXx~xxxX *xxx~xxxxxxxxxx **xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx* ~***xxxxxxxxxxxxxx~xxxxxx****TTxYXyjXyXyYXeyY xX ***xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx* *xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx* *xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXxXXXx*xxxxxxxxxx-x*xxxxxxxxxx* *xxxxxxxxxxx**xxxxxxxxx****** *** *xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxx *XxxXXx Total= 40 8 * Fatal x Injury or Damage Figure e Accidents along the Highlands Highway in 1987 1... I! Ue, gTMR5' S(. RRvTC hi lRct (1uKiiit~t.c §' -i C-~~~~~~~~~ N1- ~,' c i C c A L o ci d'o " , )- z k. -. . ---- S5 S. -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *7. -- . CD Figure~~~~~. 7 .. Colson.ara.rpae y e br.f.T tf X - .... - .- 9 -7- -- _f 1 ---L_.L --- -7- j C : 1 A4.- M.C'I The Range of Projects 19. A number of specified projects have been identified that will evaluate specific types of countermeasure, some of which have already been carried out. Although the primary reason for some of the measures has been for traffic management or maintenance purposes rather than safety, the inclusion Of safety benefits could considerably enhance cost-benefit values obtained and mig7ht suggest further investment in the measures. 20. Figure 8 lists the various engineering countermeasures, both installed and projected, that it is planned to evaluate. Roundabouts 21. Following research by the TRRL, roundabouts have been wide ly introduced in recent years in the United Kingdom and Australia to solve both traffic management and road safety problems at junctions. In many Developing Countries, on the other hand, particularly in the Middle East and South East Asia, roundabouts, are being replaced by traffic lights. The failure of roundabouts in these countries can very frequently be attributed to the failure of. drivers to Give Way on entering the roundabouts. 22. From 1982 to 1986, six roundabouts were installed as traffic management/road safety countermeasures in PNG's National Capital District. These were installed at uncontrolled major/minor junctions that had both traffic management and road safety problems. The drivers' give way behaviour .was satisfactory and the roundabouts were generally regarded as being a successful innovation. As a result, five more roundabouts were recently constructed in Lae, the second largest city in PNG. Table 1 shows an analysis of the accident data so far accumulated for the roundabout sites in the NCD. It will be seen that generally the figures look encouragin and at all but one of the sites the number of accidents has dropped since' the roundabouts were installed, whereas accident frequencies at other junctions have remained much the same. 23. Figure 9 shows accident rates at two closely located junctions on a major urban arterial, Waigani Drive. The junctions are separated by less than 200m. They are encountered at the end, of a fast, dual carrageway, first the Cameron Road junction and then the Wards Road junction. The Wards Road roundabout was constructed in 1983 and the Camieron Road roundabout in 1986. 24. The Waigani/Cameron roundabout clearly increased accidents at that location during its first year (1986) but, at the same time, seems to have dropped accidents at the already existing, Wards/Waigani roundabout 200m down the road. The Waigani/Camecron roundabout, which was previously a T-junction, is encountered before the Wards/Waigani junction from the fast dual carriageway section, so it would appear that it now bears the brunt of the fast entry traffic. The accident types need to be Department of Transport/TFIRL CO-OPERATIVE ROAD SAFETY RESEARCH PROGRAMMVE £NFliNERING COUTRMEASURES UNDER EVALUATION * Location Date Installed Implementing Authority Roundabos-U Instlle * NCOD * NCOD NCOD 0 La * Lae * Lae. * Lae * Lae Waigani Drive/Wards Road Waigani Drive/Koura Way Waigani Drive/Goro Keaga Rd Angau Drive/Lahara Avenue Bisini Prde/Kaubbbe/Okari Waigani Drive/Cameron Rd Waigani Drive/Spring Garden (Gyratory) Central Avenue/9th St MilfordHaven Rd/Markham Rd Milford Haven Rd/Air Corps Rd Milford Haven Rcd/Malaita St Huon Rd/Bumbu Rd 1983 Aug 85 Sept 85 Dec 85 Dec 85 Feb 86 87 1985 Nov 88 Nov 88 Nov 88 Sept 88 NCD1C NCD1C NODIC NCDIC NCDIC NCDIC NDCM Lae City MorobeDoW/DoT MorobeDoW/DoT MorobeDoW/DoT Lae.City Roundabouts -Proiected * NCOD Hubert Murray Hwy/Scratchley Rd * NCOD Ela Beach Rd/Lawes Rd * Lae Milford Haven Rd/Huon Road * (NCOD Waigani Drive/John Guise Drive -under consideration NCD1C/DoT NCDIC/Dot Lae City NCD1C/DoT) Traffic Lichts -Proiected Re-timino * NCOD * NCOD a NCOD Hubert Murray Hwy/Taurama Rd/Wards Rd Hubert Murray Hwy/Boroko Drive (NBC) Hubert Murray Hwy/Waigani Drive NODIC/DoT NCD1C/DoT NCD1C/DoT Junction Improvements -implemented * Lae Butibumn Rd/Orion St * Lae Central Av/7th St * Lae Huon Rd/7th St nk Improvemnt ~- prjce NCOD Hubert Murrray Hwy: Scratchley Rd-Gorobe St * NOD Waigani Drive: John Guise Drive-Koura Way $ Goroko Highlan~ds Hwy: Mack'St- Brechin-St PeesranFotrige-insae * NCOD Hubert Murray Hwy (Turumu St) Peetra Fopah -istle * Goroko Highlands Highway 1986 NCD1C/DoT NCDIC/DoT -EHDOW/DoT NCD1C 1988/1989 EHDoW/DoT Pedestrian Barrier -proiected NCOD Hubert Murray Hwy:Taurama Rd-Lahara Av NCD1C/DoT ... .. ... .. ... .. .. .. 1985 1985 1988 Lae City Lae City Lae City Chevron Boards -Installed * Goroko Highlands Hwy (GKO-Kama]IWi CR) * NCD Baruni Coastai Rd Chevron 8oards -proiected * - Gusap Bridge, Ramu Highway Theed Reduction -projected rumble strips - * NCOD Walgani Drive/John Guise Drive * NCOD Diho Avenue Ane Dividers -Implemented Goroko Highlands Highway Jan 88 2~pntrpf Ronervations -Imolemented NCOD Hub Murray H-vq:Taurarna Rd-Okarl St 1987 * NOD Waigani Drive: Tomnu Piace-Koaffi St 1988 Q~mblng-La= NCOD Gavarnani Rd K:lnni- [Fine B~ridne -bar nattem * Umi River, HIghlands Highway . Gusap & Boro Rivers, Ramu Highway ~us Bays -Implemented NCOD and Lae .1988 Aug 89 EH~oW/DoT NCO0IC NCOIC NODIC MorobeDoW MorobeDoW/DoT 1984-1989 NCO1CP~ae CIty Fgur 8 (corrtinued) t U r e9. Jan 88 Sept 89 EHOoW/DoT NODIC/DoT NO~IC/DoT NO~iC/DoT Accidents at 2 iRoundabouts 20Gm. apart 1st installed 1983 - 2nd earlv 1986 15-............_ ....... ............ 0 'in~~1 .... .... .. ...... ...... ... . Wa~goniarc 19082 1 983 1984 1 985 i cib 1987 analysed to confirm. this. Figure 9 shows the apparent. crossover effect, with the combined data showing an overall decline in accidents. I Number of accidents per y~ea r Sites injury accidents Damage only accidents IBefore A ft er e o r e Aftte r 1 .Wa igan i Dr ive/Wards Road.I 2.0 0. 5 15. 0 I9.5 I 2. Wa igan i Dr ive/Cameron Road j 1. 0 I1. 5 j 9. 25 14. 0 3. Wa ig a ni Dr ive/Koura Way j 1. 25 I0. 5 1 1. 75 7- 70 4. Wa ig a ni Dr ive/Goro Keaga Read I 1. 25 1. 0 4. 25 I3.0 Is. Angau Dr ive/Lahara Avenue 1. 25 I0. 0 I 8. 5 6.0 ~6. Bisini Parade/Kaubebe Street j 0. 25 .0.5 J 2. 75 2.5 Average rates for 6 sites J L1 7 0. 67 8. 58 7. 0 TABLE 1 Accident rates per year at intersections before and after roundabouts were installed Rural Footpaths -Goroka 25. A major area of neglect throughout the Developing World is the provision of pedestrian footpaths alongside major rural high- ways. Onl some of these highways, large numbers of pedestrians can be observed but it is clear that highway designers have not taken their needs into consideration. Indeed, the authors know of no surveys that have ever been carried out to establish potential pedestrian needs when a major rural highway has been constructed or upgraded in a developing country. 26. The Highlands Hfighway in PNG is one such highway. It is the major rural highway of the country with very heavy pedestrian usage in the Highlands regions. Analyses of the accident data confirmed that rural pedestrian casualties were a major problem on the highway. One of the major blackspots was on the approaches to the Eastern Highland's Provicial Capital, Goroka. Pedestrians were making their own tracks in many places to get away from the traffic -in one extreme case, they were prepared to walk on slopes of 45 degrees to achieve this. In another case, pedestrians use embankment benching-as a footpath.. ('This could be, adopted as a formal design in many such situations). 27. As an initial trial, the Department of Transport is half- funding 13 kilometres of footpath, one metre wide, to be hand-dug alongside the drainage ditch from Goroka towards Asaro (Figure 10). Approximately 5 km has so far been constructed. It is generally being used by a large proportion of the pedestrians, but there remains a residual number who continue to walk alonga the highway itself. More studies of its use are required, particularly to establish whether its use is increasing or decreasing, and if decreasing, why this is so;- It may need to be widened 1 to handle the volumne of pedestrians or change long established habits .(Figure 1 1). Chevron Boards 28. Chevron boards have been erected so far on two accident- prone sections of rural highways containing difficult curves: (i) from Goroka to Kamaliki Creek on the Highlands Highway (Figure 12); and (ii) on the Buruni Coast Road in the National Capital District. Analyses of their effectiveness will have to wait a further twelve months for the 1988 accident data to be completed. Accident Blackspot at Gusap Bridge, Ramu Highway 29. From December 1988 to April 1989 there were three fatal accidents and several injury accidents at the Gusap and Bora River bridges; which are a short distance apart on the Ra'mu Highway some .3 knms from the Ramu Sugar factory. The road carries only about 200 vehicles/day. 30. The bridges, are on a recently sealed section of the Highway. This section of the road is very straight, and therefore fast, from Wataris to the Gusap Bridge, where the road then does a greater than 90 degree bend to cross the Gusap River -a classic accident producing situation. Before the beginning of the bend, there was a 40 kph speed Eimit sign at approximately 150m and a 'dangerous curves' symbolic warning sign at approximately 50m. There were no other advance warnings of the bends .nor any chevron boards at the bends. When first sealed, there were apparently more signs but a number were stolen. There is no background to the Gusap River bend, just open sky, which gives no visual clue to the approaching drivers. 31. Before the road was sealed, there were only a few accidents at the bridges; it has been. suggested that this was due to the large potholes on the approaches to the bridges. 32. The Ramu Sugar Company had constructed a temporary, unreflectorised, chevron board for erection at the Gusap River bend. Speed measurements made before and after its erection showed that this had little effct o.entry-,spe-eds to the bend. A serious night-time -accidenit occurred after its erection. Recently, a bar pattern (originally developed at TRRL) covering some lO0m has been painted on the road (see- Figure 13). Four reflectorised chevron boards will also be erected on the bend and the bar pattern extended to 200m before the bridge. Measurements of approach speeds following the installation of the chevron boards and bar pattern will be carried out in the near future and future accidents closely monitored. Eventually, it is planned to re-align the road in the vicinity of Gusap Bridge. This accident blackspot emphasises the need to anticipate potential new problems when a road is upgraded, and the need to "over-design" warnin~g devices to alert drivers of the impending problem. lo: -7. T j j W` -9 Y M. .G..OP6k Figwe 2 Oe Q a eris Q Cevrn Bard ercte onth !abigleastgw nar:tok f PIure 3 TRL ba patern n aproahl toG pBidg 33. If successful, it is planned to paint the TRRL bar pattern on the approaches to all single lane bridges on the Highlands Highway. GEOMETRIC DESIGN STANDARDS OF RURAL ROADS ANDI ACCIDENT RATES 3 4. The research Projects identified above 'have been concerned with accident reduction i.e. reducing existing accident problems. Research into the relationship between geometric design and road accidents is concerned with accident prevention through good design standards. 3. As indicated in paragraph 2, there has been very little research into the relationships between accident rates and the elements of geometric design in developing countries. An attempt will be made to establish the effects on accident rates of road width, shoulder width, horizontal and vertical curvature, gradient, sight distance and drainage ditch/side slope profile.. 3j6. Research began using the 1979 PNG Highway Inventory and the available accident data. This initial, research found that of the limited numnber of factors analysed, gradient was the one that most strongly correlated with accident rates (see Figure 14). 3 7. A survey of the Highlands Highway has just been carried out in a collaborative study between the TRRL, the Department of Transport and the Civil Engineering Department of the University of Technology, Lae, under Dr Chandran. The device shown in Figure 15 was specially developed for measuring side slope profiles. 38. A second project will evaluate the effects of the progressive sealing of the Highland Highway both, on traffic volumes and accident rates. 39 The deep concrete-surfaced drainage ditches just irn from the carniageway on the Highland Highway, particularly in the region of Goroka, are a cause for concern from a safety viewpoint, and a special study of these will be made. It is believed these are one of the significant factors contributing to the high incidence of single vehicle accidents (paragraph 14). ALCOHOL RESEARCH The Alcohol Roadside Survey 40. Drink and driving is undoubtedly a major problem in PNG (paragraph 14). The effects of alcohol are probably compounded by the effects of betal nut chewing. It is planned to establish a project in which the drivers of all injury and fatal accidents in the NCD) are requested on a voluntary basis to have an alcohol breath or blood test for a trial period. Over the same time period, roadside surveys of drivers' alcohol levels will Hcc~.iCjprnt R~ate Gradient vsKi l oin age * . ~~~. .... ... .. -.. ..4 H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~............ . ..... .. . . ..1 .... A . ... ..-. ............ Rers i nIaj s-1 ermr .3tand~~~~arel -1 P b.~~- --- A., .C, 33I ... ... ... . .... . ... .. . c~~~i ::::h ;y:~~~~~- be carried out using breathalysers, again on a voluntary basis. It is also hoped that the Port Moresby General Hospital wfi be able to collaborate in measuring the blood alcohol levels of road accident casualties. Attitude Survey 41. The Department of Transport with the support of the Department of Health has commissioned a national survey of 'Awareness of Alcochol Abuse in PNG', with particular reference to attitudes to drinking and driving. It was carried out by PNG-based consultants, First Market Research. 42. Two types of survey were carried out: (i) a qualitative survey involving informal discussion groups to explore ideas, attitudes and perceptions related to drinking; and (ii) a quantitative questionnaire survey using interviews in the home& in the street and at work. 43. The qualitative survey involved four groups of 8-10 participants in each of three contrasting areas of Papua New Guinea ie twelve discussion groups involving a total of about 100 people. The quantitative survey interviewed 200 people in each of the three areas. 44. The surveys were carried out with a view to the design of marketing0 material to be included in future road safety and anti-drink campaigns. The general conclusions relevant to this marketing approach w ere: (i) Women appear to be more concerned and are more motivated to prevent alcohol abuse than men. (ii) Women do not have the habitual drinking problems nor the social pressures associated with drinking to which men are subjected. (iii) Women are influential in changing behaviour, especially within the family. (iv) Younger people had more insight into and a greater fear of the consequences of alcohol than older people. (v) .Almost-.-all. drinkers .who. also drove indulged to a greater or lesser extent in drunk driving. (vi) There is a general consensus that drunk driving can be lethal and that the consequences are far reaching. (vii) There is a general consensus that the breathalyser should be introduced in PNG (viii) There is little or no perception of safe drink driving limits. (ix) There is a v ry distorted perception o how much;i takes to get drunk.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ SPECIAL STUDY: Injuiies to Passengers in the rear of Pick-ups- 45. As indicated in paragraph 14, a high proportion of injuries occur to the occupants of pick-ups in PNG. This is believed to be associated with the fact that very many passengers travel in the back of pick-ups, where they are thought to be very vulnerable. Table 2 compares the injurity severity of the occupants travelling inside the cab with that of passengers travelling in the open back of the pick-ups involved in accidents. TABLE 2 The severity of injuries in Pick-Up accidents 46. It can be seen from this table that, overall, 51% of casualties inside the vehicle were fatally or seriously injured whereas the figure was 64% for casualties outside (in the rear) of the vehicle. This is rather less an increase in severity than might have been expected given the apparent vulnerability of passengers in the rear. It could'be argued that if all rear passengers in pick-ups had been enclosed in the vehicle in 1987, 362 (51% of 710) rather than 457 passengers would have been killed or severely injured -' a saving, of 95, perhaps rather less than might have been hoped. This assumes that passengers in the rear of (enclosed) vehicles were as vulnerable as those at the front, which is not normally the case; thus, the saving would probably have been rather greater than 95. A small difference is seen for outside passengers comparing. the NCD) and Hlighlands provinces. 47. The comparison of Urban and Rural accidents in Table 2 shows that there was no difference in the severity of injuries for passengers outside. the vehicle (both 64%), again a rather surprising result, given the generally higher speeds Percentage of casualties who DIED or WERE HOSPITALISED Type of Pick-Up Inside Outside Accident Vehicle jVehicle .All 5 1% ( 320 /6 28) 64% (457/710) ~Urban 4 4% (67/151) 64% (68/106) Rural 52% (252/476) 64% (3A9/604) NCD 37% (17/46) 60% (25/42) HIGHLANDS 5 9% ( 14 4/2 45) 6 7% (245/368) Rollover 45% (101/225) 67% (204/305) Hit object off road 5 9% (76/129) 7 7% (101/131) Head On 58% (53/91) 47% (39/82) Rear End 57% (17/30) 50% (9/18) Right Angle 45% (18/40) 56% (10/18) Side Swipe 40% (22/55) 47% (37/78) of rural accidents. The expected increase in severity is, however, seen for casualties inside the vehicle.. 48. A comparison of the effects of various collision types on severity of injuries shows that 77% of outside passenger injuries were fatal or serious in 'hit object off road' collisions, and 67% in the case of 'rollover' accidents. It can be seen that for 'head on' and 'rear end' accidents, passengers inside the vehicle, presumably because they were at the front, were more severely injured than those outside the vehicle. CONCLUSIONS 49. The wide range of schemes that have been or are being implemented has been listed in Figure 8. These schemes, combined with the availability of sound historical accident data provide an invaluable opportunity for research. 50. At this point in. time, the research prog ramme is reaching the half-way stage. Many of the accident remedial measures have only recently been implemented and others are yet to come. It is therefore too early to present general conclusions relating to the effectiveness or otherwise of the countermeasures. However, in the case of roundabouts, evidence is presented which suggests that they have been effective in reducing, accidents. 51. One of the first activities under the research programme was the preparation and publication of the report "Road Accidents Papua New Guinea 1987". This has made a significant contribution to understanding the nature of the road safety problem in Papua New Guinea. It has provided a sound base on which to plan the -future road safety programme and has suggested areas on which research is required e.g. the special study on the injuries to passengers in the rear of pick-ups. 52. This report also highlighted the fact that 75% of all in- juries are the result of accidents involving only one vehicle and this has already lead to fur-ther investigative work in this area. Some aspects of these accidents e.g. overloading of open pick-ups, pedestrian involvement and drink-driving have been selected for presentation on commercial TV as programme fillers as part of a' general road safety education programme. 53. The survey of the Highlands Highway, as part of the geometric design study, has only just been completed (at the time of writifig) and the data remain to be analysed. However, the survey has already been useful in terms of developing quick, easy and accurate methods of measurement. over an extensive survey site (500 kms at lkmn intervals). 54. A good start has been made to the alcohol research with the two surveys already carried out. As well as identifying the best approach for future publicity campaigns on alcohol abuse, the quantitative results together with the additional surveys planned could lead to a better understanding of the drink-driving problem and the development of appropriate countermeasures. ... .. ....... ..~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I 551 Special studies planned for the future include the application of the TRRIL bar pattern to the approaches of all one-lane bridges on the Highlands Highway, the introduction of parking bays on the Highway and trials with high skid-resistance surfaces in the National Capital Distfict. REFERENCES DOWNING, A.J. and SAYER, I. (1982). A prelim 'inary study of childrens' road crossing knowledge in 3 Developing Countries. TRRL, Supplementary Report 771. Crowthome: Transport and Road Research Laboratory.' I{ILLS, B.L. and ELLIOTT, G.J. (1986). A microcomputer accident analysis packag~e and its use in Developing Countries. Indian Road Congress Road Safety Seminar, Srinagar. HILLS, B.L.. and JACOBS, G.D. (1980). The application of road safety countermeasures in Developing Countries. Traffic Engineering & Control, 22(8/9), 464-8 HILLS, B.L. and YERRELL, J.S. (1988). Accident black-spot investigation in Developing Countries. International Road and Traffic Conference, Berlin. JACOBS, G.D. (1976). A study of accident rates on rural roads in Developing Countries. TRRL, Laboratory Report 732. Crowthorne: Transport and Road Research Laboratory. JACOBS, G. D. and SAYER, I. (1983). Road accidents in Developing Countries. Accid Anal & Prey 15(5) pp. 3 37-353 ACKNOWLED GEMENTS The work described in this paper forms part of the programme of the Transport and Road Research Laboratory, United Kingdom, and the paper is published by permission of the Director. It also forms part of the research programme of the Department of Transport, Papua New Guinea and is published by permission of the Secretary. Crown Copyright. The, views expressed in this paper are not necessarily those of the Department of Transport, United Kingdom or the Department of Transport, Papua New Guinea.' Extracts from the text may be reproduced, except for commercial purposes, provided the source is acknowledged.