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- Substantial progress has been made in improving the sustainability of transport in Europe in a number of areas and is reported in this paper. Nevertheless there remain important problems and challenges: - unsustainable rates of traffic growth, locally and in some cases at regional or international scales; - sometimes severe noise, severance and intimidation nuisances from traffic in built up areas; - persistent growth in emissions of greenhouse gases from road and air transport; - poor air quality in specific locations despite major improvements in vehicle emissions controls; - destruction and fragmentation of protected landscapes and habitats. - The European Conference of Ministers of Transport is working to improve policies and move towards solutions in many of these areas. This free brochure sets out a common approach to working towards sustainable transport systems endorsed by Ministers from ECMT’s Member and Associate countries at their Council meeting in Prague in May 2000. It is a summary of a number of detailed reports which are currently being prepared for publication.
Environmental impact assessments are an essential component of making decisions on transport infrastructure investments. Traditional procedures have proved ineffective for impacts that go beyond the scope of projects in isolation. Strategic environmental assessment has emerged in response, to address large scale effects including impacts on traffic across networks, impacts on climate change and biodiversity and the impacts of policy decisions as opposed simply to individual projects. This report examines recent experience in developing environmental assessment internationally and makes recommendations on maximising the effectiveness of this new tool.
For some years now, short sea shipping (SSS) has benefited from a number of government initiatives aimed at promoting its development. The aim has been to promote a more balanced modal split in transport in Europe while also reducing the impact of transport on the environment, ensuring greater European cohesion and promoting a sustainable transport system. Up to now, SSS has aroused interest at policy level mainly as an alternative to road transport, the predominant mode in Europe. Yet, is SSS only an alternative to road transport? Can it be seen as a separate component of an integrated transport network in its own right? This book shows what role SSS can play in the context of modal complementarity and what challenges European policy makers will be presented with.
How can we meet the needs of today without diminishing the capacity of future generations to meet theirs? This is the central question posed by "sustainable development". OECD countries committed themselves to sustainable development at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio, yet - almost ten years later - progress accomplished remains partial and uneven. Drawing on analysis carried forward in response to a mandate from OECD Ministers in 1998, this report stresses the urgency to address some of the most pressing challenges for sustainable development. It reviews the conceptual foundations of sustainable development, its measurement, and the institutional reforms needed to make it operational. It then discusses how international trade and investment, as well as development co-operation, can contribute to sustainable development on a global basis, and reviews the experience of OECD countries in using market-based, regulatory and technology policies to reach sustainability goals in a cost-effective way. The report also provides an in-depth analysis of policies designed to address key threats to sustainability in the areas of climate change and natural resource management, as well as of those that respond to sustainability concerns at the sectoral and sub-national level. The common thrust of the report is that substantial opportunities exist to make economic growth, environmental protection, and social development mutually reinforcing.
A serious incident involving dangerous goods in a tunnel can be extremely costly in terms of loss of human lives, environmental degradation, tunnel damage and transport disruption. On the other hand, needlessly banning dangerous goods from tunnels may create unjustified economic costs. Moreover, such a ban might force operators to use more dangerous routes, such as densely populated areas, and thus increase the overall risk. This report proposes regulations and procedures to increase the safety and efficiency of transporting dangerous goods through road tunnels. It introduces two models, developed as part of the study: the first quantifies the risks involved in transporting dangerous goods through tunnels and by road; the second, a decision-support model, assists in the determination of the restrictions which need to be applied to the transport of dangerous goods through tunnels. Finally, measures to reduce both the risks and the consequences of incidents in tunnels are examined in detail.
Approximately 125 000 people die every year on the roads of OECD countries. In other words, one road crash victim dies every four minutes. The real tragedy is that, to a large extent, these crashes and the resultant deaths and injuries could be prevented.
This report identifies and assesses "best practices" among road safety programmes in OECD countries. Emphasis is placed on those programmes that have been evaluated. In addition, the underlying criteria that influence the success or failure of these "best practices" are identified to facilitate the development of effective road safety policies in Member countries.
What are the measures and strategies already taken by OECD countries to reduce or stabilise greenhouse gases from road transport? What frameworks exist to evaluate the impact and efficiency of these measures and strategies? And how effective are they?
With the continued growth forecast in car ownership and distance travelled, what are the expected trends in CO2 emissions and their consequences for the potential achievement of the Kyoto Protocol? What models are available to predict the level of CO2 emissions? Are they useful?
This report, which has been prepared by an OECD Working Group, uses a number of illustrative and pragmatic cases to provide important insights into these major questions.
The idea of organising a seminar came from a presentation by a Swedish representative of the "Vision Zero" programme. The basic idea of "Vision Zero" is that no person should be killed or seriously and permanently impaired in a road traffic accident. At the invitation of the Czech authorities, the seminar was held in March 2002 in Prague. Many governmental and non-governmental organisations responsible for road safety policies and work participated in the event.
This publication is a complete collection of the papers presented at the workshop on "Pan-European Co-operation towards Strong Inland Waterway Transport: On the Move" held in Paris on 22 and 23 September 2005. The purpose of the workshop was to establish what progress had been made since the Pan-European Conference on Inland Waterways in Rotterdam in 2001 in preparation for the Bucharest Ministerial Conference, scheduled for September 2006. The papers focus essentially on the development of the inland waterway market in a pan-European context, conditions of competition, infrastructure development and the environment. A summary of the discussions at the workshop and its conclusions are also given. The workshop was jointly organised by the ECMT, UNECE, the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine and the Danube Commission.
Speeding is the number one road safety problem in a large number of OECD/ECMT countries. It is responsible for around one third of the current, unacceptably high levels of road fatalities. Speeding has an impact not only on accidents but also on the environment, energy consumption and quality of life, particularly for residents in urban areas.
Reducing average speeds on the roads by only 5% will save around 20% of current fatalities. There is good experience available on how to quickly reduce the extent of speeding and thereby reduce current fatalities and injuries. Reduced speeding will also reduce the adverse environmental and social impacts associated with excessive speed, particularly in urban areas.
Comprehensive measures are required which are best developed as part of a coordinated speed management policy package. What contributions can be made by infrastructure improvements, speed limits, signing and education, as well as by enforcement? Which are the most cost-effective elements of a speed management policy? What are the prospects for the use of new technologies which encourage drivers to choose appropriate speeds and assist in achieving greater compliance with speed limits?
This Report, prepared by a Working Group of the Joint OECD/ECMT Transport Research Centre, addresses the key issues, highlights the improvements in policy and operations needed to reduce the extent of speeding. It outlines a framework for achieving the best possible safety outcomes while protecting the environment and supporting sustainable mobility. The report is compelling reading for all those interested in addressing the major speed-related problems that are widespread in OECD/ECMT member countries and will become increasingly important in developing countries as levels of motorisation increase.
Does deregulation reduce rail safety? Many countries have envisaged or implemented pro-competitive regulatory reforms of their rail sectors. Concerns have been voiced regarding the impact of these reforms on rail safety performance, especially in cases of reforms that have privatised or deregulated state ownership and control of railways. This report addresses these concerns with a detailed investigation of pre- and post-reform rail safety data in countries where complete and comparable data exists.
Governments around the world are increasingly intervening in automobile markets to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions of CO2 from new vehicles. This report reviews the rationale for such intervention and examines measures for maximum effectiveness and minimum cost.
The Round Table brought together economists, policy makers and auto engineers with the aim of advancing understanding of why car markets currently fail to deliver sufficient fuel economy. It started by questioning whether any additional measures would be necessary once an appropriate price for carbon dioxide is established via fuel taxes. It confirmed that there are indeed market imperfections that merit additional government intervention. Fuel economy and CO2 regulations are an essential part of the package. The key to maximising the benefits of such regulations is long-term planning. The longer the timeframe, the less industry investment is handicapped by uncertainty.
Subsidies to electric vehicles are more problematic because of the risks of prematurely picking winning technologies and creating subsidy dependence. And electricity production has yet to be decarbonised. However, intervention to steer innovation in this direction is merited so long as the risks of not attaining climate policy targets are seen as higher than the risks of intervention.
Each year about 1.3 million people are killed and another 50 million people are injured on roads worldwide. These road crashes cost countries between 1 and 3 percent of their GDP. Many of these crashes can be prevented by effective countermeasures. This report helps identify the most effective safety countermeasures.
Policy makers need to justify expenditure on road safety in terms of effectiveness, competing for the scarce resources available. The risk of making poor decisions and the cost of making better decisions can be reduced by the use of reliable studies on how effective safety measures are, based on Crash Modification Functions (CMFs). This report shows that there is a prospect for significant advances and major cost savings through the transfer of results internationally, allowing for more rapid adoption and dissemination of new life-saving safety measures.
The report serves as a guide to how research results can be shared internationally. It provides checklist for systematic review of road safety studies and a framework for standardising methodology.
The report targets the road safety research community but will also find an audience among policy makers at all levels of government. The report highlights the value of Crash Modification Functions and the importance of ensuring practicioners use the best CMFs available.
The OECD Secretary-General's annual report to ministers covers the OECD’s 2017 activities and some 2018 highlights. It includes the Secretary-General's activities and those of his office, the OECD’s horizontal programmes and directorate activities, as well as the activities of its agencies, special entities and advisory committees.
For more than 50 years, the OECD has sought to promote better policies for better lives in almost all areas of policy making and implementation through co-operation, dialogue, consensus and peer review. The OECD is one of the world’s largest and most trusted sources of comparable statistical data on economics, trade, employment, education, health, social issues, migration, the environment, and many other fields.
This document aims to support cities in setting road safety targets and to monitor progress in improving urban road safety. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists account for nearly 80% of urban traffic fatalities. Cities should thus intensify efforts to improve the safety of vulnerable road users. This document presents traffic safety indicators for different road user groups collected in 31 cities to facilitate the evaluation, monitoring and benchmarking of road safety outcomes. It places a particular attention on measuring the risk of fatality per unit distance travelled.
Safety Management Systems (SMS) helps managers better monitor and understand the safety performance of their organisation. Increasingly prevalent in the past two decades, SMS provide a rigorous framework for analysing hazards and controlling risks.
This report reviews the history and the workings of SMS and addresses the role of the regulator in an SMS environment. It discusses how to overcome obstacles to SMS implementation, introduces resilience engineering as a way to measure the effectiveness of SMS and finally examines how accident investigations can help address deficiencies in the SMS. Many of the concepts and notions brought forward in this report apply equally to all modes of transport as well as any industry that operates with inherent hazards that can lead to safety risks.
This report considers the innovative use of existing infrastructure and the adoption of emerging digital technologies to optimise the use of road capacity. It focuses on using big data to identify the traffic bottlenecks in real-time and manage peak demand with innovative measures at the local and network levels. The report examines the effectiveness and efficiency of a range of instruments for active traffic demand management and also considers application issues. It includes a review of the latest road pricing technologies used in several Asian cities.