by: Mario Ledierman
M.J. Ledierman & Associates
There many topics to add to the road safety activities of the IRF but one of the most important issues from my point of view, and considering the experience I have on the road network in most of the Latin American countries, is the lack of standards to use for the geometric design of a highway or in many cases to avoid minimum standards related with road traffic safety.
That issue is not only a problem in most of the Latin American countries. It is also a problem in the USA and many countries of the "first world".
There are AASTHO´s standards regarding the width of shoulders (depending on the number of lanes in each direction), etc. So why don’t the geometric design engineers follow those standards?
There are many cases in which the problem of widening a road in terms of lanes would sacrifice the width of the shoulders. I believe it is more important to have a road with right and left shoulders keeping the width in each case depending on the number of lanes in each direction.
I have seen same problem in toll roads (access to the city of Buenos Aires) and in a freeway from La Guardia Airport to the City of N.Y.
What is more important – a wider road or a safer road?
As an example: two young boys were killed in a traffic accident on one of the toll roads in Argentina a few months ago. Their car experienced some mechanical failures and they had to stop the car on the left lane of the highway because there was no shoulder. Before the driver could alert the following drivers, a car crashed into the back of the stopped vehicle.
Who is responsible? The highway department that authorized the design? The professional engineer who did the design? The concessionaire, who without caring about safety, built the road without a left shoulder? Or the economical reasons to increase the amount of tolls and to keep the road at an acceptable traffic level?
Same thing applies to many roads in the USA and around the world.
Are we going to accept such things?
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