About Us

Who

The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is a registered charity dedicated to saving lives through safer roads. Our vision is a world free of high risk roads.

iRAP works in partnership with government and non-government organisations to:

• inspect high-risk roads and develop Star Ratings and Safer Roads Investment Plans
• provide training, technology and support that will build and sustain national, regional and local capability
• track road safety performance so that funding agencies can assess the benefits of their investments.

Road Assessment Programmes (RAP) are now active in more than 60 countries throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, North, Central and South America and Africa. iRAP is the umbrella organisation for EuroRAP, AusRAP, KiwiRAP and usRAP.

Why

Every day, more than 3,500 people are killed in road crashes worldwide; 137,000 more are injured or disabled.

Road trauma is a serious and rapidly worsening public health crisis. It affects developing countries in particular, where nine out of 10 road deaths and injuries occur. Worldwide, road crashes are the leading cause of death for young people aged 10 - 24 and a global killer on the scale of malaria or tuberculosis.

In addition to the grief caused by road trauma, road crashes are often a factor responsible for tipping a household into financial distress. The loss of a wage-earner due to death or disability can be disastrous, leading a family into lower living standards and poverty.

As part of a systematic approach to road safety, involving safer road use, safer vehicles and safer roads, iRAP can help address this crisis and save thousands of lives.

How

Road death and injury is preventable.

Simple, affordable improvements to road infrastructure have the power to dramatically reduce both the risk of crashes occurring and their severity.

By investing in life-saving features like sealed shoulders, footpaths, safety barriers and traffic signals, high-risk roads can be made more forgiving – they can be made safe.

iRAP’s systematic approach helps make roads safe for car occupants, motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians. iRAP Safer Roads Investment Plans in South Africa, Malaysia, Chile and Costa Rica have identified opportunities to prevent 73,000 road crash deaths and injuries and save US$7 billion.