<div>Multimodalism,road traffic environment redesign i.e integration of speed breakers,humps,enforcement at all time, not during festive seasons only are feasible solution to reduction of road carnage in Nigeria.Eric! thanks a lot for this piece.</div> <div>Regards,</div> <div>JOSHUA ODELEYE</div> <div>NIGERIAN INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY</div> <div>ZARIA,NIGERIA. sustran-discuss-request@list.jca.apc.org wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Send Sustran-discuss mailing list submissions to sustran-discuss@list.jca.apc.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to sustran-discuss-request@list.jca.apc.org You can reach the person managing the list at sustran-discuss-owner@list.jca.apc.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Sustran-discuss digest..." ######################################################################## Sustran-discuss Mailing List Digest IMPORTANT NOTE: When replying please do not include the whole digest in your reply - just include the relevant part of the specific message that you are responding to. Many thanks. About this mailing list see: http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss ######################################################################## Today's Topics: 1. - India Pune should focus on public transport (eric.britton@free.fr) 2. Nigeria -- How to Curb the Menace of Road Accidents (eric.britton@free.fr) 3. Re: Pune First City in India to have BRT System (Alan Howes) 4. New documents : Benin - NMT, Germany - street paving (Robert Bartlett) 5. VTPI News - Autumn 2006 (Todd Alexander Litman) 6. Manila / China / Bangladesh / Ho Chi Minh City rail projects (Todd Edelman) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:58:16 +0100 From: <ERIC.BRITTON@FREE.FR> Subject: [sustran] - India Pune should focus on public transport To: <SUSTRAN-DISCUSS@JCA.APC.ORG>, <KYOTOWORLDCITIES@YAHOOGROUPS.COM> Message-ID: <!~!AAAAAF/CWy35gYVKp0eiuTHNUZFEYyQB@free.fr> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Pune should focus on public transport: study Friday, December 15, 2006 http://www.indiaenews.com/business/20061215/32637.htm Asian cities like Pune need to give priority to public transport that meets their economic requirements rather than accommodating more vehicles, says a new study backed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). 'In many cases, the emphasis has been on adding roads or building high cost systems such as rail-based metros at the expense of more environmentally sustainable modes such as non-motorised transport and lower-cost bus systems,' says the study 'Sustainable Urban Transport in Asia' made available Friday. The result is high level of pollution, says the research carried out by the Partnership for Sustainable Urban Transport in Asia (PSUTA), a pilot programme of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia). The study was funded by the Swedish International Development Agency and the Shell Foundation through ADB, and the World Resources Institute's Center for Transport and the Environment. Done in partnership with three Asian cities (Hanoi in Vietnam, Pune in India, and Xi'an in China), the study is aimed at helping decision makers better understand the long term viability of the urban transport systems and develop more structured approaches to policy making. 'The air pollution from motor vehicles is particularly serious in Pune but also bad in Xi'an and in Hanoi, because roughly 50-70 percent of all trips in these cities are made on foot or by two or three-wheeled vehicles. Exposure of a majority of people to direct emissions from motor vehicles is a problem,' the study states. 'Vehicle fleets are doubling every five-seven years,' Bindu Lohani, director general of ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department, is quoted in the study as saying. 'Poor road safety, increased congestion and air pollution not only negatively affect the quality of life but also carry large economic and social costs. 'An effective and sustainable transport system for people and goods is a prerequisite for sustainable economic growth.' The study developed a set of indicators for each of the three cities, including access, safety, environment, economic and social sustainability, and governance. The project found that based on these indicators, passenger transport is heading in unsustainable directions in all three cities. 'This is because the number of individual vehicles is growing more rapidly than public or private forces can accommodate them and is slowing all traffic,' the report says. 'Traffic deaths are low relative to population, but high relative to distances travelled. Average speeds are low, except in the outlying regions of cities, but there the high speeds lead to greater traffic deaths.' -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 5848 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20061219/1fe6f038/winmail-0001.bin ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 17:47:35 +0100 From: <ERIC.BRITTON@FREE.FR> Subject: [sustran] Nigeria -- How to Curb the Menace of Road Accidents To: <SUSTRAN-DISCUSS@JCA.APC.ORG> Message-ID: <!~!AAAAAF/CWy35gYVKp0eiuTHNUZHkMyQB@free.fr> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Joyful Season Tidings Note: I love it when folks who write on and on about all these various aspects of sustainability and social justice use the magic problem-solving words: "should", for example which appears ten times in this text. We, innocent sheep that we are, should do this, should do that. Course good words like "Stakeholders" and that great one "experts" all help to solve the problems. Eh? (And oh yes, PS: this is not a putdown of our Nigerian friends. It is a put down of the whole mess of which we here are apparently part. So now what? Eric Britton How to Curb the Menace of Road Accidents Despite consistent efforts at checking the frightening dimension road accidents have assumed in the country lately, statistics show that the figures on fatalities are still on the upward swing. A study by Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Limited (SPDC) shows the need to change approach into bringing all stakeholders into the efforts, writes Ahamefula Ogbu http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=66063 Penultimate week, there was a gathering of all strata of authorities on road usage at the Presidential Hotel Port Harcourt where brainstorming was done on the way out of the huge losses that attends road accidents in the country. After a careful evaluation of past efforts by the stakeholders, it was discovered that there was need to have a slight change in approach to the issue. Initially, most efforts were geared towards enlightenment campaigns which many have consigned to the usual rhetoric and therefore thrown into the waste basket of time while continuing life on the roads as usual. The above may have necessitated the need for them to change approach having at the back of their minds that there were constants in the problem which could on basic adjustments, achieve more than all efforts put into the scheme before. That is the human factor which has high level of inputs on any of the stoppers openly or remotely connected to road traffic. As the deputy managing director of SPDC, Mr. Mark Corner noted at the Road Transport Stakeholders Workshop with theme, "Taking safety on Nigerian roads to a higher level", reported accidents on Nigerian roads in the past 17 years show that 111,049 lives were lost while no fewer than 278,673 sustained injuries from such mishaps. He also pointed out that there were indicators from world bodies like the World Bank report on road accidents that by 2010, road accidents would have taken over as the leading cause of deaths in the world. It may, unless proper precaution was taken, account for more loss of lives than wars, malaria and the dreaded Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The frightening thing about the statistics of deaths on the road is that developing countries account for more than 90 percent of the total annual deaths of 1.2million in road accidents in the world. Corner noted that breaking down the statistics meant that a death by road accident occurs every 30 seconds. Taking the matter home, the fact that the rail system has long packed up while marine transport except where there were no alternatives remain undeveloped, added to the high cost of air freighting in a prostrate economy, the Nigerian economy has depended on road haulage for most of its bulk movement of goods and passengers. "In Nigeria for instance, the roads account for more than 98 percent of the haulage and about 96 percent of passenger traffic. By expert opinions, Nigerian roads contribute to 95 percent of goods and services and compared to the volume of traffic, the network of surfaced roads is low and there is desperate shortage of four-lane highways that can accommodate the heavy volumes of traffic. This also negatively impacts on good road safety performance", he said. Corner said the need for all stakeholders to brainstorm and arrive at the way out was predicated on the need for road users to "Arrive Alive" in consonance with the theme of their 2006 road safety week, adding that reasoned suggestions, learning on best practices as well as working on basic infrastructure which have high human inputs would mark the beginning of a way out of the problem. Presenting his keynote address, Rivers State Commissioner for Transport, Chief Gloria Emeh said the high dependence on road transportation in the country accounted for the over-congestion and extreme pressure exerted on the facilities, which in turn, increases accident rates. He noted that the introduction of commercial motorcycles as a mode of transportation has worsened the problem in Nigerian cities, adding that the sad aspect of the scenario was that most of the accidents happen in avoidable circumstances. "We believe that accidents do not just happen. They are caused. We have therefore identified three major causes of accidents in the Niger Delta in particular and Nigeria as a whole, which this workshop should deliberate upon. They are: topographical factors, mechanical factor and human factor", he pointed out. Emeh who was represented at the occasion by Permanent Secretary in his Ministry, Mrs. Esther Anucha said the natural endowments of the region have caused a population explosion which in turn, strains all utilities. He further observed that the constant use of heavy duty vehicles by oil and gas companies damages the roads and added to constant heavy down pour which lasts for between nine to 10 months yearly; roads were either washed away or damaged. Commenting on human factors in causing road accidents, Emeh said, "disobedience to traffic rules/ regulations, careless driving, use of cell phones and other distractions while driving, excessive speeding, non use of seat belts and crash helmets for motor-cycle drivers" were most prominent among others. The corporate health, safety and environment (HSE) manager of SPDC, Mr. Austen Ezebuilo described the 7,000 deaths per annum in Nigeria through road accidents as unacceptable and stressed the need for everybody involved in making the road safe to take up their own parts and immediately ensure that compliance level to road traffic laws and regulations were enforced. "However, even with the best of policies, very little could be achieved in our aspiration for safer road transportation and reduced fatalities, if we fail to address the absence of strong culture of compliance. In doing this, it is important to reflect on some transportation safety blockers. These include excessive speeding, poor or non-application of standards and laws, as well as inadequate road vehicular maintenance", he pointed out. Presentation by experts drawn from various organizations like the Federal Road Safety Corps and transport division of companies brought the issues more into focus with more emphasis on predictability of carnages from collated data over time. Mr. Charles Abocchi, the deputy corps commander who stood in for his boss, Commander Hamisu Haruna in the " Five-year National Road Traffic Accidents Trend" said that from statistics, most people involved in road accidents were those within the productive years which flushes their economic contribution to the economy of 2.5 of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) down the drains. Abocchi said that there was a decline in the rate of accidents in 2005 because of the stakeholders intervention approach, pointing out that they had to take the campaign to tyre manufacturers when they noticed that most of the accidents were being caused by frequent tyre bursts while at the same time partnering with the all organized bodies in the road transport sector. He however pointed out that the reduced night travels owing to their campaigns as well as sensitization accounted for the drastic reduction in carnage but called for more stringent legislations that would be strictly enforced for the trend of reduced accidents to be sustained. The FRSC boss however regretted that his organization still lacks funds to properly discharge their functions as ambulances, patrol vehicles, communication equipment, construction of road side clinics and help areas were still lacking. This is added to high level of assault cases on their officers by powerful people in the society. Among his opinions on the way forward was that bad roads should be fixed and road signs provided, education on road uses as well as a multi-sectoral approach to the road safety administration in the country. Chief Chris Adigbo, National President of the Nigerian Institute of Safety Professionals defined road transport safety show-stoppers as "those things/incidents which do not enable or engender effective performance in road transport business activities and identified them as road designs, construction, maintenance, legal requirements/enforcements, vehicle owners/operators, vehicle standards/maintenance, drivers, journey management system and night driving /journeys. Adigbo insisted that roads in the country were often not designed with safety in mind which manifests in lack of vehicle and pedestrian separation. Such designs he continued, were without road signs, zebra crossings and lighting while on the other hand, rather than being economically considered, were designed with political consideration in mind. Adigbo submitted that if the issues though not exhausted were addressed, there would be a drastic reduction in the statistics of accidents as well as good culture of transportation on the Nigerian roads. Head of Safety in SPDC, Mr. Chris Onwudinjo in justifying the programme said that they have always trained and retrained their own staff on the basis of their postulation for safety on roads and had to take the campaign to those external publics to the oil company. Also contributing to the debate, Mr. Maxwell Egwugwu, head of transport safety in SPDC said the issue of transportation safety has to be taken seriously going by the number of people killed or injured in sometimes, avoidable circumstances. He also posited that if all road users know what was expected of them to do and do them, the problem would be half solved. Contributors to the programme in question and answer sessions dwelt on weak enforcement of the traffic laws while they also agreed that there was need for more legislations to address issues hitherto not thought of in the transport sector. Road contracts they said should be carried out by competent contractors who have to carry out the necessary tests while designs should provide all necessary signs. Also, they called on the National Assembly to make stringent laws to cover perceived legal loopholes while the Standards Organization of Nigeria and Customs should check influx of substandard vehicles and spare parts into the country. They advocated the ban of fairly used tyres and granting of incentives to local manufacturers as well as the establishment of mechanic villages and standard workshops which would enforce maintenance charts on road users. Rewards they said should be given to good and responsible drivers, constant reviews of laws made and awareness campaigns on them mounted. Also government drivers should be trained, road blocks abolished while enforcement against bad convoy and bullion vans driving should be enforced strictly as they pose dangers to other road users. On Okada riders whose attitude from film clips were the same all over the world, it was suggested that training, insistence on life assurance policies, subsidizing cost of crash helmets, immediate stop of use of touts by local authorities to collect tolls and hound cyclists, compulsory registration in a recognized union of proper identification should be enforced. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 12672 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20061219/5077bf5e/winmail-0001.bin ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:06:58 -0000 From: "Alan Howes" <ALAN.HOWES@CBUCHANAN.CO.UK> Subject: [sustran] Re: Pune First City in India to have BRT System To: "Global 'South' Sustainable Transport" <SUSTRAN-DISCUSS@LIST.JCA.APC.ORG> Message-ID: <324DCD7680954F468CF306EE5404F00103120F4D@mail01.cbuchanan.co.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" So what is the latest news on this? Has operation resumed? -- Alan Howes Associate Transport Planner Colin Buchanan 4 St Colme Street Edinburgh EH3 6AA Scotland email: alan.howes@cbuchanan.co.uk <mailto:alan.howes@cbuchanan.co.uk> tel: (0)131 226 4693 (switchboard) (0)7952 464335 (mobile) fax: (0)131 220 0232 www: http:/www.cbuchanan.co.uk/ ________________________________ From: sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk@list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+alan.howes=cbuchanan.co.uk@list.jca.apc. org] On Behalf Of Sujit Patwardhan Sent: 04 December 2006 20:09 To: SUSTRAN Asia and Pacific Sustainable Transport Subject: [sustran] Pune First City in India to have BRT System 4 December 2006 Friends in SUSTRAN, You will be happy to know that Pune inaugurated its BRT System on 3 December 2006, one day short of two years from the date on which Enrique Penalosa made a landmark presentation at a public meeting jointly organized by PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) and PTTF (Pune Traffic & Transportation Forum) on 4 December 2004 at the Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, Pune. Pune becomes the first city in India to start BRT, on what still is an incomplete Pilot corridor of about 12.5 Kilometers. As enthusiastic supporters of BRT in Pune we have also been concerned about the hasty way in which projects get implemented without proper attention to detail. Yesterday's inauguration at the hands of the Union Urban Development Minister Mr Jaipal Reddy was also an example of this - largely a political affair with the ruling Congress Party rushing to get the project off the ground in time to beat the political deadline set by the oncoming elections to the Local Civic body. Under the election rules no new projects can be announced after the set date which is about 2 months from the date of polling. We are therefore treading cautiously and pressing the authorities to attend to important components of the project to ensure that by the time the full corridor becomes operational it will be a big success and win support from citizens. There are plans for implementing BRT in a phased manner on major roads stretching over 100 Kms throughout the city. Dr Geetam Tiwari and Dr Dinesh Mohan from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), New Delhi, have played a key role in designing the Pilot project. Dr Nitin Kareer the Municipal Commissioner also deserves credit for having initiated the BRT project despite absence of political support. Although we as a local NGO have ongoing arguments with him and his officers, we acknowledge that without his backing BRT would have remained merely an idea discussed at transportation seminars. In the coming weeks we hope to post photographs and articles on Pune's === message truncated ===</BLOCKQUOTE> </mailto:alan.howes@cbuchanan.co.uk> __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com