Department of Road Design (O37)

Department of road design focuses particularly on improving road safety from the viewpoint of the arrangement of road infrastructure. We participate in production of technical regulations and design of changes in legislation, particularly in terms of improved safety.

Improving road network safety is one the three remedial measures to reduce the number of road accidents in the Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030. In recent years the number of pedestrian accidents has been growing as well as the share of car transport on roads. This needs to be reflected in infrastructure changes so that the current needs of the society were answered.

Furthermore, we deal with the issue of improving safety on level crossings and rail trespassing. In relation to changing the needs of the society and certain types of high risk sites, the research of this issue will be directed towards assessment suitability of some procedures specified in regulations and in relation to e.g. traffic offences. They are often caused by unsuitable arrangement of the infrastructure (e.g. use of direction lights) or by driver information overload. Inadequately designed space may also cause wrong behaviour of pedestrians and cyclists. When designing update of regulations, it is necessary to take into account new means of transport, particularly in urban areas, e.g. electric bicycles, Segway or electroboards.

For a long time we have been monitoring safety performance indicators, which are often used by regional and local strategies. Their collection and analyses are also used for evaluation of the National Road Safety Strategy.

In the field of safe infrastructure at the international level we cooperate with organizations ETSC and FERSI. In 2018 we devised a revision of directive 2008/96/EC on road infrastructure safety management. In previous years we designed procedures for application of the tools of this directive in the Czech Republic and perform the follow-up research and expert activities.

Research and development follows current trends in road transport in the Czech Republic and worldwide regarding traffic calming principles, improvement of safety of individual road users, and changes of traffic organization according to current requirements (creating parking places, cycle lanes and paths, etc.). We have performed or participated in a range of R&D projects, e.g.:

IDEKO – Identification and Treatment of High Risk Sites and Road Segments on Road Network that Stimulate, by their arrangement, Illegal Behaviour or Misconduct of Road Users
ARIANA – Research of Drivers’ Motivation to Breaking Rules at Railway Level Crossings and Research of Further Uses of Camera Systems for Prevention and Repression
AMELIA – Research of Conditions and Design of Measures to Reduce the Number and Mitigate Consequences of Unauthorized Entries of Pedestrians on Railway Tracks
EFEKTIV – Research of Effectiveness of Suitable Treatment of Large Junctions with the use of Analyses of Traffic-engineering Parameters
DATO – Extension of Data Base for Decision-making on Campaign Policies to Reduce Number of Road Accidents
CHODCI – Research of New Approaches to Protection of Pedestrians, Solutions to Vehicle Collisions with Moving Pedestrian Figure
SOLUTIONS – Sharing Opportunities for Low Carbon Urban TransportaTION
PEPPER – Police Enforcement Policy and Programmes on European Roads
Akt Syst – Development of Active Bonnet System Taking into Account Variety of Human Population and Implementation of Human Body Biomechanical Model
OPKON – Impact of Road Lighting on Road Accidents
BARUZO – Colour Treatment of Intervention Fire Vehicle

Application of experience from the field of research and development within commercial activities in practice is a standard procedure. We participate in international seminars and trainings. We can offer solutions that are not common in the current conditions in the Czech Republic, while they show positive results abroad. Our services are focused on:

general traffic calming and traffic management, creating safe infrastructure,
identification, solutions and design to eliminate accident localities,
production of project documentation at the level of studies,
checking designed road signing and marking,
performing road safety audits, inspections, and special road inspections,
producing inventories of roads including a video recording, identification of its equipment, and identification of safety risks

We actively participate in production and amendments of legislation. We deal with the application of tools of Directive of the European Parliament and the Council 2008/96/ES on road infrastructure safety management on roads in the network TEN-T as well as on roads of lower classes (main, secondary, tertiary and local roads). This particularly concerns road safety audits and inspections, of which we have had long-standing experience. We are holders of accreditation to provide trainings for road safety auditors.

A substantial part of our work is publishing activity and dissemination of the latest findings. Apart from articles in journals we offer organizing of trainings and seminars related to designing safe roads.

Examples of publications we have published in recent years:

certified “Guidelines for Road Safety Inspection”,
certified “Guidelines for Road Safety Audit”,
certified “Guidelines for Monitoring of Indirect Road Safety Indicators”,
certified “Guidelines for Solutions to Critical Sites on Rural Roads“,
and many others.

Chief manager: