The EuroRAP’s subsidiary based in Slovenia, European Institute of Road Assessment – EuroRAP, is the Lead Partner for the new Project SABRINA – Safer Bicycle Routes in Danube Area. The consortium of 11 project partners and 4 associated strategic partners will cover routes across 9 countries until the end of 2022. The project runs in the framework of Danube Transnational Programme (Interreg) and is co-funded by European Union Funds (ERDF, ENI).
The Kick-off conference of the project will be held online on 15th October 2020 between 10:00 and 12:30 CEST. It will take place in the framework of a joint conference Improving Road Safety in Danube Area for all Road Users: Challenges and Opportunities in the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021–2030). The event is organized by SABRINA and RADAR (Risk Assessment on Danube Area Roads) projects in cooperation with European Union Strategy for Danube Region (EUSDR) – PA1b: To improve mobility and multimodality – Road, Rail, and Air Links. More information about the event is available on this link, where you can also register for the conference.
In these COVID-19 times, people across the globe look to bicycling as a socially distant transportation and recreation option. The emerging role of bicycles serves as a critical reminder of the need to improve infrastructure, making it safer, forgiving, sustainable, and comfortable. Cycling infrastructure in the Danube region is largely in an early stage of development, especially outside of the major urban areas. Given the benefits that cycling has on environment, transport multimodality, tourism and health, improving cycling infrastructure is both a development opportunity and risk mitigation necessity.
The SABRINA Project aims to tackle cycling infrastructure safety issues on existing, planned and missing cycling corridors crossing the Danube region. Approx. 5000 km of bicycle routes will be inspected using specially equipped vehicles, software and trained analysts. It will increase awareness about cycling infrastructure safety and facilitate transfer of best practices and transnational cooperation through learning activities.
The project maps infrastructure risks on existing Danube region EuroVelo routes and provides a strategic decision-making toolkit that will increase stakeholders’ capacity, build knowledge and cooperation at different levels, thus preventing development of killer cycling infrastructure in an early stage. Besides comprehensive Risk Mapping on cycle routes, SABRINA will integrate two existing assessment methodologies: EuroVelo ECS – European Certification Standard developed by European Cyclists’ Federation, and EuroRAP. The first integrated bicycle infrastructure risk assessment methodology delivered by SABRINA project will be a significant step for EIRA-EuroRAP’s leadership in cycling safety with expert involvement in CycleRAP development.
Meeting the needs of people who walk, and cycle continues to be a critical part of the mobility solution for helping cities decouple population growth from increased emissions and to improve air quality and road safety.
For the updates about SABRINA project and its activities and to learn how safer bicycle routes can become a reality check the project’s website and subscribe to their newsletter. Regular updates and many other interesting news connected with road safety and more specifically cycling infrastructure safety are also available on SABRINA’s Social Media profiles: Twitter and Facebook.
