The challenge
At an estimated 725,000 km, Europe has one of the most dense urban and secondary road networks globally. Secondary roads serve as critical connectors across cities and regions, but they are less uniform in their design, service a more diverse range of vehicles and modes (e.g., motorcycles and other powered two-wheelers [PTW], [e-]bicycles, scooters and pedestrians) and account for a much greater proportion of fatal and serious injury crashes.
In 2021, 92% of traffic fatalities in Europe occurred on rural and urban roads, compared to 8% on motorways. One third of fatalities are those travelling on a ‘vulnerable’ mode.
CAMBER brings together world-class expertise in research, innovation and application in the fields of road safety, data and engineering. The project assembles the latest in data collection and analysis methods, to enhance proactive risk assessment methods with capability to predict the risk of fatal and serious crashes on urban and secondary roads, and to identify cost-effective measures to address these risks.
Safety of non-trunk roads is paramount to achieve zero road deaths and serious injuries by 2050, a stated goal of the European Union (EU).
The approach
The CAMBER project uses a multipronged approach to develop and demonstrate workable solutions to integrate asset and safety management for urban and secondary road networks.
Components
The CAMBER ‘components’
- Safety-integrated maintenance systems and processes
- New-generation data sources
- Digital twins
- ADAS performance
- Low-cost-safety interventions
Results
Knowledge products & Tools
- Digital twin interfaces & roadmap
- Evaluation framework
- Research findings
- Safety-optimized maintenance tools
Outcomes
Practical, economical Solutions
- Increased knowledge
- Implementation guidance and costings
- Estimated impact for
- Europan-wide implementation
- Newly validated data
- Road safety metrics for tracking to targets
Impacts
Safer roads
- Higher confidence in decision-making
- Streamlined and efficient maintenance
- Safer road conditions for all road users
- Reductions in FSI crashes
- Road safety targets met
To ensure the results of the project meet the needs of road managers across Europe, the solutions developed by CAMBER are designed to be highly flexible and adaptable to the varying needs of road managers.
Methodology
There is no single ‘silver bullet’ or one-size-fits-all solution which can address the safety and maintenance challenges facing road managers. For this reason, the CAMBER project will focus on five priority ‘components’ which the project team will advance through research and innovation to meet the stated project objectives. The components are:
1. Safety-integrated maintenance systems and processes
2. New-generation data sources
3. Digital twins
4. ADAS performance
5. Low-cost safety interventions
Consortium
