Established by the non-profit International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), star ratings provide an objective measure of the level of safety which is “built-in” to the road for vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians. The higher the star rating – measured on a scale of one to five – the safer the road.
A road’s star rating depends on a variety of factors relating to the nature of the road. For example, a four-star road is likely to have safety barriers at the side of the road and in the central reservation, and to have junctions with motorway-style slip roads. In contrast, low scoring roads tend to have hazardous fixed objects close to the road, frequent junctions and no head-on protection from oncoming traffic, such as a central barrier.
According to iRAP, a person’s risk of death or serious injury is reduced by 50% with each improvement in a road’s star rating – making them a valuable tool for measuring and interpreting road safety.
Data on the move
By determining the star rating of roads in their network, road authorities know where to take tangible steps to improve both the quality and safety of roads.
TomTom provides high-quality, globally consistent map data and services to support iRAP modeling – making it easier for road authorities to evaluate and improve the safety of their network. One of the cornerstones of TomTom’s approach is MoMa, a technique used to collect real-world geographical information.
