[Index]
UNECE finalizes recommendations to
improve
tunnel safety
Geneva,
25 October 2001
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
is about to complete recommendations to its member countries to improve
safety in tunnels. The UNECE started this work in the wake of fires in the
Mont Blanc and Tauern tunnels in 1999. Now, following Wednesday's fire
in the 17 kilometre-long Gotthard tunnel in Switzerland, the issue of tunnel
safety has once again been brought to the fore.
The UNECE recommendations, which are expected to be ready
by the end of November 2001, include a series of measures concerning the
principal factors which influence accidents in tunnels. These factors are
road users, tunnel operators, infrastructure and vehicles. Measures
include, for example, driver information campaigns on correct behaviour in
tunnels, roadside checks of heavy goods vehicles for overheating and other
defects, periodic testing for drivers of heavy goods vehicles, buses and
coaches, the appointment of safety officers for tunnels over 1000 metres,
the equipment of tunnel fire-fighting crews with heat searching cameras, and
the lowering of the quantity of fuel carried by heavy goods vehicles.
When implemented, these measures will significantly
reduce the risk of tunnel accidents and will minimize the consequences of
accidents.
After their adoption by UNECE's principal transport body
at its annual meeting in February 2002, the recommendations will be examined
by groups of experts in order to determine which of them should be made
legally binding and introduced into international legal instruments relating
to road safety and infrastructures. In particular, it is
expected that the widely implemented Vienna Conventions on Road Traffic and
on Road Signs and Signals, which provide the framework for international
road safety in the ECE region, will be supplemented with additional
provisions regarding safety in tunnels.
The recommendations have been elaborated by an Ad hoc
Multidisciplinary Group of Experts on Safety in Tunnels comprising experts
from Austria, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway,
the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and
the United Kingdom with the cooperation of non-governmental organizations
such as the World Road Association (PIARC), the International Road
Federation (IRF), the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the
International Tunnelling Association (ITA). The Group of Experts held
four meetings between July 2000 and July 2001.
Within the framework of the project led by the Expert
Group, an inventory questionnaire was sent to the UNECE member States to
obtain a better knowledge of existing tunnels in Europe. Thirty-two
countries answered the questionnaire. The results showed that 20 UNECE
member States have tunnels over 1 kilometre in length. Norway has 199, Italy
175, Switzerland 67, Austria 55, France 46 and Germany 36. The longest road
tunnel in the UNECE region is in Norway, at 24.5 kilometres.
Following the adoption of the recommendations for road
tunnels, it is expected that work will proceed on safety in rail tunnels.
Further information on the work of the Group of Experts
can be obtained from the UNECE Transport Division website at the following
address:
http://www.unece.org/trans/main/itc/ac7.html
For further information, please contact:
José Capel Ferrer, Director or
Marie-Noëlle Poirier, Technology Section
Christopher Smith, Technology Section,
Transport Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone: (+41 22) 917 2400 / 917 3259
Fax: (+41 22) 917 0039
E-mail: [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Ref: ECE/TRANS/01/08