"We are classifying road safety levels with stars. We will categorize a very safe road with five stars, and one and two stars as highly unsafe roads.".
SANTO DOMINGO.-The Minister of Public Works and Communications, Deligne Ascención, reported that this institution is implementing an investment plan that aims to raise the current level of safety on the country's highways by at least 60 percent.
Ascención delivered the keynote address “Traffic and Road Safety in the Dominican Republic” in the Manuel del Cabral auditorium of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), where he detailed the actions being taken in the North, South and East corridors of the country.
He highlighted the investment of 11 billion pesos to refurbish the Duarte highway, thus reducing the number of accidents on the country's most important intercity road.
“We are classifying road safety levels with stars. We will categorize a very safe road with five stars, and one or two stars as highly unsafe roads,” he explained.
He stated that the country loses more than 3 billion dollars each year due to traffic accidents, representing 2.5% of GDP, and emphasized that the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) is working to change this reality and lower the mortality rate from this cause.
He stated that “it is the responsibility of the MOPC to formulate the plans, programs and strategies that guarantee road safety through actions that prevent traffic accidents.
The event, led by university authorities, was attended by vice ministers and directors of the Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC), engineering professionals, traffic authorities, as well as students and other personalities.
Previously, the minister visited Rector Edirtrudis Beltrán and the University Council, which was meeting at that moment, in his office, according to a press release from the MOPC.
Ascención indicated that with the support of the IDB, an International Road Assessment Program (IRAP) was carried out to analyze the data on the coding of road attributes and provide a measure of the level of safety on the roads for vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians.
“The application of IRAP made it possible to prepare the budgets to implement an investment plan for safe roads, to raise the safety level to three or more stars when traveling through the North, South and East corridors of the country,” he noted.
He revealed that to apply IRAP a special vehicle equipped with artificial intelligence, a 360-degree camera, and geo-referenced road segments every 20 meters along the entire route was used, evaluating more than 50 attributes of the roads that can cause traffic accidents.
“The results of the analysis for the Southern Corridor show that the identified investment across the entire corridor amounts to $36.30 million in specific safety treatments, which would prevent (over 20 years) 26,268 deaths and serious injuries, representing a present value economic benefit of $165 million,
He stated that the country has a large economic movement that moves some 169 products exported to international markets such as the United States (47%), Canada (8.7%), Haiti (7.9%), India (6.4%), Switzerland (3%), and in addition to this some 500 thousand ounces of gold annually through the Pueblo Viejo mine and that these movements are carried out using the different routes of the country.
“This economic structure obliges the MOPC to assume the responsibility of maintaining in adequate condition a road network of 1,395 kilometers of main roads, 2,412 km of secondary roads, 1,620 km of tertiary roads, and more than 60,000 kilometers of local roads, trails and paths,” he explained.
He said that the Dominican Republic ranks fourth among Latin American countries with the best state of its road infrastructure, which facilitates the integration and movement of cargo and passenger flows through air and sea transport infrastructure.
He noted that in 2018 the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked the country as having one of the highest mortality rates from traffic accidents in Latin America and the world, with 34.60 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, occupying fifth place worldwide, and second place in America.
Ascención stated that the latest report from the Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant) reveals that of the average of 3,460 deaths in road accidents, 73% of those killed are motorcyclists.
"On the Duarte Highway or Northern Corridor, 56% of the instant deaths caused by traffic accidents in the three main corridors of the country occur," he said.
He revealed that, departing from the city of Santo Domingo, an average of 120,000 vehicles travel on the Duarte highway, 40,000 on the Las Américas highway, and 32,000 on the Sánchez highway.
He also said that work is underway on the installation of protective barriers and the removal of lateral obstacles, lighting, construction of the Baní and Azua ring roads, speed reducers, implementation of a vertical and horizontal signage plan, lighting, construction of sidewalks, pavement rehabilitation, construction of motorcycle-pedestrian crossings, among other measures.
He highlighted the commendable work carried out by the Military and Police Commission (COMIPOL) in the area of road safety, and that in the current administration this entity attached to the MOPC has provided around 200,000 assistance services.
