2001 ANNUAL REPORT Contents Forward: Minister Chairman & Executive Director Introduction Policy Matters Projects "Saving Lives": First National Road Safety Forum Financial Matters Final Comment

2000 also marks the first full year of operations for the National Road Safety Council. The Council was established a year earlier in 1999 and tasked with reducing the carnage on our roads and making our roads safe for all.

Although it is a young organisation, it has made a significant impact. In 2000, the work of the Council help reduce the number of road accidents to 3635 from 4346, a reduction of 16 percent. Thousands of kina in property damage was avoided, but more importantly many lives were saved.

In 2000, the Council also held the first nation-wide forum on road safety in the country. Given the trend towards increased usage of land transport in the coming years, the forum was a turning point in our endeavour to protect our people and making our roads safe for all.

As the Minister responsible for road safety, I wish to reiterate the Papua New Guinea Government's commitment to making our roads safer for all users.

Hon. Bart Philimon
Minister for Civil Aviation and Transport

From the Chairman & Executive Director

Mr. Bernard Kipit  Chairman Mr John Siola Executive Director

We take great pleasure in presenting the 2000 annual report on the National Road Safety Council. Despite difficulties caused by financial and personnel constraints, the Council successfully undertook educational and law-enforcement programs during the year. The enthusiasm shown by the various gov- ernment agencies, the private sector and the community was very encouraging to our ongoing work on road safety The opportunity to save lives is the driving force in our work because every person in PNG is at risk every time he/she uses the road system. Even though our road network is only 24,000 kilometres, there are about 6,000 vehicles involved in accidents throughout the country annually. If all these accidents could be avoided, we would be saving a total of about K 200 million each year or about 0.5 percent of our Gross Domestic Product. This is nothing compared to the trauma and social costs associated with fatalities. While we have had success we need to do more. We are all road users at some time, whether as drivers, cyclists, pedestrians or passengers. Road safety is an issue that affects all us all. We urge you to become involved in determining how we can make PNG roads safer for all of us.

The National Road Safety Council was still experiencing establishment problems in 2000, having only been in existence for two years. Many of the problems faced were administrative in nature due basically to a lack of staff and resources. Many of them were basic problems, like office space and the recruitment of appropriate personnel to man the specialized technical duties. The Council's main efforts were thus concentrated in the areas of education and law enforcement. In the middle of the year, the Council moved into new offices located within the MVIL compound in Hohola. The new environment and additional office space will allow us to move forward with more confidence.

This report covers the second year of operation and the Council in general had a successful year. The highlights are summarized in this report.

BACKGROUND

Mr. Klei Kera was Chairman of the NRSC at the beginning of 2000. However, towards the end of 1999, there were some changes in the administration of the Motor Vehicle Insurance Limited and Mr. Kera, who represented that organization in the Council, was affected. Under his leadership some headway, particularly in public enforcement and education, was made but lack of funds and the Council's early teething organizational problems hampered their progress.

Mr Bernard Kipit from the National Capital District Commission became the new Chairman in early 2000. Most of the Council's work during the year was concentrated on traffic problems such as parking congestion, illegal bus stops, lack of road signs, and the general public's lack of compliance with existing traffic laws. Just prior to the 1999 Christmas period, Police resources were stretched, resulting in their inability to patrol the Port Moresby Central Business District (CBD) and hand out Traffic Infringement Notices (TIN). At times it became very dangerous especially when traffic signal lights were affected by frequent blackouts caused by an irregular electricity supply.

This became the catalyst for the formation of a Committee in December 1999 to organize the first national Road Safety Forum. The purpose of the forum was to educate the public and other stakeholders on the importance of road safety. The Forum, called "Saving Lives" was held in July and received wide publicity.

ADMINISTRATION

Since the creation of the office of the National Road Safety Council in early 1999, there has not been any increase in the nine permanent positions approved on the 5th July 1999. Basically, all these positions are clerical in nature with only one engineering professional position, which is at a junior level. Functions of the Council as specified by the National Road Safety Council Act requires the services of well qualified professional staff with degrees in Transportation Engineering, Road Engineering, Highway Engineering, Traffic Engineering, Statistical Inference, Social Sciences, Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering in order to effectively carry out the work of the NRSC. The recruitment of this expertise will form part of NRSC's ongoing priorities. The complexity and the real issues that need addressing will be explained briefly in the Corporate Plan. It will be a strategic plan which endeavours to define in a systematic way, the role of various functions and their linkages in the field of road safety. It is a statutory requirement and the programs need to be reviewed annually in order to keep abreast of one's direction towards common goals in the Act; or as determined from time to time by the National Road Safety Council.

In terms of policy issues a number of items have been presented for the Council's deliberations and these are as follow:

1. Traffic Infringement Fines.

The issue is whether Traffic Infringement Notices (TIN) fines from the Operation Road Safety should go to the Central Government's Consolidated Revenue account or shared between the government and NRSC. The Council resolved that 20% should be retained and the National Executive Council Submission needs to be prepared for the Minister. The Council further resolved that a letter be sent to the Treasury Minister for the NRSC to keep the TINs for recovery of costs.

2. Amendment of Motor Traffic Act.

This was a Statutory Business Paper aimed at amending the Motor Traffic Act and the Motor Car Dealers' Act to make it mandatory to install Gas Gaslers to exhaust pipes of vehicles to direct all emission of burning fuel to the ground. Several meetings were held with the stakeholders such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Motor Dealers Association. At present this issue remains unresolved as further research needs to be undertaken for the effectiveness of the proposed gas gaslers.

3. Proposal for a Road Authority

This proposal calls for the establishment of a Roads Authority to administer all roads in Papua New Guinea. The NRSC is undertaking this proposal as it was directed to study this proposed legislation by the previous Minister of Transport.

4. Leasing of Office Space and Inspection Station

The Council still awaits the financial viability of the proposed inspection station. The present rent paid for the NRSC office spaces has been deemed excessive and negotiations are underway with the landlord.

In the first year of operation of the Council and the Medical Faculty of the University of PNG completed a project entitled "The Traffic Red Light Research". This was to estab- lish the reasons for drivers who ignored red lights and willingness to pay fines instead of modifying their driving behaviour. The Council anticipated that six other projects will have a significant impact in reducing the rate of road accidents in PNG. The projects are as follows:

1. Community Road Safety Education

There were two parts to this project.

i.    Assistance to Police Road Safety Unit
In order to assist the traffic police in their campaign to educate the general public, a total of K 20,000 was allocated for community. These include the community schools, transport companies and villages. The money was used for the of purchase of education materials, travel and subsistence and overtime. There were two awareness campaigns conducted:
a. Western Highlands
Police, Department of Transport and the NRSC from 26th June to 7th July 2000 jointly conducted this awareness program. The campaign team visited villages along the Okuk Highway and they were taught safety rules. The program went smoothly without problems. A detailed report is available.
b. Central Province
The Police and the NRSC conducted the road safety awareness campaign to villages in the Bereina District from 31st July to 12th August 2000.

ii.   Media
The Council allocated a total of K 40.000 for community education through the mass-media. The NRSC spent K27.222 sponsoring the two of NBC's Kalang Services (FM 100)programs:-.
a. Drive Time program during the weekdays from 16:00 - 18:00 hours each day providing road safety tips to motorists and other listeners.
b. The Talk Back' program from 09:00 - 13:00 hours is partly sponsored by the Council. The program promotes the Council and provides road safety tips  to listeners who call in. The NRSC Executive Director, together with the Police and Transport Department representatives, go to air once a fortnight on the talk-back program. The other form of community education through the mass-media was daily newspaper advertisements on the need to drive safety. This appeared in The Post Courier every Thursday in the Drive Time section.

2. Traffic Laws Enforcement

In order to assist the traffic Police and the Department of Transport in enforcing the Motor Traffic Laws, a total of K 123,000 were allocated to cater for costs of travel, subsistence and overtime allowances. A vehicle was purchased for this project as well. Police, Department of Transport & Civil Aviation, Land Transport of Morobe Provincial Government, Motor Vehicle Insurance Ltd. and the NRSC jointly carried out a major law enforcement operation in Lae City from 21st August to 8th September 2000. More than 2000 Traffic Infringement Notices (TIN) were issued to traffic offenders to the value of about K100.000. The Special Operation also provided a sense of security to the residents of Port Moresby and Lae in preparation for the Nation's 25th Anniversary Celebrations.

3. Road Accidents Research

A total of K 32,000 was allocated to research projects carried out at the PNG University of Technology. The research dealt with the determining factors involved in serious road accidents along the Okuk Highway and the Lae to Wau Roads. The research is still continuing.

4. Improvement to Road Signs

A total of K 50,000 was earmarked to help the local authorities to improve traffic signs, road directions, lane markings and other road facilities that will improve traffic flow. Most of the financial assistance was used for materials and installation of road signs and markings.

A survey of road signs and markings was conducted on the Okuk Highway from Lae City to Mt. Hagen City. More than K 3million worth of road signs and markings as well as safety structures needs to be maintained. Due to the Council facing depleting of its funds, it is unable to do much on this project. A submission is now before the Minister for Transport seeking 5% of the National Road Maintenance Funds to improve road signs.

5. Accident Blackspots Remedy

K 30,000 was earmarked to assist the Department of Transport and Civil Aviation to investigate and propose a remedy for accident black spots. This money was for the purposes of redesign, reconstruction, travel and subsistence. The Land Transport Division undertook two trips. One to Madang and the other to Lae City. Reports from the trip suggest that resources were wasted and little was achieved or done.

6. Improvement to Port Moresby Central Business District (CBD) Traffic Flow

In this joint project with the National Capital District Commission, the Council allocated K15,000 to assist in the costs of design and construction of the traffic islands, signs and lane markings. NCDC upgraded the roads in Port Moresby CBD and many of the temporary signs and barriers placed on the roads last year by NRSC were removed and not restored. A contractor was engaged to restore the signs and the barriers to improve traffic flow. This has been completed.

This project was the highlight of the year. This was the first nation-wide road safety forum in the history of PNG. It gave all the stakeholders- the government, the private sector and the community a chance to come together to review the issue of road safety in this country and make recommendations for the future. The forum was held on 26-27 July in Port Moresby
The original planning for the Forum was held on 14th January 2000 where a special organizing committee under the chairman of Mr Fabian Chow was established. Mr Chow, a representative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was able to bring the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry (POMMCI) as a co-organizer of the forum. The inclusion of the POMCCI symbolized the working relationship between the public and private sector in trying to solve the issue of road safety.

Theme And Aims

The main theme of the National Road Safety Forum was "SAVING LIVES". This is consistent with the overall aim of the council for the year 2000 and that is to reduce the severity of road accidents. The forum's aims were to:
a. Hold the first road safety forum in Papua New Guinea where all the stakeholders can come together.
b. Review road safety in PNG since Independence in 1975. This tied in with the Silver Jubilee celebrations
c. Identify the main causes of road accidents
d. Holding a workshop to identify what can be done to reduce the severity of road accidents
e. Formulate recommendations which will be forwarded to the government.
f.  Publish the proceeding as a resource book on road safety in PNG. This will be the first such publication in PNG as well

Finance

The NRSC approved an allocation of K20,0000 of the K60,000 needed towards the cost of the forum. The balance was generosity funded by AusAid. AusAid also agreed to pay for the cost of the publication of the road safety book based on the forum. The book is scheduled to be published in 2002.

Forum Outcome

The forum was a huge success. More than a hundred participants from all over the country attended. More than 10 papers were presented, covering all areas of road safety. In addition, there were follow-ups to the forum. Among them were:

1. The Shell (PNG) Ltd.
The Shell (PNG) sought assistance from NRSC for their Road Safety Awareness campaigns along the trunk road from Mt. Hagen City to the mining township of Porgera. The awareness campaign was conducted from 5th to 7th September 2000. NRSC staff and Police Road Safety Officers took part.

2. Ok Tedi Mining Ltd.
The Council were invited to the launching of their Road Safety Public Awareness Campaign from 22nd to 27th November 2000. The Executive Director launched the programme on the 22 November 2000 and the closing was officiated by the Chairman of the Council on 27 November.

3. Sefti PNG
The Council was invited to attend their annual meeting (forum) which was held on the 30th to 31st October 2000 in Lae. The Council also became a major sponsor of the organization by donating K 3,000.

The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) operational costs are funded directly from a five percent levy of the compulsory Third Party Insurance Premium through the Motor Vehicle Insurance Ltd. (MVIL). The revenue generated for the year 2000 was K 850,000.

The budget breakdown for the year was as follows: NRSC Service - 60% Projects - 40%

The break-up of these activities in the budget is set out in the table below with those of 1999 for comparison. The only new items included in the 2000 budget were the Road Safety Forum and housing allowances for the staff. The various projects are outlined in a separate section of the report.
 

(All figures in PNG Kina)

RECURRENT EXPENDITURES	YEAR 2000	ACTUAL	YEAR 1999	ACTUAL
Salary and Allowances	243,300	129,376	109,863.50	30,557.52
Wages	8,000		10,088.15	23,105.52
Goods & Services	258,700	219,265	423,194.36	390,772.61
TOTALS	510,000	348,461	543,146.01	444,435.65
PROJECTS ESTIMATES	2,000	ACTUAL	1,999.00	ACTUAL
Road Safety Education	60,000	76,870	44,100.00	48,501.45
Traffic Laws Enforcement	123,000	119,607	245,900.00	58,613.18
Road Accident Research	32,000	25,754	30,000.00	30,000.00
Improvement to Road Signs	50,000	0	200,000.00
Traffic Red Light Research			30,000.00	26,539.80
Accident Blackspots Remedy	30,000	26,487
Improvement to Port Moresby CBD traffic flow	15,000	10,500	50,000.00	42,634.49
Road Safety Forum	30,000	26,487
TOTALS	340,000	285,705	600,000.00	206,288.92
GRAND TOTALS	850,000	634,166	1,143,146.00	650,724.57

The Council's efforts in the past year would prove more substantial, especially with regard to the seven projects being undertaken if adequate resources were available. Lack of financial resources and qualified personnel were the main causes of difficulties faced by the NRSC in trying to fulfil its charter under the NRSC Act (1997). The Council needs to set road safety priorities starting by concentrating on a few important projects while at the same time seeking additional funding. The idea is to get good, tangible results that may be measured in real terms of reduction of severity of accidents by being efficient and working smart. Use of technical aid for training and private sector co-operation to advance road safety in PNG must be pursued as already demonstrated. The Council must set the standards for all responsible government agencies to address the real issues of Road Safety in their respective jurisdictions. In summary, the NRSC sees 2000 as a productive year with real achieve- ments in the area of community education, traffic enforcement and bringing all the stake- holders together to bring about a synergy for the future work of the Council.