The Application of International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) as a Road Infrastructure Risk Assessment Tool

There are daily rises in traffic-related fatalities and injuries. With the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) as a road assessment tool, traffic accidents can be mitigated by evaluating high-risk routes and subsequently developing Star Ratings and Safer Roads Investment Plans (SRIPs) as a proactive approach to road infrastructure risk assessment. This paper reviewed recent research into applying the iRAP approach worldwide, highlighting its implementation stage, advantages, and disadvantages. The study was performed by reviewing and examining existing published studies on iRAP and performing gap analysis by comparing the existing research and its application in selected countries (Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia, India, Brazil, and China). The scope of the study is limited to the iRAP implementation stage following the generation of Star Ratings and SRIPs by performing a desk study and reviewing research literature. All articles were searched in Web of Science, ResearchGate, Scopus, and Science Direct databases. The research methodology includes road survey, Road Protection Scores (RPS), Star Ratings, and Safer Roads Investment Plan (SRIP). The findings showed that a few research studies conducted iRAP on school road coverage (Thailand and Malaysia), with the rest mainly focusing on highways (Bangladesh, Malaysia, India, Brazil, and China). Almost all existing studies generated Star Ratings with Safer Roads Investment Plan as expected, following the iRAP protocols from the iRAP approach.