30.03.2023
Sticchi Damiani: “Care must be increased in tunnels because rescue operations are much more complex. Furthermore, more information on the state of the roads is needed, more investments for safety and regulatory simplification”.
Road accidents in tunnels, although numerically lower than those that occur outdoors, have the highest mortality rate. In fact, the danger of accidents increases by 50% in tunnels: accidents are more serious due to the lack of adequate escape spaces, as well as the critical management of emergencies.
This is what emerged today during the event “Accidents in the tunnel. The response of the State”, which took place at the Istituto Superiore Antincendi, with the institutional collaboration of the ACI and during which the point was taken of the safety, prevention and monitoring systems.
In 2021 there were 595 road accidents in tunnels compared to the total 151,875 accidents recorded in Italy in the same year. Of these, 114 occurred in motorway tunnels, 272 in urban ones and 209 in extra-urban ones, 18 the number of deaths in tunnels compared to 2,875 deaths on Italian roads, 901 total injuries in tunnels, 359 in urban ones, 197 in motorways and 345 on suburban highways. The mortality rate in the tunnel, therefore, was equal to 3% against the total 1.9%: the greater risk is therefore evident.
“Safety on the roads, and in tunnels in particular, is an issue that has always involved the Automobile Club of Italy – said Angelo Sticchi Damiani, president of ACI, speaking today at the conference attended by the competent institutions and technicians subject matter experts. Maximum attention is required in the tunnel precisely because rescue operations are more difficult. In fact, the data shows that accidents are mainly due to human errors, primarily distraction”.
On the prevention front, in collaboration with other European Automobile Clubs, safety tests were carried out on tunnels of the TEN – Trans-European network, half of which are located right in our country. As part of the EuroTAP program (Euro Tunnel Assessment Programme), significant safety deficiencies have been highlighted. The program also had the objective of providing advice to motorists on the behavior to be observed in emergency conditions. In Italy there are approximately 840,000 km of roads, 8,006 km of motorways and 27,259 km of state roads (ANAS) with 2,179 tunnels, 21,072 bridges and viaducts, 6,320 overpasses. Rear-end collisions and collisions with obstacles or parked vehicles are the most frequent types of accidents (33% and 21% respectively). An inconsistency of the system is that the highest mortality occurs in lighted tunnels: 14 deaths compared to 4 in unlighted tunnels.
“We need more information on road conditions, more resources for investments and regulatory simplification – specified Sticchi Damiani. When it comes to the quality and safety of infrastructures, a decisive intervention by local, national and international authorities is required. Investments on roads, in fact, contribute to reducing accidents by lightening costs for the State: investments on provincial roads alone cost the community 3 billion euros every year”.
As far as safety is concerned, the post-accident organizational machine is complex and it is necessary to coordinate rescue activities in the best possible way. The ‘golden hour’ is fundamental, the first hour after an accident, crucial for a person’s survival or for limiting the extent of injuries. Also on this issue, ACI is engaged with some pilot projects, such as the single European number HeERO (Harmonised eCall European Pilot), co-financed by the European Commission, to create an automatic emergency call system installed on board vehicles. In fact, receiving immediate notification of an accident and its exact location can reduce emergency services response times by 50% in rural areas and 40% in urban areas. Thanks to this speed, eCall can save up to 2,500 lives every year in the European Union and reduce the severity of injuries in thousands of cases.
On the subject of post-accident interventions, Euro NCAP, the consortium to which ACI belongs, in collaboration with the CTIF, the International Association of Fire and Rescue Services, has launched Euro Rescue, a mobile application for first responders who intervene in case of road accidents on European roads. This app makes rescuers, especially firefighters in particular, immediately available rescue cards developed by car manufacturers for each car model that identify the position of the airbags, pretensioners, batteries and high voltage cables, as well as the safest places to cut bodywork.