The RACC Foundation, a reference in road safety and mobility

The RACC Foundation is a non-profit organization that promotes all kinds of promotional and dissemination activities related to the culture of the automobile, with the aim of having a positive influence on the attitude of motorists, protecting the interests of users, and improving the quality of life of citizens with regard to mobility. Since its creation in 1994, the RACC Foundation has been one of the main references in the field of mobility, exerting its influence ability to introduce specific and agreed improvements in this area.

To achieve its targets, the Foundation generates new knowledge on mobility by means of projects, plans, audits and mobility studies both at local and international level. It also promotes awareness raising, training and education campaigns dealing with the key questions of mobility and acts in the field of user defence and protection.

The Foundation has renewed its historic commitment to contributing to the debate about which and how the mobility model demanded by the new social, economic, technological and urban demands of the 21st century should be. To this end, it has divided its short-term priorities into four big targets:

Safe mobility: safe motorists, vehicles and roads.
Sustainable Mobility: clean and healthy air, energy-efficiency and alternative power.
Intelligent Mobility: informed and connected motorists.
Affordable Mobility: to reduce the costs of mobility, and intelligent public and collective transport.

THE TEAM

The RACC Foundation is made up of a multi-disciplinary team of experts in the different fields of action of the institution.

Miquel Nadal, Director of the RACC Foundation
Lluís Puerto, Technical Manager of the RACC Foundation
Carme Gibert, Head of Programmes
Marc Fíguls, Mobility Expert
Alba Rey, Mobility Expert
Martí Massot, Mobility and ITS Project Expert
Guillem Bernatallada, ITS Project Expert
Josep Laborda, ITS Project Expert
Núria Ubach, Assistant
Raimon Soler, Documentalist

This Annual Report – available both in printed and digital format - is a thorough compilation of the activities carried out by the RACC Foundation in 2016. In this sense, it is a testimony of the big mobility topics in our country and the way in which they are faced by the Foundation. Miquel Nadal

Josep Mateu

Ready to lead the mobility of the future

In an environment, in which cities keep on growing, with forecasts telling that by 2050 they are going to concentrate 66% of the population, in which technology is transforming the daily life of people, turning connected and autonomous vehicles into a reality, and in which clean energies are evolving to achieve that the way we move becomes more and more respectful with the environment, mobility has become one of the priority challenges of our society.

Within this context, and in line with the 110 years of history of the Club, the RACC has the aim of being next to the people. It is dedicated to helping society to build a mobility that is safer, more agile, more sustainable and more affordable.

This is the reason why the Club works in all fields of mobility, taking into account how people move and that they are doing it according to their needs, the moment, or the place, using public transport, by foot, by car, on a bicycle or on a motorcycle, with their own means, shared or public.

The analysis and the study of the real situation, the diagnosis of the problems, alternatives and solutions, specific proposals, short and long-term actions, always assessing social consequences, reflect the way in which the RACC contributes to improving mobility.

The year 2016 has been intense and in this publication you will find a summary of the most outstanding actions of the RACC Foundation. The study on distractions and the use of the mobile telephone, the reporting actions on the unbearable situation on the N-340 road in Catalonia, which has recorded 9 additional fatalities in one year while the administration does not act, the cost of traffic congestions, the debate and the study on the impact of the connection of the tram along Av Diagonal in Barcelona, and the innovation and international projection projects in which the RACC participates, as member of the FIA, are some of the projects that have been carried out.

With a global, open and future-oriented vision, the RACC is firmly decided to lead the transformation of mobility, working with the highest rigour, the highest demand and the highest collaboration with all stakeholders, in order to improve the quality of life of people.

STUDIES

Analysis of the road accident rate 2015
January 2016
Report on the road accident rates in Catalonia and Spain during 2015.

Study on distractions
January 2016
Study on the use of smartphones (intelligent telephones) by drivers, riders and pedestrians. The report updates the figures about the incidence of the use of mobile telephones in the distractions at the wheel provided by the study: “Distractions: an unperceived risk” (2008). This new research included an online survey and on site observations in the city of Barcelona.

Comparative study on Apps related to car parking
January 2016
Publication of the study that analyses eight applications dealing with car parking, with several significant functionalities: from getting information to booking and paying the car park. The analysis forms part of the App Observatory of the RACC Foundation that tests mobile Apps dealing with different fields of mobility.

Comparison of Apps for safe and sustainable driving
January 2016
Study that analyses five Apps for safe and sustainable driving. The RACC assessment protocol for Apps had to be adapted due to the specific typology of these Apps.

Study on the impact of the implementation of HVO-bus lanes in the access to Barcelona
February 2016
Presentation of the study that analyses the impact of the implementation of the HVO-bus lanes in the accesses to Barcelona in order to determine which are the roads in which these type of lanes would be more useful.

Report on the cost of car parks in Spain and Europe
February 2016
Comparative study on the car park fees in blue zones in Madrid, Bilbao, Sevilla, San Sebastián and Barcelona.

The impact of tourism on the mobility/restriction of tourist busses
March 2016
Study that assesses the effects of tourism on the mobility in Barcelona, providing at the same time solutions to make urban mobility useful and efficient, both for residents and tourists.

Exit operation at the start of the Easter Week
March 2016
Report with the road accident rates of the first quarter of the year, including recommendations of the RACC for the exit operation at the start of the Easter Week.

Audit in the urban orientation signposting in Lleida
April 2016
Report assessing the signposting of 100 itineraries in the province of Lleida (service equipment, elements with touristic, cultural or business value, and the main exit points of the city).

Study of elements to reduce the speed in urban areas
May 2016
Publication of the study that analyses the advantages and inconveniences of elements that have been implemented to reduce the speed in the city centres of Catalonia and Spain.

Balance of the road accident rate during the summer months
September 2016
Report with the road accident dates of the summer months in Spain, comparing them with those of the past five years.

Audit of the signposting of speed limits
July 2016
Audit Signposting of speed limits on Catalan Roads, that assesses the current speed limits in some sections of the eight most used Catalan roads. A total of 407 kilometres, 293 speed limit signs and 19 radar signs were analysed.

Audit of the signposting in the Costa Brava
July 2016
Audit that assesses the urban signposting of the main tourist villages of the Costa Brava (Roses, L'Escala, Palafrugell, Palamós, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Lloret y Blanes). The study reveals that the signposting must improve significantly as regards continuity and the comprehension of the signs of the interesting elements of each village.

Audit on the mobility during big events in Barcelona
May and September 2016
Mobility audit that assesses the accessibility of crowded urban events, such as the Primavera Sound Festival and the Music and Sound Festival during La Mercè.

The congestion of the access corridors to Barcelona
September 2016
Mobility audit that quantifies the congestion levels in the accesses to Barcelona and their consequences at several levels. The study indicates that 52,000 hours are lost every day as a consequence of traffic jams, which affect nearly 200,000 people moving by bus or car every day. A total of 12.8 hours are lost every year, with a cost of 137 million euros (equivalent to 0.1% of the Catalan GDP) and 685 euros per affected user.

Comparative studies of child restraint systems (CRS)
May and October 2016
Publication of two comparative studies of child restraint systems (CRS) of all groups of weights sold in Spain (0, 0+, I, II y III), which have turned into a practical and updated guide for parents when purchasing a CRS.

EuroRAP
December 2016
Drawing-up of the study on the assessment of roads by the European consortium EuroRAP, that related the road accident rates (fatalities and serious injuries) on specific road sections, to the average daily traffic intensiveness on the road.

iRAP
December 2016
Analysis of the state of the road infrastructures based on the iRAP protocols: Star rating (SRS) and Action Plan for the infrastructure in order to improve road safety.
India: Assessment of 750 km of the road network in Rajasthan.
Portugal: Star rating protocol on the EN-118 road (approx. 120 km).

Study/simulation tram
December 2016
Drawing-up of a simulation of the impact that the connection of the tram could have on mobility at some critical points of the city.

Study on the emissions of the Barcelona vehicle fleet
Start of the study to calculate the emissions of the fleet of vehicles that travel in Barcelona, in collaboration with the Barcelona City Council and BCN Regional.

Vision and Life Study
Project with Vision and Life and UPC to draw-up a study on the state of the visual health of Spanish drivers, in order to determine which are the most frequent visual diseases of active drivers and raise their awareness about the influence of these diseases on driving.

Study Citizens and the new Urban Mobility Models
Participation in the study by Creafutur to identify new mobility patterns in the metropolitan area of Barcelona.

Study on sustainability and vehicle trade
The study proposes to reduce the emissions and improve the efficiency of vehicles in collaboration with the Automobile Trade Union. The main target of the study is to provide the members of the Automobile Trade Union in Barcelona city and province with the essential tools to adapt the mobility of vehicles with a combustion engine to vehicles that go in line with the sustainable energetic model, specifically the electric vehicle.

Electric Motorcycle Assessment (BSM)
Project for the technical assessment (fulfilment of requirements, braking tests, etc.) of the electric motorcycles that were presented at the tender published by BSM for the purchase of this type of vehicle for their fleet.


CAMPAIGNS AND ACTIONS FOR THE DEFENCE OF USERS

CO2 Tax – Argumentation of the Draft Bill on Climate Change
April 2016
Presentation of the RACC’s position with regard to the Draft Bill on Climate Change. Report on the inefficiency of the planned new CO2 tax and proposal of possible alternatives.

Assessment of the effectiveness of the VW repair
June 2016
Follow-up and participation in the study, together with the German (ADAC), Austrian (ÖAMTC) and Swiss (TCS) automobile clubs, which assessed the technical results after the repair of diesel cars by the Volkswagen Group.

Road Accident Rate on the N-340
October 2016
Reporting campaign in the media and the social networks on the inadmissible situation on the section of the N-340 road in Catalonia, as a continuation of the action that was already started back in 2015. Publication of an advertisement in the main Catalan newspapers to report the passiveness of the Ministry for Public Works.

Vía Directa
A total of 6,000 cases were dealt with through the Via Directa service since its start, 20 years ago.


CONFERENCES

RACC Tram Forum
May 2016
Round table with experts from different fields on the connection of the tram in Av Diagonal in Barcelona.

Innovation Day of the CARNET platform with Seat and UPC
June 2016

Conference “Sleep and driving, bad travel partners”
July 2016
Conference organised by Fundación Agrupación Mutua and the RACC Foundation, dealing with the psychological, health and technological aspects to treat fatigue and sleep in drivers. The main focus was the importance of resting and planning the trip ahead, the detection and treatment of the most common sleep disorders, such as sleep apnoea, and the development of new intelligent systems to detect distractions or sleep, applied to vehicles.

Catalan Parliament
September 2016
Appearance of the RACC Foundation at the Environment and Sustainability Commission, in relation with the drawing-up of a report on the Draft Bill on Climate Change, to which the RACC presented its position paper in regard with the CO2 tax.

Workshop on the road accident rate of motorcycles
October 2016
Participation in the workshop on the road accident rate of motorcycles at the Creative Lab of the UPC in Terrassa promoted by SEAT. The workshop consisted in a speech using data from audits carried out by the RACC Foundation and bilateral conversations with the groups of students that were carrying out projects related to the topic.

1st Planeta Vial Meeting
October 2016
Participation in the above-mentioned forum made-up of companies and institutions that are committed to road safety, organised by Grupo Planeta. The RACC participated in the Mobility and Prevention module, with a speech on the iRAP Methodology. Roads that save lives.

CODECS Workshop
November 2016
Participation in the workshop on cooperative systems in urban areas, organised by CODECS, on the occasion of the Smart City Congress.

Ecofleet Meeting Point, meeting of sustainable vehicle fleets
November 2016
Participation in the second edition of Ecofleet Meeting Point, aimed at sustainable vehicle fleets, organised by the LIVE Platform and the Spanish Association of Vehicle Fleet Managers (AEGFA), held at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Debate on the Quality of Air: Reduction of Polluting Emissions in Europe
November 2016
Participation in the debate with MEPs, public authorities, scientists and social agents organised by the Office of the European Parliament in Barcelona and with the collaboration of CSIC and ISGlobal.


AGREEMENTS

Agreement with the General Directorate for Territory and Sustainability
January 2016
Collaboration protocol with the aim of co-ordinately promoting a series of actions to improve the sustainability and safety of the mobility for Catalan road users. The agreement includes the development of an App for mobile devices in order to gather and manage claims and suggestions of users on road incidents, the creation of a public opinion barometer on the road network, the joint participation in the international working groups of the Road assessment Programme (iRAP) and the performance of audits to improve the orientation signposting on Catalan Roads.

Agreement with Bureau Veritas
June 2016
Collaboration agreement to work jointly on the improvement of the environmental impact. Development of a methodology for fleet managers to help them calculate, reduce and certify the generated carbon print.

Agreement with the Consortium of the Natural Park of Collserola
November 2016
Collaboration agreement with the aim of working together for the improvement of mobility, road safety and the reduction of the environmental impact of the activities carried out in Passeig de les Aigües. The agreement includes different actions, such as the drawing-up of a Mobility Plan for Passeig de les Aigües, the analysis of the eventual conflicts of mobility modes and the proposal of a new Signposting Plan, as well as the realisation of a joint awareness raising activity with RACC employees.

Agreement with Inrix
Renewal of the agreement for the exchange of traffic and access information by the RACC, for new performances of the App.


PARTICIPATIONS

LIVE Platform
Public/private entity with the aim of promoting sustainable mobility projects in Barcelona and Catalonia and supporting the private sector in order to favour the implementation of strategies related to the vehicles powered with electricity and natural gas. The RACC is a collaborating member of the platform, together with administrations, vehicle and utility manufacturers.

CARNET
Active participation in the CARNET consortium (led by SEAT). As one of the outstanding initiatives, the consortium is preparing the realisation of a pilot test of on-demand car pooling services for the first quarter of 2017.

MaaS Alliance
Inclusion of the RACC as founding member of the MaaS Alliance, a European platform that gathers stakeholders from the public and private sector.

CODECS
Project led by ITS Niedersachsen (together with VW, BMW, etc.) for the promotion of cooperative systems. The aim is to define a common roadmap (for cases of use, technology, business models, etc.) for the development of cooperative systems (previous step to autonomous driving) and to support the coordination of the different initiatives in Europe.

MOBiNET
European innovation project for the development of a pan-European mobility service platform. The platform must be useful both as a marketplace for service providers (B2B) and users, in order to find mobility services that guarantee the continuity and inter-operability in Europe.

InLane
Participation in the European InLane project that develops a low cost navigation system with precision as regards the lane. This solution makes use of the capacities of the new Galileo satellite systems to, amongst others, allow for the reduction of the road accident rate.

CARMEN
Innovative project for the development of a mobile recharging device for electric vehicles. The recharging device is integrated into a hybrid assistance vehicle of the RACC that uses the battery to offer roadside assistance to owners of electric vehicles, as a support for their autonomy, one of the most critical aspects of electromobility. The project is being developed together with Circontrol and Idiad.a, and counts on the support of the CDTI (Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness).

I-CVUE
European project to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles for commercial fleets. The project has developed a tool that calculates the cost of owning fuel-powered vehicles and electric or hybrid vehicles in order to compare the benefits for a fleet manager of a shift to electromobility.

ADAS & ME
Application research, development and testing project in order to detect dangerous behaviours at the wheel, related to inattentiveness, sleepiness and distractions, and to activate automation levels as a response.

MC Mutual
Training in corporate mobility plans. Organisation of two seminars for companies (Barcelona and Madrid).

Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat de Cataluña (Catalan Railway)
Drawing-up of regulation protocols for the replacement and purchase of fleet vehicles.

Table against Air Pollution
Participation in the sessions organised by the Barcelona City Council on the measures to be applied in cases of high contamination levels and the presentation of the structural measures that will be introduced by the city in order to improve the air pollution levels.

Table on the Air Quality in the suburbs of Barcelona
Participation in the plenary sessions organised by the General Directorate for Environment Quality and Climate Change of the Catalan Government.

Mobility Council of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona
Participation in the different meetings.

Road Safety Observatory
Participation in the meetings of the Road Safety Observatory of the Catalan Traffic Authority.


EDUCATION AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES

RACC Educa
Continuation of the RACC Educa activities, the interactive online game that proposes several road safety situations with different difficulty levels according to the age (from 8 to 14 years) and that can be used both at school and at home, collectively or individually. The total number of visits at the RACC Educa website in 2016 was of 6,005.

RACC Educa at the Seminar of the Traffic Police in Barcelona
May 2016
Presence, with the activities of RACC Educa, at the Seminar organised by the Traffic Police held in the Plaza del Fórum in Barcelona.

Young People and Driving Programme
Young People and Driving, education programme in multimedia format, aimed at secondary school, professional training and high school teachers.

Prize-giving of the ninth edition of the Young People and Driving Contest
June 2016
The Young People and Driving contest, aimed teenagers aged 13 to 17 years in Catalonia, encourages schools to work on safe and sustainable mobility aspects. The main aim of the contest is to encourage attitudes that promote a new way to move among youngsters. In 2016, the ninth edition of the contest was organised with a total of 1,813 participants coming from 81 educational centres in Catalonia.

Festa de la Bicicleta (Bicycle Party)
June 2016
Realisation of the activities of Bicivismo (civic bicycle riding) within the programme of the Bicycle Party organised by the Barcelona City Council at Les Glòries square in Barcelona. 300 people participated.

Bicivismo activities
October 2016
Performance of the Bicivismo (civic bicycle riding) activities included in the programme of the festivities in Hostafranc, organised by the Barcelona City Council at Joan Pelegrí square. 100 people participated.

Learning E-Mobility Project (LEMO)
Electromobility training. Project that intends to increase the awareness of citizens as regards electric mobility, especially young people in training age, offering students a modern learning experience and teachers a modern way of teaching.

Tenth edition of the Young People and Mobility Contest
December 2016
Launch of the tenth edition of the contest with a name change, with the intention of increasing the number of topics to be dealt with and with new work typologies: opinion articles, graphic advertisements and video-stories.


OTHER

RACC Infotransit
New version of the Infotransit APP, including a new design and the renewal of the backend in order to adapt it to current technology and prepare it for future updates with new functionalities. Presentation of the offer to the tender launched by SCT to get real-time traffic information.

Vía Directa
Around 205 complaints were dealt with in 2016. It should be highlighted that the service has started to deal with claims coming from the RACC social media, after an internal collaboration agreement. 2016 was the 20th anniversary of the launch of this service for users.


EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS

FIA
The FIA is a non-profit organisation made-up of more than one hundred automobile organisations from all over the world. The RACC forms part of the FIA since 1998 and is currently represented in the following working groups and the government bodies:

• FIA World Council for Automobile Mobility and Tourism
• FIA Mobility Policy Commission

Within the FIA Region I (clubs from Europe, East Europe and Africa) the RACC is represented in the following bodies

• Presidential Board
• Management Council
• Euroboard
• Euroboard Coordination Group
• Technical Working Group
• Transport and Mobility Working Group
• Legal & Consumer Affairs Group
• EuroTest


ERTICO
ERTICO is an organisation founded in 1991 by the European Commission, the Transport Ministries and the automobile industry to promote the creation and the dissemination of intelligent transport systems. The RACC participates actively in the working groups and government bodies:

• Supervisory Board
• Strategy Committee
• Traffic Management 2.0
• Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Alliance
• TISA (Traveller Information Services Association)

In the field of intelligent transport systems, the RACC does also participate in ITS Spain, as member of the managing council; in the TISA world association, as part of the Tisa Committees; and in the Qbench project, as member of the task force.

EuroRAP
The RACC is the leader in Spain of EuroRAP, a non-profit international programme that analyses the quality of road infrastructures to introduce improvements to reduce both accident risks and their consequences. The collaborators in Spain include the Ministry for Public Works, the Spanish Traffic Authority (DGT), the Catalan Traffic Authority (SCT), the Department for Territory and Sustainability of the Catalan Government and the Basque Government. The RACC forms part of the following EuroRAP governing bodies:

• Board of Directors
• Technical Committee

Following this same line, iRAP, the international road assessment project is focussed on the analysis of roads in developing countries. The RACC has analysed the road networks of several countries in Central and South America and is part of the Board of Directors.

Technical Road Association
In Spain, the RACC forms part of the Managing Board and the Road Safety Committee of the Technical Road Association.

ITS Spain
The RACC is member of the New Transport technologies Forum and participates actively in the organised seminars and the promoted projects.

Department for Territory and Sustainability of the Catalan Government
The RACC participates in the following working groups:

• GT-31: Working Group for the Identification and Categorization of the Road Network
• GT-32: Working Group for Signposting in Catalonia
• GT-36: Working Group for the Determination of Criteria for Road Mobility Studies
• GT-TiT: Working Group for T&T, Territorial and Theme Signposting

Spanish Traffic Authority (DGT)
The RACC forms part of several working groups promoted by the DGT, autonomous agency that depends from the Ministry of the Interior and responsible for the execution of the road safety policy in Spain:

• Higher Council of Traffic
• GT-52 Group for Motorcycle Road Safety

Catalan Traffic Authority (SCT)
In Catalonia, the competences in the field of traffic and road safety have been transferred to the SCT. The RACC participates in the Catalan Commission for Traffic and Road Safety and is adhered to the research group on safety in case of fire and explosion of vehicles, boosted by the Institute for Public Safety in Catalonia.

Mobility Pact
The RACC forms part of groups that are dedicated to encourage and promote sustainable mobility in the city of Barcelona, such as the Mobility Pact of the Barcelona City Council.

Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM)
The RACC forms part of the Mobility Council of the Metropolitan Transport Authority (ATM).

Barcelona Board for Cooperative and Automated Driving (BBCAD)
Table for the promotion of initiatives dealing with cooperative systems and autonomous driving in the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area. With the participation of the Barcelona City Council, Idiada, UPC and Cellnex, in addition to the RACC.

Mobility on top of the current Agenda

In the past, topics dealing with the mobility of people had not taken up so much of the daily information and debate space in the media as they do now. This intensive presence in the current agenda is due to the fact that the actions and opinions of the RACC, mediated by the RACC Foundation, are highly demanded and valued by RACC members and by public opinion.

Thanks to the studies and to a rigorous and contrasted opinion, the RACC has turned into a first order actor, achieving recognition, notoriety and prescription power in front of the media and civil society.

The defence of users and their families is still one of the backbones of the Foundation. During 2016, we put on the table topics with public transcendence such as distractions at the wheel due to the use of smartphones, one of the main causes for road accidents in our country; and the fact that almost 200,000 people have to deal with traffic jams in Barcelona when accessing the city, a problem that leads to a loss of 52,000 hours every day.

But the topic on which we have focussed our biggest efforts was the high road accident rate on the N-340, in the sections running through Tarragona. The publication of a forceful report in the main general information newspapers and the issuing of a press release generated interviews in the radio programmes with the largest audiences (RAC1 and Catalunya Ràdio), as well as in TV3; and we were trending topic in social media.

The RACC Forums, analysing the tram connection along Av Diagonal in Barcelona had also a prominent presence in the media. The RACC opened the debate about one of the biggest current projects of the city of Barcelona.

2016 was also the start of a specific communication about mobility issues to Club members by means of e-mailings, which allowed them to receive information about the studies of the RACC almost at the same time as the media, thus reinforcing the direct relationship with the RACC members.

The Communication of the Foundation in figures

Along 2016, the RACC Foundation organised 9 press conferences and issued 11 press releases on mobility topics. The Press Department dealt with 375 information and interview requests made by journalists, many of them directly related to RACC Foundation topics.

Likewise, the RACC Press Room continues to be an ally for media professionals, who make use of the consultation possibilities it offers, which is an essential aspect for their daily work.

The information issued by the Foundation is also gathered in the MoviNews newsletter, which has managed to become a reference in the field of mobility.The websites of the Foundation have also become a popular source of information, each one in its specific field of action. A highlight is the site RACC Información Práctica (RACC Practical Information), the aim of which is to offer users specific advice for their daily mobility, with more than 919,422 pages viewed along these years.



The websites of the Foundation

Informative
Fundación RACC
Mobility Forums

Service
RACC Infotransit
Boletín MoviNews newsletter
Vía Directa

Educational
"Young People and Driving" contest
RACC Educa

Campaigns
Rescue Sheet