EuroTAP Brochure - EuroTest

EuroTaP for
SafE TunnElS
Quality | Safety | Mobility

Vice-President Jacques barrot,
european Commission
i very much welcome the eurotaP audit Report and
the support of aDaC and its partner automobile
clubs in helping to accelerate the widespread
implementation of the european Directive on Safety
in tunnels. across europe, well ahead of schedule,
Member States are putting in place national plans
backed by signifi cant investment to refurbish and
raise the quality and safety of their road tunnel
infrastructure. the report shows that overall the
situation is very much improved, but of course there
is always room for improvement.
eurotaP’s collaboration with tunnel operators,
authorities, experts and users has underlined the
importance of good management and brought
forward welcome new research and debate in the
area of tunnel safety.
i am very pleased with this important work and with
eurotaP’s contribution to road safety.
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President Peter Meyer
aDaC e.V.
for aDaC, europe’s biggest motoring club, consumer
protection is central to our raison d’être. We are
committed to it without compromise. our consumer
protection activities span a broad spectrum: from
crash testing to accident research; from inspecting
motorway service areas to the promotion of consumer
interests in mobility.
eurotaP is one of our most striking consumer
protection initiatives. thanks to the support of our
many partner clubs we have been able to guarantee
eurotaP’s success europe-wide.
i would like to thank the european Commission for
its support in recent years. and looking to the future,
we assure you that eurotaP will continue to identify
shortcomings and report them to the public to make
europe’s tunnels safe.

“I regard the efforts to achieve
greater safety in tunnels as an
ongoing, lasting process.”
Walter Steiner, operations manager,
Gotthard tunnel
the same horrific pictures time and again:
thick black smoke bellowing out of tunnel portals,
powerless fire fighters, cars burnt to a cinder. the
Montblanc and tauern tunnels in 1999, Gotthard
tunnel in 2001 – the most disastrous fires of recent
years in europe’s tunnels.
a lack of equipment, tunnels unable to cope, wrong
decisions for fire fighting. the shortcomings were
seared into the consciousness of the public and
those in charge. it quickly became obvious that
safety in europe’s road tunnels had to be improved.

the only way to achieve this was through an eu
Directive, which up to then had been lacking. the
preparatory work was undertaken by the uNeCe
Group of experts on Safety in tunnels which met
regularly in Geneva and finally tabled its
recommendations at the end of 2001. top experts
from all over europe were involved in this process
from the very outset, along with key organisations
such as PiaRC (World Road association) or CeDR
(Conférence européenne des Directeurs des Routes).
the motoring clubs also contributed their valuable
practical experience gained from their annual
tunnel tests.
Club testing began in the disaster year of 1999.
Since 2005, the test series has been conducted
using the brand name eurotaP (european tunnel
assessment Programme). the european Commission
will continue backing this programme until the end
of 2007.
the decisive milestone on the road towards greater
safety in europe’s road tunnels was the adoption
of the european Directive on minimum safety
requirements in the trans-european Road Network
in 2004. the implementation period of this Directive
will end in 2019. it is up to the Member States to
fill these requirements with life and to realise the
dream of safe tunnels throughout europe as soon
as possible.
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“The worst I’ve ever seen.”
Dr Dieter tetzner, DMt tunnel expert,
after the test of Segesta tunnel
No ventilation, no emergency phones, no video
surveillance. With such abysmal safety features the
40-year-old Paci 2 tunnel in southern italy scored
almost zero points and came last in the eurotaP
2007 test. Proof that the days of tunnels being
empty black holes has not yet come to an end.
“We know how bad we are.”
Mauro antonio, surveyor, Segesta tunnel,
tested “very poor” in 2006
the history of european tunnel testing already began
back in 1999 when aDaC was able to present to the
press the latest test results from all of europe just
two days after the inferno in tauern tunnel, which
included the tube in which the disaster had occurred.
the success in the media was outstanding because
the aDaC inspectors were the only neutral experts
to have inspected tauern tunnel just a short time
before the accident.
Henceforth, tests were conducted annually and by
2004, a total of 150 tunnels had been tested. the
results were published in the form of ratings. this
transparency triggered something completely
unknown in the field of european infrastructures:
competition among road tunnels whose safety
standards were suddenly visible and comparable
for all.

early in 2005 a new chapter for the clubs began with
eurotaP, which had the backing of the european
Commission. this three-year mammoth programme
combined another 150 tunnel checks with intensive
education and training for motorists on how to behave
correctly in tunnels. today, eurotaP is synonymous
with tunnel safety throughout europe, represented
by 12 motoring clubs from 11 countries: the aa
(Great britain), aCi (italy), aDaC (Germany), aMZS
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(Slovenia), aNWb (the Netherlands), HaK (Croatia), Naf
(Norway), ÖaMtC (austria), RaCC and RaCe (Spain),
tCb (belgium), tCS (Switzerland) and the european
bureau of the fia (fédération internationale de
l’automobile) in brussels. the partner clubs represent
and defend the interests of around 34 million motorists.

“After we faired so badly, all hell broke loose here.
The media circus was terrible, but after that, things
got off to a very quick start.”
Gregorio Rubio Manzares, manager, San Juan tunnel
last place, a rating of “very poor”, ripped apart by
the country’s press as europe’s worst tunnel: that
was the San Juan tunnel in the south of Spain back
in april 2002.“after we faired so badly, all hell broke
loose here. the media circus was terrible, but after
that, things got off to a very quick start”, tunnel
manager Gregorio Rubio Manzares recalls. Spain’s
government invested around four million euros in
bringing the tunnel up to scratch. this tunnel is
now a state-of-the-art safe tube. the test result in
2005: “good”.

a similar series of events took place in Germany’s
Kappelberg tunnel near Stuttgart. the harsh criticism
expressed in the 2002 tunnel test and a rating of
“poor” also gave cause for action here. around 12
million euros went into refurbishing this tunnel. “We
picked up on every criticism”, says andreas Klein from
the Stuttgart district government. the consequence
of this was a rating of “very good” in the follow-up
test in 2006.
the eurotaP principle of “testing – assessing –
informing – improving” is repeatedly successful, and
not just when it comes to individual tunnels.
following the disappointing ratings in 2004 for the
tuhobic and ucka tunnels in Croatia, the Croatian
government responded with targeted, nationwide
investments. the reward for these efforts: significantly
better test ratings in the years that followed, with the
brinje tunnel actually coming first in the 2007 test.
the widespread publication of eurotaP has also
helped the implementation of national refurbishment
programmes currently underway. france, for example,
is investing a good two billion euros in its tunnels.
Now let’s take a look at the most important element
in this safety concept: the motorist. Since 2004,
eurotaP has been conducting a pan-european
information campaign to train motorists in how to
behave correctly in tunnels. and here there is plenty
of good news. in January 2007, following a massive
pile-up involving 48 cars, 150 people fled so quickly
from austria’s ehrentalerberg tunnel that everybody
was able to escape without injury.
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“We picked up on every criticism.”
andreas Klein, Stuttgart district government,
on Kappelberg tunnel

over the past three years, the eurotaP inspectors
have travelled more than 125,000 kilometres, which
is equal to three times around the world. on their
travels, they visited 152 tunnels in 18 countries,
inspected them extensively and assessed their level
of safety.
the results which they brought home with them
are primarily good. 60 percent of europe’s most
important road tunnels demonstrated a high level
of safety and were rated “good” or “very good”.
Coming out on top were the test winners: tying for
fi rst place in 2005 were the Markusberg tunnel in
luxembourg and the ottsdorf tunnel in austria, the
2006 winner was the M-12 tunnel in Spain, and in
2007, the brinje tunnel in Croatia.
“In the 2007 EuroTAP tunnel test
every fi fth tunnel was shown the
red card due to considerable
shortcomings in safety – too many
in the age of state-of-the-art tunnel
philosophy.”
Nicolas adunka, test manager, aDaC
but still, 21 percent and hence more than one in
fi ve of the tunnels tested over the past three years
failed to meet the minimum standards specifi ed by
the european tunnel Directive. to put it in concrete
fi gures: 12 ratings of “poor” and 19 ratings of “very
poor” were issued. and it literally rained “poor”
ratings in those countries with the most tunnels,
i.e. Norway and italy. two thirds of tunnels failed to
make the grade in italy, as did half of the tunnels
in Norway.
in the statistical comparison of countries, Croatia
and Slovenia delivered a positive surprise, heading
the fi eld here. However, these two countries have
only a limited number of tunnels, all of which are still
relatively new. this makes austria’s third place all
the more valuable in light of this country’s diffi cult
topography and long tunnel tradition.

the most serious lacunas in safety were found in
the following areas: escape and rescue routes, fire
protection, ventilation and traffic monitoring. the
most important and most frequent shortcomings:
single-tube tunnels with bi-directional traffic, no
emergency exits or exits situated too far apart, no
escape routes or poorly signposted routes, no
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automatic fire alarm systems, no fire extinguishers,
no video surveillance or only in certain sections, and
distances far too long for rescue services to cover.

“We must ensure that best practices
are spread throughout the whole Union.”
ari Vatanen, MeP
Nobody knows what it will cost to implement the
european tunnel Directive. in 2002, the european
Commission put the price at around six billion euros.
the fact is, as the eurotaP results show, that at least
a fifth of europe’s most important tunnels do not
provide a sufficient level of safety. Still, the Member
States must implement by 2014, in exceptional
cases by 2019. this is a huge task, not just in
financial terms.
in 2001, the european union set the target to
reduce by half the number of fatalities on europe’s
roads by 2010. Safer tunnels will contribute to this
goal. eurotaP has shown that more than half of the
tunnels tested have standards of safety that exceed
the level demanded by the eu. the european
Commission has proposed a new directive that seeks
to achieve uniform levels of safety across the entire
road infrastructure which is similar in its objectives
to the tunnel Directive. it goes without saying that
this will also call for safer vehicles and careful users.
in tunnels, safety also includes staff and emergency
teams. in italy’s San Martino tunnel, it took rescue
services a total of 45 minutes in September 2007
to reach the site of an accident. this delay cost two
people their lives and more than 100 people
suffered from smoke inhalation.

When it comes to training tunnel staff, eurotaP
proposes the use of low-cost, interactive, computersupported
training programmes. europe’s motoring
clubs started to educate and train motorists in 2004
with the launch of the pan-european “Safe tunnels”
campaign. this work has been continued by eurotaP.
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along with further inspections, this unique programme
will continue to closely monitor the implementation
of the european tunnel Directive and to inform
motorists. the common goal: safe tunnels throughout
europe in 12 years from now at the latest. according
to ari Vatanen, european parliamentarian: “We must
ensure that best practices are spread throughout the
whole union.”

“eurotaP fits precisely into the eu’s goal to cut by half
the number of fatalities on europe’s roads by 2010.
We are grateful for the enormous contribution that has
been made up to now and eagerly await the continuation
of the programme.”
“the fia and the many associated motoring clubs have
gone to great lengths to make transport and daily mobility
more safe. eurotaP and its success in achieving greater
tunnel safety are a very important part of this work. We
will continue to promote this programme in the future.”
“the principle of eurotaP works time and again: we
test, we exert public pressure via the media, and those
in charge respond by investing and refurbishing. this
results in safer tunnels and everybody benefits.”
Professor Reinhard Rack,
MeP/Rapporteur eu Directive
Werner Kraus,
President fia Region 1
Robert Sauter,
eurotaP Chairman

System requirements:
· System: PC (Windows XP or Vista)
· Processor: minimum 1.2Ghz
· active store: minimum 512Mb
· Resolution: minimum 1024 x 768 pixel
· Sound: 16-bit sound card
(for video sound)
· Device: CD-RoM
installation/Handling note:
· autostart and
stand-alone application
· No installation required
· Starting file: eurotaP.exe
euRotaP oN CD
after three years of eurotaP and 152 tunnel tests in
18 countries you can now read the comprehensive
technical report detailing all aspects: test results,
analyses, solutions. With the report comes an
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interactive teaching game on how to behave correctly
in tunnels, the eurotaP fi lm plus the eurotaP
information leafl et. everything compiled on one CD!
So simply pop the CD into your computer and discover
for yourself the world of eurotaP.

Publisher:
aDaC e. V.
am Westpark 8
81373 Munich
Germany
www.adac.de
Responsible for contents:
Robert Sauter
aDaC e. V.
editing:
Caroline ofoegbu
fia european bureau
Project management for brochure:
Nicolas adunka
aDaC e. V.
Contact:
Nicolas.adunka@adac.de
www.eurotap.eu
Photos:
Photo ullrich (frohnleiten, a)
yägverket Region Stockholm (Solna, S)