Jack Short, Secretary General of the ITF, Eric Howard, Chair OECD/ITF Joint Transport Research Centre Working Group on Ambitious Road Safety Targets, Director General of the FIA Foundation
The International Transport Forum (ITF), the global inter-governmental forum of Transport Ministers, has hosted a Seminar on road safety with support from the FIA Foundation to promote cutting edge policies for achieving major reductions in deaths and serious injuries on the roads.
Involving 150 participants from 39 countries, experts at the Seminar briefed high level decision makers and held a policy debate on implementation, political feasibility and public acceptance of the measures recommended by researchers and by road safety managers in the best performing countries.
The Seminar focused on the value of quantitative targets and the benefits of a “Safe System” approach to achieve major reductions in the number of fatalities and injuries. It stressed the importance of improving the safety of road infrastructure as well as driver behaviour, vehicle safety and law enforcement. It drew upon the road safety policies of the Netherlands and Sweden - Sustainable Safety and Vision Zero respectively – which aim towards zero deaths and serious injuries as the ultimate level of ambition.
In line with the policy agenda being formulated ahead of the UN Ministerial Conference on road safety in November 2009 the Seminar discussed the importance of ensuring that governments identify a lead agency outlining clear roles and responsibilities for road safety. It noted that the UN Conference will provide an opportunity for the experience of leading road safety nations to be passed on.
Jack Short, Secretary General of the ITF, acknowledged the positive trends in a number of his organisation’s member countries and highlighted the need to spread best practice further.
While, overall there has been a significant reduction in the number of fatalities over the past three decades (more than 50% in many ITF countries), success has not been shared equally, he said. Mr Short underlined that “there remains in all countries a large potential for improvement and significant reduction in road deaths”.
Also speaking at the Seminar, David Ward, Director General of the FIA Foundation stressed that “road users and the general public are an increasingly powerful force in pushing road safety up the political agenda. ‘Consumer demand’ has resulted in programmes such as EuroNCAP car safety testing that have radically improved safety levels”. The IRAP road infrastructure assessment programme is now beginning to promote a similar revolution in the design and maintenance of roads, he said.
At the Seminar, the ITF/OECD Joint Transport Research Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Bank to formalise co-operation between the Bank and the International Road Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD), a centre of expertise for monitoring and evaluating road safety policies.
The agreement will help experts work with low and middle income countries to develop effective data collection and analysis systems.
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