Mobilising Private Sector Capital for Road Safety
The IRF convened on10th June an interactive workshop with road concessionaires and other key stakeholders on mobilising private sector capital for road safety. The workshop supports a World Bank Group initiative being implemented in partnership with theInternational Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) and the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).
Road crashes are the biggest killer of young people worldwide. More than 100,000 people are killed and injured on the world’s roads each and every day. The proven, high-return, and evidence-based infrastructure solutions to save lives exist. There is currently a significant underfunding of infrastructure for road safety and a latent need to mobilize private financing. It is estimated that an additional US$260 billion of financing will be required to achieve the road safety related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3.6 and 11.2 in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) over the coming decade.
Mobilizing financing for road safety interventions is very high in the agenda of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the United Nations and it is a fundamental part of the WBG sustainable transport strategy. Increasing private investment in road safety, including through Social Impact Bonds, was highlighted as a high priority area during the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety that was held in Stockholm in February 2020.
The workshop convened byIRF offered the possibility to exchange views and expertise while solutions are being sought to support impact investment and innovative finance initiatives for road safety. The Association of European Tollway Operators (ASECAP) and its USA equivalent, IBTTA shared also their views at the meeting.
Please contact IRF at Info@irfnet.ch to learn more or to get involved.
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IRF President, Mr Bill Halkias at ASECAP Webinar on Road Safety
Building a wide road safety culture to reach Vision Zero goal
IRF President, Mr Bill Halkias, joined a high-level interactive discussion with other policymakers and stakeholders at the 13th edition of ASECAP’s 2021 Road Safety Conference held on 22 June 2021. The conference’s theme was “Building a wide road safety culture to reach Vision Zero goal” and was hosted by Giuseppe Ferrandino, Member of the European Parliament.
IThis webinar, which brought together over 150 participants from 20 countries, was an opportunity to analyse and discuss how to build a wide road safety culture involving all the interested stakeholders: road users, industry, policymakers from the European Commission, and the Parliament and road infrastructure operators. The objective pursued is to draw recommendations that could help to reach Vision Zero goal.
During his opening remarks, Mr Bill Halkias reminded the joint cooperation between ASECAP and IRF with the MOU signed in 2019 during the road safety event in the Parliament premises. He also highlighted the need for change in the way we think when talking about road safety – included its culture and action plans – making reference to the Safe System Approach in which road safety becomes a shared responsibility.
The culture and standards for achieving higher levels of Road Safety lie in the joint efforts of public and private sector as well as in programmes that engage youth and civil society.
– Mr. Bill Halkias, IRF President
Proceedings of the event and all other resources are now available on the Event's website.
LEARN Project kicks off in Uganda
Improving road safety is a key development priority for Africa and for Uganda. Despite comparatively low motorisation levels, the continent witnessed the world’s highest rate of road traffic fatalities. This pandemic calls on all of us to step up our efforts.
The LEARN Project was introduced in Uganda on 22 –23 June 2021 during a virtual training course under the theme "Partnership for Road Safety Data". The workshop was organised by IRF and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety with the support the Total Energies Foundation and coordinated locally by the Uganda Road Accident Reduction Network Organization (URRENO).
While building data-related knowledge and skills, participants familiarised themselves with a range of tools and techniques that can help drive change and communicate a robust road safety message. One of the primary objectives of the LEARN training is, in fact, to increase awareness about the fundamental role of data to deliver effective solutions. Initiatives targeted at reducing road fatalities need to be supported by up-to-date and precise data in order to set the right targets as well as to measure and monitor progress and achievements.
What is the LEARN Project?
The International Road Federation (IRF) and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety launched an initiative called “LEARN” (Learn, Examine, Apply, Replicate, Network), with the aim to enhance the data knowledge, skills, and actions of a selected group of road safety professionals and stakeholders via a hands-on, real-time and contextual capacity development process in African countries.
The long-term objective is to support the creation of a multi-stakeholder community in the respective countries to improve road safety policy and action. Once the course is completed, mentoring continues to support the first steps of the participants by connecting them to other ongoing processes and initiatives in the country and Africa as a whole.
Delivered by:
With the support of:
Report Release: Africa’s response to impacts of COVID-19 on transport & mobility
Produced by the International Road Federation and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, the HVT-funded report "COVID-19 impact on transport and mobility in Africa – A review of policy and practice in seven African countries" has now been released.
The report adresses the COVID-19 measures implemented in seven countries in Africa (Cameroon, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda) providing background and insights into the transport-related restrictions such as those affecting international travel, public transport, and urban and inter-urban travel restrictions. The report assesses the impact of these measures on transport – specifically looking at the impact on individual mobility to various locations such as public transport stations, workplaces, and residential areas, prior to providing insights into the detailed qualitative findings derived from interviews and focus groups discussions. Lastly, detailed case studies for all seven countries are put forward, prior to key findings and recommendations being presented.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments in the seven focus countries applied a wide range of measures spanning from restrictions on public gatherings, curfews, closures of establishments such as restaurants, as well as to significant restrictions on international and national travel and transport more generally. Once first cases were confirmed, all countries eventually imposed the highest level of restrictions for international travel, meaning that international incoming and outgoing flights were banned, and borders were closed. However, the longevity of these measures varied significantly, as well as how countries chose to continue operating thereafter. Importantly, the severity of the restrictions did not always coincide with the rate of virus spread within the countries. Many countries reopened their borders despite rising case numbers for fear of the severe negative impacts on their economy.
Comparing mobility behaviour across all countries and locations between the first and second COVID-19 waves (wave one being defined as March to June 2020; wave two as September to December 2020) it can be observed that the reduction of mobility was generally much larger during the first wave than during the second.
A dedicated webinar was hosted on 27 May 2021 to present the key findings and recommendations.
The report findings constitute the emergent best practices, aggregated based on the data collected and analysed using both top-down and bottom-up approaches to policy formulation, implementation process and community behaviour in the seven countries. The report findings centre around the importance of:
- Creating a national taskforce with regular consultations and follow-up meetings to allow time-sensitive and extensive collaboration among the various actors;
- Integrating representatives of the informal transportation sector;
- Fostering dialogue and harmonising cross-border Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), such as for testing strategies at land borders, which can mitigate the complications for cross-border traffic;
- Enforcing and implementing a thorough Monitoring and Evaluation process at all levels;
- Improving coordination within the transport sector;
- Encouraging a more rapid and effective development of user-friendly and safe transport infrastructure environments;
- Implementing stable pricing policies to maintain public transport affordable;
The report concludes by drawing out four key policy recommendations for transport stakeholders that can provide a way forward during the “new normal”.
Digital Toolkit for Energy and Mobility Released
Global Roadmap of Action towards Sustainable Mobility (GRA) as part of the Sustainable Mobility for All (Sum4All) partnership
The International Road Federation (IRF) is proud to have contributed to the “Digital Toolkit for Energy and Mobility” which presents a discourse on some of the best practices to achieve energy efficiency in transport through the lens of three policies: promote public discussions on new mobility solutions e.g., autonomous vehicles, e-mobility, and on-demand transportation; expand public transport infrastructure; and plan for integrated multimodal transport networks.
The development of this toolkit is part of a comprehensive effort undertaken by the Sustainable Mobility for All (SuM4All) partnership to elaborate an actionable Global Roadmap of Action toward Sustainable Mobility (GRA). Led by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)-High Volume Transport (HVT) Applied Research Programme under the SuM4All umbrella, the toolkit is developed for public policymakers, transport and energy experts, researchers, and the wider public and private sector stakeholders interested in or implementing action on low emission mobility addressing the nexus between transport and energy.
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Press release: IRF India Chapter webinar on “Road Safety Management And Action Plan"
New Delhi May 18, 2021
As part of improving road safety in the country, all new national highways to have advanced traffic management systems (ATMs) – Mr R.K. Pandey, member projects, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI)
Corrective measures being taken to remove black spots on national highways taking time, concerned authorities urged to complete the rectification at the earliest
“The Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) will include immediate location identification of areas where traffic bottlenecks occur due to accidents or other reasons and provision of information to motorists on that stretch immediately, meteorological systems, speed detection systems, mobile radio communication systems including base and repeater stations, vehicle-mounted and handheld units and transmission towers in addition to CCTV units at strategic locations to ensure immediate access to information in emergencies”, said Mr R. K. Pandey, Member projects, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) while inaugurating a webinar on ‘Road safety management and action plan’ organised by the India chapter of International Road Federation(IRF) a global body working for better and safer roads worldwide.
“At present in most of the NHAi ongoing projects road safety has been incorporated as built-in with provision to all kind of flyovers, underpasses and overhead passes. Road safety audits are being taken at various stages of construction, including at the end of the project. For the existing roads, measures have been taken to remove the black spots.” said Mr Pandey.
“Currently 4500 black spots have been identified on the National Highways and 2500 have been rectified, work on 1000 is in progress. As corrective engineering measures being taken to remove black spots are taking long, we have urged the concerned authorities and construction companies to remove the engineering faults at the earliest” said Mr Pandey.
“India accounts for more than 10 percent of global fatal road accidents, highest in the world, International Road Federation (IRF) as part of its effort to reduce fatal road accidents in the country has taken up safe road construction projects in seven states including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka. These roads will be the safest roads in the country with minimum accidents and almost no road fatality the most desirable design standards are being selected and implemented. The 5E’s of safe road operation including Engineering, Enforcement, Encouragement, Education, and Emergency care are being fully carried out while construction of the highway is in full swing” said Mr K. K. Kapila, President Emeritus of Geneva-based International Road Federation (IRF) working worldwide for better and safer roads worldwide.
“India should follow the road safety measures adopted in the state of Tamil Nadu, which has brought down road accident fatalities considerably and created an infrastructure which is safe and times taken for reaching the accident victim or site is same as world standards”, said Dr. Shomik Raj Mehndiratta, Practice Manager, Transport – South Asia, The World Bank.
Others who spoke at the seminar included:
- Mr. Kailash C Tiwari, Consultant, Australia will.
- Mr. Krishnan Srinivasan . Sr. Road Safety Consultant with the World Bank.
- Dr. S. M. Sarin, Former Scientist-G, CRRI, Mr. Tony Mathew, Pr. Transport Specialist and Dr. John Fletcher, Principal Consultant, TRL-UK
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EU-funded Project FRONTIER kicks off
The EU-funded FRONTIER project promises to bring driverless cars, cutting-edge
traffic management and reduced transport emissions to Europe's citizens
A new vision of transport is emerging in Europe. Nowadays we count with a greater number of transport options and a much more integrated transport model that are driving Europe towards becoming a global leader in the field.
Growing population translates into increased demand for transport, and that can negatively affect our efforts towards controlling impacts on climate. In this framework, traffic management becomes crucial in overcoming risks and challenges related to transport.
The EU-funded FRONTIER project, launched on 1 May 2021, promises to bring driverless cars, cutting-edge traffic management and reduced transport emissions to Europe’s citizens.
The IRF and 18 high-profile partners are working to empower a seamless transition to a new era in transport management.
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Swarco to host IRF DG at next Innovation Talk
The SWARCO INNOVATION HUB is a novel initiative to foster the ties between corporations, cities, industry associations, academia and research institutions in shaping together future mobility.
Our aim is to create an eco-system based on learning and interaction among stakeholders that will enable us to address in the best possible way the needs of the user and community.
As an initiative of the HUB we are organizing a live INNOVATION TALK on 1st July at 10:00 CEST gathering experts from different fields of activity for an opinion exchange on the topic. Swarco will have the pleasure to welcome Susanna Zammataro, Director General at the International Road Federation and other eminent speakers for an exchange on “How do we get around in 2035?”.
The expert talk will deal with our ways and modes of mobility in the nearer future. Cooperative, connected and automated mobility (CCAM), roads that are read by vehicles, micromobility and e-mobility, public transport, mobility in more livable cities are topics to address in this context.
More info soon available on: https://www.swarco.com/.
