IRF President Calls for Concerted Action to Decarbonise the Sector at ASECAP Days 2022
Under the theme “Decarbonising Road Infrastructure: Challenges, Perspectives and Actions in Tough Economy” the 49th ASECAP Annual Event was held on 24-25 November 2022 in Brussels. The event gathered high-level personalities from the EU Institutions and other international organisations, including the International Road Federation (IRF).
The conference focused more specifically on how to decarbonise the road infrastructure to reach the objectives set up by elected officials to have Europe first zero carbon continent and to ensure a resilient, robust, and safe road infrastructure network.
IRF President, Anouar Benazzouz, speaking at the Opening Ceremony stated “We need to learn system thinking. We need to build true partnerships to deliver on these critical issues“ as he called for concerted action to decarbonise the sector.
During his address, he focused on the recently-published joint road sector statement for COP27, released by IRF together with ASECAP, ERTICO, ERF, IRU, ARMFA and ITA-AITES . These leading organisations have restated the sector’s firm commitment to effectively reduce CO2 emissions to net-zero by 2050 in line with the Paris Agreement. You can find the joint statement here.
Mr Benazzouz echoed some of the key messages from the joint statement, calling for all parties to act with pragmatism, ensure a just transition and embrace innovation.
- “Pragmatism, because roads serve all other transport modes and are essential for a well-functioning multi-modal system.”
- “A just transition, because all countries have different transport and energy landscapes, with widely different challenges and it’s important to take local specificities into consideration.”
- “Innovation, because the challenge requires us to adopt a holistic approach that translates in investments in hard infrastructure but also soft measures.”
IRF Director General, Susanna Zammataro, and IRF Deputy Director General, Gonzalo Alcaraz, were also present at the ASECAP Days 2022 to address respectively road safety and the role of infrastructure in autonomous mobility.
Access here the full speech of Mr Anouar Benazzouz. All proceedings are available on the event’s official page.
IRF Members Discuss Activities for 2023
The International Road Federation (IRF) held its annual IRF Members’ Briefing on 2 December 2022. The event is a recurrent occasion for the Federation and its members and provides an opportunity to review achievements for the year 2022 and look at the programme of work approved by the IRF Board of Directors for 2023.
“During this year, we have continued expanding our reach and growing our network, to provide you with more opportunities to connect, to find partners for your work or for your business or simply to learn and grow knowledge and skills. Our work on policy and advocacy has further helped this year to maintain and consolidate our reputation internationally” highlighted IRF President, Anouar Benazzouz during his welcome address.
The meeting reviewed the numerous in-person and online events and activities that the IRF staged or got involved in this 2022 – a trend the Federation expects to see in growth next year.The IRF Annual Conference,hosted in person in Morocco, was certainly one of the highlights of this years’ events.
Looking ahead, the Federation is looking forward to a new year of challenges and opportunities to grow and connect with its members and partners as 2023 will mark also its 75th anniversary, and the beginning of preparations for the IRF World Congress to be held in Istanbul in 2024.
The meeting closed with a networking and group discussion session in which the IRF Members had the opportunity to exchange with each other on their interests, priorities and ideas. If you would like to know more about becoming an IRF Member, visit our Membership page or contact us at membership@irfnet.ch.
LEARN Project in Action: Tunisia and Zambia
LEARN is a joint initiative between the International Road Federation (IRF) and the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, supported by TotalEnergies Foundation, which brings together national government officials, police, road safety NGOs, private sector, and academia to learn how to gather and analyse road safety data more effectively and to use that data to implement effective interventions that will reduce road deaths and injuries. Through the project, the partners create and implement a joint action plan for a specific data collection project that can utilise the strengths and experiences of their different sectors. It has so far been implemented in six countries in Africa (Kenya, Senegal, Uganda, Cameroon, Zambia, and Tunisia).
Tunisia: Better Data for Safer Roads Through LEARN
In Tunisia, LEARN has helped to synchronise the efforts of government agencies, the road safety observatory, police, NGOs, and private sector to collect, share, and use crash and road death data more effectively so that road safety interventions can be targeted more accurately for greatest effect. Prior to the LEARN Tunisia project, data was recorded on paper, was inconsistent, and did not identify details such as the age, gender, or other details of victims, nor exactly where the crash happened. It was cumbersome for police officers to complete.
For example, through LEARN, the association Les Ambassadeurs de la Securite Routiere (ASR) has built a coalition including the Ministries of Interior, Health, and Transport to share data across departments more effectively and support the implementation of a new digital data collection tool in collaboration with ONSR. The new collection tool replaced the paper forms used by police to record crash details with a digital app, that automatically records the geolocation of the crash. Using the app, police officers can quickly record details such as the age of victims, whether they were wearing a seatbelt, the state of the road, the weather, and the circumstances of the crash. The data feeds from the app to the government database, where it can be analysed by ONSR. Read more here.
Zambia: Implementation of 30 km/h Law Through LEARN
In Zambia, the association Zambia Road Safety Trust (ZRST) is coordinating a LEARN project that is enabling roll out of 30 km/h zones. ZRST organised a LEARN workshop involving government officials from the Ministry of Transport and Logistics, the Transport and Safety Agency, the Zambia Police, the Ministry of Education, the Lusaka City Authorities, NGOs and private sector partners. Through the workshop, the partners created a collective action plan that outlined the roles that each sector needed to play in order to successfully implement the 30 km/h law and ensured that they had the information and resources necessary to do so.
The action plan has now been put into action using the LEARN methodology. In order to gather information around schools and other busy areas with lots of pedestrians, the police are collaborating with NGOs, including ZRST. They are using this data to establish which streets should be prioritised for 30 km/h signs and other speed calming interventions, as well as pedestrian facilities such as speed bumps, sidewalks, and pedestrian crossings. The recommendations are also helping to identify particular zones for enhanced enforcement of 30km/h limits. Read more here.
Valerann Delivers a Fully Remote Advanced Traffic Monitoring System (ATMS) Deployment
London, UK, December 6, 2022: In partnership with Openvia Mobility, Valerann - a global leader in advanced traffic monitoring and data analytics solutions - has successfully completed a fully remote deployment of its flagship platform, Lanternn by ValerannTM (LbV), on the Costa Arauco motorway in Chile. This approach, believed to be the first of its kind, revolutionises the mobility sector and reduces deployment costs for ATMS systems.
This project represents a turning point in the Transportation industry and highlights the potential for a wider use of advanced technology solutions for road traffic management. Traditionally reliant on lengthy deployments with project teams present on-site, the industry now can benefit from accelerated value delivery and minimised disruption to control centre operations. This innovative deployment approach also enables remote maintenance of mission-critical software, decreasing risk of downtime. It also reduces the cost barrier to road operators and municipalities, many of whom can now for the first time afford these life-saving systems.
With an affordable ATMS like LbV in place, operators can harness the solution’s unique features to better coordinate responses to traffic events, ensuring smoother traffic flow and fewer fatalities. Resources can be prioritised and allocated to the most significant incidents, which means fewer patrol and emergency vehicles are required. Thanks to LbV’s Machine Vision layer, camera footage can be reviewed automatically, which frees up the workforce to focus on higher value tasks. In this way, the costs savings and benefits compound over time, allowing operators to do more (and better) with less.
Autopista Costa Arauco in the Biobío region is an 89 km stretch of motorway and is vital for the Chilean cellulose industry. In 2021, the motorway saw average daily traffic of 27,112 vehicles - an increase of 18% from the previous year.
Valerann’s engineering team, located in London (UK) and Tel-Aviv (Israel), successfully collaborated with Chilean teams to complete the installation in a matter of weeks. The deployment included integration of 9 cameras for road monitoring, 15 cameras located at the 3 toll, and 8 response operation vehicles including ambulances, tow trucks and patrol. Costa Arauco traffic control operators now benefit from LvB’s Monitor and Manage modules which enable faster incident detection and response, improved safety measures, and enhanced performance against concession KPIs.
"This ITS technology solution allows us to respond more efficiently to traffic incidents in real time and facilitates the prevention of high-impact traffic events. This new way of implementing the solution remotely has been a learning process from which we have all benefited," says Moises Vargas, Manager of Autopista Costa Arauco.
“This deployment is a true milestone and a turning point for Valerann, as it shows the potential for the industry transformation.” says Ran Katzir, CTO of Valerann. “We are very proud of the work we have delivered, which would not have been possible without a close collaboration with a forward-thinking and innovative partner such as Globalvia. Working together, we were able to deliver this complex project, providing many benefits to Costa Arauco.”
ERTICO and IRF Strategic Partnership Kicks Off
Earlier this year, ERTICO - ITS Europe and the International Road Federation (IRF) established a strategic partnership to foster safer, more efficient and more sustainable transport and mobility. Following the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the ERTICO Supervisory Board invited Mrs Susanna Zammataro, Director General at IRF and Mr Anouar Benazzouz, President of IRF, to the Brussels Office to discuss the next steps and future priorities.
The meeting kicked off with a joint vision and the exchange of views on the detailed action plan that will implement the cooperation of the two organisations during the first year of the MoU. Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to continue supporting knowledge exchange and driving active discussions on mobility and transport issues. The focus now will be to complement each other’s expertise and initiatives in the field of smart mobility by organising joint activities while providing a platform for capacity building on sustainable and efficient transport.
“This new cooperation is the result of ERTICO’s ambition to connect the dots beyond its traditional focus. Transport and mobility has stepped out of the vertical thinking and has become a true horizontal societal layer. Both ERTICO and IRF serve a wide range of member organisations in the public and private sectors of the road and transport industry”, remarks Joost Vantomme, ERTICO CEO. “This newly minted cooperation provides a platform for the next generation of transport leaders. I welcome this new partnership, as it will foster greater synergies and enable the two organisations to share the knowledge we have both gained in our mission as thought leaders. It will promote the roll-out of ITS and sustainable mobility solutions”.
Building on the strong momentum that resulted from the Joint Statement for COP27 that both organisations co-signed earlier in November, along with other like-minded organisations of ASECAP, ERF, IRU, ARMFA and ITA-AITES, the joint forces will further strengthen the pool of data of how Intelligent Transport Systems and the digitalisation of transport can receive the recognition they deserve in facilitating and enhancing the mitigation and adaptation of road transport to the adverse consequences of climate change.
One of their cooperation activities, will also be a training package that will target both public authorities and the transport industry focussing on ITS as a key for a safe and sustainable future. Dr Johanna Tzanidaki, Chief Innovation Officer at ERTICO also commented, “The cooperation framework and its implementing action plan agreed between the two organisations attests to the political will of the infrastructure and ITS public and private stakeholders that the two communities represent. The alignment on the next steps in addressing the most important global challenge of our generation, the adverse effects of climate change in transport, involved action points such as the mobilisation of capacity building resources and the mapping of best practice among members”.
“The challenges the transport sector faces demand us a higher level of coordination and collaboration than what we have staged so far. Hence our renewed commitment to working closely with other sisters’ organisations in the sector. This action-oriented partnership with ERTICO is critical since technology is and will be central in the solutions we need to cater for the sector” said Anouar Benazzouz, President of IRF in greeting ERTICO Supervisory Board members.
Susanna Zammataro, IRF Director General echoed Benazzouz’s emphasis on solutions “Both public and private sector are eager to develop quickly effective and pragmatic solutions and do share the understanding of the importance of doing this together and the will to do so. Bringing IRF’s members and ERTICO’s members expertise together through this initiative means ensuring the sector moves from will to action and does so in a timeframe that reflects the urgency to which we are all confronted.
ARRB Launches the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) for Australia and New Zealand
The Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) is officially extending its research and expertise across all modes of transport with the launch of the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) for Australia and New Zealand.
NTRO was launched on 1 December 2022 in Melbourne, and is creating the new knowledge that will be used to provide world’s best practice across all modes of transport – road, rail, ports and airports – for Australia and New Zealand.
ARRB has more than 60 years’ experience in the road space which will underpin the new NTRO entity, and will continue to lead the way in road research.
But ARRB has been transformed over the past five years to have a genuine focus across all modes of transport, at the same time that Australia and New Zealand’s road agencies have transformed themselves into transport agencies with a holistic view of movement.
The Australasian Centre for Rail Innovation (ACRI) formally became part of ARRB in mid-2022, and the national facilities that ARRB has in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth are truly reflective of a mode-agnostic road, rail, ports and airports organisation.
“NTRO will truly be the one source of truth for Australia and New Zealand Governments and the private sector, delivering solutions to the transport challenges of tomorrow and genuinely shaping our transport future,” NTRO and ARRB Chief Executive Officer Michael Caltabiano told the 250-plus attendees at the NTRO launch.
