Children – The Change Makers
By Rajat Mishra
Director & Chief Executive Officer, EFKON STRABAG India
A quiet revolution is underway in India’s classrooms—one that is empowering children to become champions of road safety and catalysts of meaningful social change.
Roads form the lifeblood of global commerce and connectivity, yet they are also among the most perilous spaces we navigate. Every year, road crashes claim over 1.3 million lives and injure tens of millions across the world—many suffering lifelong consequences. Unlike air or rail disasters that trigger media outrage and institutional reforms, road accidents are all too often dismissed as routine. This normalization of tragedy is not just dangerous—it is deeply unjust.
India faces one of the gravest road safety crises globally. In FY 2024, the country recorded over 168,000 fatalities and more than 400,000 serious injuries due to road accidents. That equates to one death every three minutes and one serious injury every minute—a staggering toll on human life, productivity, and wellbeing. Behind each number lies a shattered family, a community in grief, and an avoidable loss.
To counter this epidemic, global frameworks emphasize the “4 Es” of road safety: Engineering, Education, Enforcement, and Emergency Response. While infrastructure and enforcement are vital, Education—especially when directed at the young—emerges as a particularly transformative tool.
At EFKON India, a subsidiary of the Austrian infrastructure leader STRABAG SE, we have embraced this truth. Over the past five years, we have implemented a nationwide school engagement initiative, reaching over 500,000 students across India. Through storytelling, art, drama, and interactive learning, children are taught not only the rules of the road but the value of empathy, responsibility, and civic awareness.
The results have been extraordinary.
Children don’t just learn—they lead. They return home and remind their parents to fasten seatbelts, wear helmets, obey traffic signals, and avoid using mobile phones while driving. This peer-to-parent influence is powerful, and in many cases, more persuasive than conventional enforcement. When children speak, their families listen.
To scientifically evaluate the initiative’s impact, we partnered with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee for a year-long research study across multiple schools. The findings confirmed our belief: children exposed to our programs showed significantly higher awareness of road safety and actively influenced the behaviour of adults in their households. Children, the data showed, were not just passive learners—they had become influencers and enforcers.
This aligns with our broader mission at EFKON and STRABAG: to work towards a world of zero road fatalities and minimal vehicular emissions. Road safety is not merely a technical issue—it is a cultural one. And culture, we believe, can be reshaped most effectively by empowering its youngest citizens.
Across schoolyards and classrooms, this change is already in motion. Children are questioning unsafe practices, advocating for responsible behaviour, and inspiring change in homes and communities. With the right support and engagement, they can steer our society toward a safer, more conscious future.
Because in their hands lies not just the steering wheel—but the direction of tomorrow.
More than half a million children get safer school zones (and counting!)
In April 2025, we completed the second phase of our regional Safe School Zones project, supported by the FIA Foundation Advocacy Hub, with expansive results that have seen safer routes to school for more than half a million children.
This includes speed limit reductions at more than 700 schools; an estimated investment of more than $2.3 million by local authorities; national and municipal policy change in two countries, and commitments to explore policy change from decision makers in others.
How we got here
Since the launch of the project in 2021, we have worked consistently with our local NGO partners across seven countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, and Tajikistan) to advocate for 30km/h speed limits around school zones.
In 2023, during the last UN Global Road Safety Week, we published a Situation Report celebrating the successes of the first two years of the project while also highlighting a complex and challenging picture across the seven countries. The report emphasised a range of challenges around legislation, stakeholder knowledge and awareness, data, infrastructure, enforcement, and community engagement that still needed to be addressed. Indeed, the average speed limit around schools in our region is 40km/h, and even this is frequently exceeded due to low levels of enforcement, high tolerance limits for speeding, and a lack of speed management infrastructure.
Through mentored grants, capacity building and knowledge sharing, we have worked with our partners to raise awareness on a range of interrelated issues. This has included campaigning for better enforcement, safer streets, cleaner air, an improved environment for walking and cycling, and improved infrastructure around schools. Across the region, our partners have been working with traffic police to identify high-risk schools in their cities and use global tools such as Star Ratings for Schools and the GDCI Designing Streets for Kids Guide to assess and advocate for improvements, including lower speeds.
Exponential success: 2023-2025
Over the past two years, our partners have collectively organised 18 high level roundtable meetings and attended over 100 meetings with decision makers, advocating for 30km/h policy change. Government officials in Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova have all made commitments to supporting 30km/h school zone policies. In Georgia and Moldova, 30km/h school zones have been included in their national road safety plans, and both countries are in the process of rolling out new school zone road safety standards at municipal levels. In Kyrgyzstan, a proposal has been submitted to the government to change road safety legislation to include 30km/h school zones as an official directive.
These achievements have been testament to the good reputation, expertise and knowledge of our partners in each country. They have worked directly with over 500 police inspectors, engineers, school leaders, and local authority employees to build their capacity and awareness on implementing and enforcing 30km/h school zone policies. In particular, our partners have worked directly with the Traffic Police in each country to facilitate more than 50 extensive safety assessments around schools (many using SR4S) and jointly installed infrastructure upgrades at 37 schools as part of their wider advocacy efforts and to demonstrate the impact of best practice interventions.
Community support and readiness is also essential to delivering successful policy change. Public engagement and media awareness have therefore formed a core component of our partners’ projects. In total, our partners have organised more than 70 community events and participated in 104 media appearances over the last two years to promote the importance of Safe School Zones and 30km/h speed limits.
Next steps
The project will continue through 2025 and into early 2026. This third phase aims to build on the successes of the past four years and capitalise on the unique opportunities that this year presents to drive forward policy and implementation of 30km/h school zones across the seven countries. We are working with each partner to develop an individual action plan for their country targeting key areas for intervention. Each action plan is unique addressing the specific context of the country but all include interventions aimed at having the greatest impact, following up on commitments from the Fourth Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety held in February 2025.
This week, we is joining the global road safety community to mark the 8th UN Global Road Safety Week by calling on governments and road safety leaders to make walking and cycling safe. Across the EASST region, reducing speed limits to 30km/h is an essential first step for many countries in terms of a shift away from car dominance towards prioritising the safety of pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. We hope the momentum we have created through this project will serve as an important starting point on which countries can build and grow their public spaces so that they are safe and healthy for everyone.
IRF Joins Global Transport Leaders at the ITF 2025 Summit
From 21 to 23 May 2025, over 1,200 delegates from more than 80 countries gathered in Leipzig for the annual International Transport Forum (ITF) Summit, the world’s foremost platform for high-level discussions on transport policy. As in previous years, the International Road Federation (IRF) took an active part, contributing to critical exchanges on the resilience of global transport systems.
Building on the letter of intent signed with the ITF at the 2024 Summit, IRF Acting Director General, Gonzalo Alcaraz, met with ITF Secretary-General Young Tae Kim on the final day of this year’s event to advance the collaboration. Discussions focused on the development of a forthcoming Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which will frame joint efforts including capacity-building programmes, technical cooperation, and data-driven initiatives aimed at strengthening road transport systems worldwide.
On Wednesday morning, the IRF co-organised its first side event during the Summit, “Transport System Resilience, Connectivity and Diversification in the Face of Climate Change and Other Global Shocks”, alongside Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Life-Links, Kuehne Climate Center, Oris Materials Intelligence and the Asian Transport Observatory. Opening remarks from the IRF Acting Director General underlined that road networks face ever-greater threats from extreme weather, shifting climate patterns and geopolitical unrest.
That afternoon, the IRF convened a second session on “Effective Qualifications-Based and Gender-Responsive Procurement as a Tool to Enhance the Resilience of Transport Systems”, in collaboration with the Union for the Mediterranean and the International Federation of Consulting Engineers. Delegates examined how low- and middle-income countries, despite securing nearly one third of all climate finance, still grapple with an investment gap in transport infrastructure. The IRF contribution emphasised that Qualifications-Based Selection ensures that technical expertise, innovation and value for money prevail over short-term cost-cutting. In parallel, the session explored how procurement processes can be adapted to combat gender-based violence through responsible contracting, accountability measures and inclusive tendering practices.
The discussions in Leipzig provided a valuable platform to share practical approaches to infrastructure adaptation, digital transformation and fair procurement. Issues that remain central as we move towards COP30 in Brazil.
IRF puts infrastructure readiness for Autonomous Mobility in the Spotlight at the ITS European Congress
The International Road Federation (IRF) reaffirms its leadership at the ITS European Congress in Seville (19-21 May) in preparing infrastructure for the next generation of mobility. Through two high-level presentations, IRF Project Manager Agostina Massarini showcased IRF’s work aimed at enabling the safe, scalable deployment of Connected, Cooperative, and Automated Mobility (CCAM).
Harmonising Infrastructure for Automation: AUGMENTED CCAM
In the session “CCAM: Challenges Towards Large Scale Deployment” organised by FACTUAL, IRF presented the short, medium and long terms that infrastructure will face in the arrival of autonomus vehicles.
One of the main challenges highlighted by the IRF, is at the foundation level, stressing the importance of understanding and harmonising the infrastructure. IRF spotlighted the work of the Augmented CCAM Project which is doing exactly that.
The project seeks to harmonise and evaluate Physical, Digital, and Communication Infrastructure (PDI) to accelerate the integration of automated mobility across Europe. It is developing 11 PDI support solutions (aiming at TLR 6-7) that are being applied and evaluated in different configurations in seven test sites across three European Countries (France, Latvia, Spain), encompassing a vast spectrum of physical (living labs, closed areas, open traffic highway, urban and periurban/rural environments) and virtual (DT, AV & driving simulators) test beds.
“It’s not autonomous vehicles alone that will shape the future of mobility—it’s the system we build around it.” — Agostina Massarini, IRF Project Manager
Measuring Readiness: The Smart Road Infrastructure Classification Index
In a second session, “The Arrival of Autonomous Vehicles and the Infrastructure Challenges: Are We Ready?” organised by SWARCO, IRF provided a global overview of infrastructure readiness and introduced the Smart Road Infrastructure Classification Index (SRICI) as a tool to tackle one of the main challenges posed by the arrival of AVs: ensuring that road networks are equipped to support autonomous mobility.
Developed by the IRF in the context of the FRONTIER Project, the SRICI provides a universal, 1–10 scale framework for assessing road network readiness for AVs, considering physical, digital, and connectivity parameters, where 1 means a road is not smart and 10 that only TRL5 vehicles can perform. To do so, the SRICI evaluates everything from road markings and signage to digital mapping, cybersecurity, and network latency. This enables authorities and stakeholders to prioritise upgrades using data and supports harmonised development across contrasting environments—from government-led systems to private-sector-driven markets.
IRF’s contribution lies in its advocacy for globally adaptable infrastructure solutions that support both urban and rural contexts, promoting safer, more equitable integration of AVs.
ORIS Materials Intelligence Shows How AI Can Minimise Carbon & Costs at Scale
ORIS Materials Intelligence, a digital startup pioneering sustainable design for roads and other linear infrastructure, unveiled in its 2024 Impact Report key findings, the power of AI and geospatial insights to drive decarbonisation, circularity, and cost-efficiency at scale in road infrastructure. This report underscores how digital intelligence can be a transformative lever for infrastructure planning, unlocking climate and financial benefits without compromising performance.
Finding #1: AI and Data Science to Mitigate Road Construction GHG Emissions
ORIS identified levers to avoid over 3 million tonnes of CO₂ eq. in 2024 through 16 road projects
Through the 16 consulting projects achieved in 2024, the startup used its innovative AI-powered digital platform to identify for its clients levers and solutions that would avoid 3.1 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions in road projects—equivalent to the annual emissions of nearly one million cars.
At a time when the road sector accounts for more than 12% of global CO₂ emissions (source: WRI), ORIS’s AI and data-driven approach is demonstrating that digitisation can cut carbon at scale—without increasing project costs.
"Construction materials account for 85% of road construction carbon emissions and impact 60% of its costs. Our platform puts that knowledge in the hands of decision-makers—early, accurately, and at scale," said Nicolas Miravalls, ORIS Materials Intelligence CEO and co-founder. “With ORIS, sustainability is not an afterthought—it’s built in from day one.”
Finding #2: Recycled Materials: AI to Fast-Track Circularity
ORIS supported clients to identify how to reuse existing materials in their projects and preserve up to 4.4 million tonnes in primary resources in 2024
This figure illustrates the tangible impact of embracing circular economy principles in infrastructure development. Using its platform, ORIS supports clients in identifying the reuse of excavation materials from one part of the project to another. The ORIS platform also references over 44,000 material suppliers, including 7% of sites with recycled materials.
Finding #3: Data Shows that Sustainable Infrastructure Is not More Expensive
Key finding: ORIS helped identity savings amounting to $24 million for its clients in 2024
Contrary to the belief that sustainability increases costs, ORIS’s data-driven models identified combined budget savings of $24 million for clients in 2024. These were achieved by selecting smarter material combinations and favouring more durable solutions, reducing the need for early maintenance and repair. The evidence confirms that environmental and financial performance can go hand in hand.
Finding #4: A New Approach to Road Climate Resilience for Communities
More than 18,000 km of roads assessed for climate resilience, thanks to an innovative approach combining climate data, road vulnerability and socio-economic impact.
In 2024, ORIS assessed 18,553 km of roads for climate resilience, providing data-driven insights to build infrastructure that can withstand climate challenges with its innovative approach. In a significant case study in Central Asia, 7,765 km of road networks were assessed, identifying that 25% of these roads were highly vulnerable to climate hazards, impacting 30% of the local population. This AI-powered climate resilience assessment highlights how advanced methodologies can quantify the vulnerability of extensive infrastructure networks to climate change and understand the potential impact on communities, informing crucial adaptation measures such as material upgrades and improved drainage.
“We’re proving that digital tools can unlock massive carbon savings—while improving cost-efficiency and resilience,” added Renaud de Montaignac, ORIS Materials Intelligence COO and co-founder. “This is how the sector can truly build for the future.”
ORIS Material Intelligence 2024 Key Impact Figures:
• 1,400+ users and 44,000+ material suppliers referenced on the ORIS platform
• ORIS projects led to identify levers and solutions enabling its clients to:
o Avoid 3.1 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions
o Spare 4.4 million tonnes of raw materials with circular options
o Optimise budgets with $24 million in project savings identified
o Anticipate climate resilience for 18,553 km of roads around the world, with ORIS’ unique methodology
• To achieve these results, ORIS’ own GHG emissions represented less than 0.005% of identified reductions
ORIS Materials Intelligence is an AI-powered and data-driven digital platform dedicated to improving the sustainability of linear infrastructure—such as roads and railways—by optimising the use of construction materials. Using artificial intelligence, life cycle assessment, and geospatial analysis, ORIS helps engineers, contractors, and public authorities design more sustainable, resilient, and cost-effective infrastructure. From measuring and reducing carbon and raw material use to increasing climate resilience and circularity, ORIS provides the sector the tools needed to rethink how infrastructure is planned and built to meet the challenges of climate change. In 2024, ORIS became a Société à Mission in the French legal sense, embedding its purpose—driving sustainability, efficiency, and inclusion in infrastructure—into its legal structure.
New TRL Report Reveals What’s Holding Back AI in the Transport Sector – and How to Fix It
Artificial Intelligence is often seen as the answer to everything in a digital future – but when it comes to transport, the reality is more complex. While many industries are rapidly embracing AI, the transport sector is struggling to keep pace.
To understand why, TRL brought together over 60 stakeholders from across the public, private, and academic sectors in a series of workshops. The findings are now published in a new report: “Bridging the Gap: Overcoming the Barriers to AI Adoption in Transport.”
The report identifies the major obstacles preventing AI from reaching its full potential in transport, including:
- Lack of infrastructure to support AI applications
- Low levels of AI literacy and limited workforce upskilling
- Public distrust of AI-enabled systems
- Concerns about environmental impact
Despite these barriers, the consensus is clear: AI offers significant potential to improve safety, efficiency, and sustainability in transport – if deployed thoughtfully and at scale.
The report highlights practical insights from real-world attempts to use AI and concludes with five key opportunities for the sector to enable faster, wider adoption. These recommendations provide a shared framework for decision-makers and innovators across the industry.
NTRO Recognised for 20 Years of Membership with the International Road Federation
On 8 May 2025, during the NTRO International Technical Conference in Melbourne, Gonzalo Alcaraz, Acting Director General of the International Road Federation (IRF), presented a commemorative plaque to Michael Caltabiano, CEO of the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO), acknowledging two decades of active membership and collaboration. Since joining the IRF in 2005, NTRO—formerly known as the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB)—has consistently contributed to global transport innovation.
The partnership has facilitated knowledge exchange, and the development of practical solutions aimed at enhancing road safety and sustainability worldwide. A significant milestone in this collaboration is the joint initiative launched in October 2024 to deliver training and accreditation for road safety auditors in Australia and New Zealand.
Supported by TotalEnergies, this programme enables NTRO-trained professionals to gain international accreditation and be listed in the IRF International Registry of Road Safety Auditors. The registry establishes clear, internationally recognised certification standards, ensuring consistency and quality in road safety audits globally. The partnership's roots trace back to 2010 when IRF and ARRB co-hosted a five-day Road Safety Auditor training course in New Delhi.
This programme focused on safety engineering and aimed to build capacity among road safety professionals in the region. Further strengthening the collaboration, Michael Caltabiano was elected to the IRF Board of Directors in 2020, and most recently, also elected to the IRF Executive Committee as IRF Vice-President. His appointments haves facilitated deeper engagement between the organisations, promoting the exchange of innovative practices and accelerating the implementation of advanced road technologies in Australia and beyond.
Reflecting on the enduring partnership, Michael Caltabiano stated: "NTRO is a proud IRF member, sharing Australia's knowledge and learning from the rest of the world as we develop better, safer, more sustainable roads. [...] We look forward to continuing on our journey together."
This recognition underscores the value of sustained collaboration in advancing global road safety and transport infrastructure. Membership with the IRF offers access to a wealth of resources, collaborative initiatives, and a platform to influence global transport policies. For more information, visit the IRF Membership page.
Capacity Building for Safer and more Inclusive Road Design in Central Asia
The International Road Federation (IRF) supported a three-part online training series on road safety engineering, delivered under the UNRSF Safe & Inclusive Road Designs in Central Asia project in April 2025. Designed to build capacity in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, the training brought together professionals committed to improving road safety in the region.
Over 60 engineers and road safety practitioners joined each module, which covered key areas including the fundamentals of road safety engineering and the Safe System approach, practical design guidance, and the iRAP methodology for road assessment.
Participant feedback reflected the practical value of the sessions.
“Recent webinars focused primarily on road safety and inclusivity in road design. These aspects play a key role at the feasibility study stage, as they are directly linked to reducing the risk of injuries and fatalities. Effective safety approaches were discussed, including proper design of curves, road shoulders, and minimising excessive measures such as an overuse of signs. The importance of striking a balance between safety and budget was emphasised. Such meetings provide valuable insights and are especially beneficial if more students and professionals from relevant organisations are involved. Thank you for the opportunity to participate.” – Dilovar Hikmatov, Ministry of Transport, Tajikistan.
From Kyrgyzstan, Road Police Official Tynychbek Saidov, highlighted the benefits of hearing directly from international experts: “Their perspectives helped deepen our understanding of current challenges and best practices in road design and safety.”
The trainings were delivered with the support of specialists from several leading organisations in the field. Contributors came from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the International Road Federation (IRF) the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), and the Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport (EASST) alongside independent experts and engineering professionals from Australia and Europe. Their combined expertise offered a broad and practical perspective on how global road safety principles can be applied to local contexts.
The broader project, led by ESCAP in partnership with iRAP, EASST and IRF, is funded by the United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF). Launched in March 2024, the 18-month initiative aims to review and update national road design standards (GOST-SNiP), align them with global safety targets and best practices, and develop a common regional recommendations manual to complement existing standards to guide safer, more inclusive road infrastructure across the three countries.
By strengthening the capacity of road designers and policymakers, the project contributes to regional efforts to improve infrastructure, enhance accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists, and reduce road casualties.
