Public engagement and Mediterranean countries at the centre of IRF’s interventions at ITF Summit
Transport Safety and Security was the theme of the ITF 2018 Summit which gathered in Leipzig, Germany end of May around 1400 decision-makers from more than 80 countries including more than three dozen ministers. IRF (Geneva) was invited to share its work and ideas on an ITF panel session on “Raising awareness” and on an official side event organised by the Union for the Mediterranean. The Summit provided also the opportunity for a meeting of Advisory Board of the FIA High Level Panel on Road Safety - of which IRF is an active member - and a meeting of the Sustainable Mobility for All (SuM4All) Consortium that marked the official appointment of IRF (Geneva) as Steering Committee Member.
This year Summit addressed issues ranging from terrorism and cyber-security to road safety and extreme weather disruption, including the risks and benefits of automated driving. Safety and security are core concerns for transport. A transport system that is safe and secure enables passengers to travel without fear and allows businesses to ship goods reliably and efficiently. Enhancing transport safety and security is also an essential element in the implementation of two major international agreements, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.
Speaking at an ITF panel session on “Raising Awareness” Ms. Zammataro, IRF Director General, underlined that education and awareness campaigns are not enough: “To break the road safety silo, we need a game changer: strong public engagement and youth engagement in particular” she said. This is facilitated by the emergence of new cooperative transport planning tools. Developing this idea, Mr. Lieshout, Director of Youth for Road Safety called for a paradigm shift to “Stop blaming young people for dying on the roads but fix the system around them. Simply raising their awareness is not enough. They need to be empowered, to become our partners towards a safe system”.
This was also echoed at the side event on “Towards enduring road safety in the euro-Mediterranean region” hosted by the Union for the Mediterranean. The high-level panel convened to this meeting agreed on the necessity to work on data and better collection of data, a point which had been clearly raised by Mrs Zammataro sharing IRF’s experience with the World Road Statistics.
For a summary of the panel on Raising Awareness and image gallery: https://2018.itf-oecd.org/raising-awareness
For a Summary of the side event on Euro-Med region and image gallery: https://2018.itf-oecd.org/towards-ensuring-road-safety-euro-mediterranean-region
For the Summit Highlights and Final Declaration: https://2018.itf-oecd.org/outputs-resources
For more info on SuM4All: http://www.sum4all.org/
For more info on the FIA HLP: http://www.roadsafety2030.com/
Forthcoming Seminar on "Environmental Protection and Safety during Construction"
IRF – IC is organizing a Seminar on the theme of "Environmental Protection and Safety during Construction" on 13th & 14th July 2018 at New Delhi. India's growing & vibrant Infrastructure programme has resulted in an impressive build-up of the sector, which is accelerating and has implications for the environment & safety during the construction period. This calls for a very systematic mission to take care of these aspects.
The Seminar sub-themes would cover Design for Safety, Environmental Protection of Construction Projects, Technology, Safety during Construction and Safety Issues & Risks.
The IRF Family mourns the loss of Tony Pearce and Manfred Swarovski
In memoriam of Tony Pearce
Dear Colleague,
It is with profound sadness that we share today the news of the passing away of Anthony Pearce, former IRF Director General (Geneva).
The IRF loses one of its masterminds and an outstanding personality who has largely defined IRF and its work over the past decades. Tony has been a primary spokesman and ambassador for the IRF worldwide. Most of it, he has been a friend to many of us in the profession.
Our thoughts are with his family: his wife Jeanette and their children.
Tony has taught us tenacity in all its forms. It is that same tenacity that still drives IRF (Geneva) today.
Thank you Tony. May you rest in peace.
NOTE:
Many of you have written over the past days and we thank you for that. We will collect all these testimonials in a collective memorial that we will share with Tony's family. If you wish to leave a message for his family, share a thought, a souvenir, pictures about Tony, please send it to the IRF Secretariat info@irfnet.ch and mark in the subject of mail "Tony".
In memoriam of Manfred Swarovski
The Chairman, the Board and Executive Committee of the International Road Federation in Geneva are deeply saddened by the loss of Manfred Swarovski, who passed away peacefully at the age of 77 on 13 May 2018.
SWARCO has lost its mastermind who managed to bring his group of companies to world renown in the field of road safety and intelligent traffic management in the course of nearly half a century. The traffic industry loses an internationally highly respected advocator of road safety and environmentally sound mobility who untiringly underlined the need for continued public investment in road infrastructure in order to save lives.
Click here to view full announcement
IRF at WTC 2018 to support the organisation of The Belt & Road Transport Alliance
IRF (Geneva) was amongst the key stakeholders invited to attend the Belt & Road Transport Alliance (BRITA) preparatory meeting held in Beijing, China on 18 June. BRITA is a platform to enhance multi-level and wide-ranging cooperation between the countries along the Belt and Road. The meeting was held prior to the official opening of the World Transport Convention 2018 hosted by CHTS and officially supported by IRF (Geneva) for the second time. IRF (Geneva) has actively supported the shaping of BRITA and will be part of its Board of Directors.
Hosted by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and organised by China Highway and Transportation Society (CHTS) WTC had as theme “Better Transport, Better World” and attracted more than 1.000 papers from all over the world and roughly 5’000 delegates.
Mr Kiran Kapila, IRF Chairman, delivered a keynote address in the opening ceremony which was inaugurated by the Minister of Transport of China, Mr Li together with Transport Ministers from South Sudan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Latvia, Nepal, and high-level delegations from several other countries. In his keynote Mr Kapila recalled the decades-long collaboration linking IRF (Geneva) and the Chinese Government and the special relationship with CHTS, an esteemed member of the Board. He also stressed that sustainable infrastructure is and should be at the heart of the BRI and called for mandatory road safety audits at all stages of road infrastructure development.
Both the Minister and Vice-Minister of Transport of China put the accent in their interventions on the need to increase and improve the service level. They also referred to “durable infrastructure” and “integrated transport” as two of the key priorities of the government. Dignitaries from foreign countries illustrated their transport development plans and how they fit within the BRI.
Some of the Ministers and Foreign dignitaries attended also the Belt & Road Transport Summit (BRITS) organised as part of WTC. Susanna Zammataro, IRF Director General, delivered a keynote presentation illustrating some fundamentals steps needed to create enabling frameworks to plan, design and finance sustainable transport infrastructure and sustainable roads in particular. Mrs Nancy Van Dycke, World Bank Manager in charge of the Sustainable Mobility for All initiative (SuM4All) rebounded on these concepts while illustrating the salient feature of this new initiative that federates 50 key transport organisations. IRF (Geneva) is actively involved in SuM4All and has recently been appointed member of its Steering Committee.
While at WTC, Mrs Zammataro addressed also the Sustainable Urban Transport Summit with a presentation on “Mobility as a Service – MaaS”.
The event provided to several IRF (Geneva) members present at the event the opportunity to present their work to an international audience and to network to find new business partners or simply exchange experience and expertise.
Those interested in learning more about the Belt & Road Transport Alliance (BRITA) or wishing to get involved, can contact IRF (Geneva) Secretariat at info@irfnet.ch
New Governing Council of IRF – India Chapter
At its meeting held in April 2018, General Body of IRF – IC elected the members of the new Governing Council and its new Office Bearers. Mr. G. Sharan, Former DG (RD) & SS, Govt. of India will head the new Governing Council as its Chairman. Mr. D. O. Tawade, Mr. S.K. Puri & Mr. Ashish Wig have been elected as Vice Presidents, Mr. Mahesh Kumar as Treasurer and Mr. S.K. Nirmal as the Secretary of IRF – IC.
The new Governing Council has since met and deliberated on ways of taking the mission of IRF – IC forward
Proceedings of IRF Intertraffic Workshops now available
The International Road Federation (Geneva) hosted three workshops at Intertraffic 2018 in collaboration with Swarco, Evonik and PTV.
Tuesday 20 March 2018 – IRF in collaboration with Swarco
An integrated approach to mobility management: Reimagining the role of infrastructure in the new connected and autonomous ecosystem
In recent years, a silo mentality has often prevented cities and road operators to best express the full potential of an integrated approach to mobility. Connecting parking, public transport, lighting urban and interurban traffic management in one holistic solution can help solving mobility challenges way more efficiently. The advent of the connected (soon autonomous) vehicle now offers a new opportunity to overcome these obstacles. C-ITS services are inevitably on the way and many day-1 use-cases are currently deployed on roads worldwide.
Access the proceedings of this workshop: http://www.irfnet.ch/event-info/irf-geneva-&-swarco-workshop-at-intertraffic-2018/1/926
Wednesday 21 March 2018 – IRF in collaboration with Evonik Resource Efficiency
Sustainable and Safe Urban Street Design: Meeting Road Safety Targets
By presenting some successful case studies on safe urban street design from around the world, this workshop will provide concrete suggestions on how to develop context-specific and Safe System-based road safety interventions in an urban environment with a particular focus on road markings. The workshop will also mark the launch of the 2018 edition of the Evonik Road Safety Award.
Access the proceedings of this workshop: http://www.irfnet.ch/event-info/irf-geneva-&-evonik-workshop-at-intertraffic-2018/1/927
Thursday 22 March 2018 – IRF in collaboration with PTV
Traffic management for developing countries: tailoring the right solutions
Managing traffic conceals increasingly complex challenges today. Incidents can be unforeseeable or planned: accidents, road works, adverse weather conditions, strikes, demonstrations, major public events, holiday traffic peaks or other capacity overload. But managing "incidents" is only one part of the story. The real challenge and long-term goal is how to tailor the right solutions that can improve the quality of transport, ameliorate the traffic flow, increase the level of road safety while lowering at the same time emissions and noise pollution. In one word: how to deliver a better quality of life to people?
The workshop will discuss how to tailor appropriate traffic management solutions for developing countries and emerging economies.
Access the proceedings of this workshop: http://www.irfnet.ch/event-info/irf-geneva-&-ptv-group-workshop-at-intertraffic-2018/1/928
SaferAfrica Project discusses Data Collection in Africa
Members of the consortium of the EU-funded SaferAfrica project met in Athens on 24-27 April 2018 to discuss advancements and to present first results to the Management Board. IRF (Geneva) who is a member of the consortium shared its experience on data collection during the dedicated workshop held jointly with the Management Board. Representatives from the African Development Bank, UNECA, SSATP/World Bank, FIA, WHO, IRTAD, IRU, PIARC were also present to address the issue of data in Africa and the specific needs of the African countries when it comes to implementing the Action Plan of the Decade.
The SaferAfrica Project aims to establish a Dialogue Platform between Africa and Europe focused on road safety and traffic management issues. The primary role of the Dialogue Platform is to act as a high-level and high-powered body that can help positively influence changes in the African regions.
The platform works at two different levels: high-level via the Management Board made-up of prominent institutions like the European Commission, International Financial Institutions, UN Regional Commissions and other relevant stakeholders. The technical level which involves government and research institutions, international organisations and transport stakeholders (e.g. NGOs), with a balance between African and EU partners.
The project activities are oriented to the “Safe System” approach and grouped around four pillars: Road Safety Knowledge and Data; Road Safety and Traffic management Capacity Review; Capacity Building and Training; Sharing of Good Practices. These have been specifically identified to be aligned with the mid-term review of the African Road Safety Action Plan.
SaferAfrica aims at:
- Contributing to developing/designing actions related to the Action Plan (and, in particular, to its mid-term review) together with individual African countries/organisations.
- Assessing progress toward the goals of the Action Plan and, based on assessments of the solutions adopted by various countries, releasing recommendations.
- Increasing the endogenous capacities of African countries.
- Fostering the adoption of the principles of the Safe System approach, in which all elements of the road transport system are defined in an integrated way, with the aim of ensuring crash energy levels below what would to cause fatal or serious injury.
Learn more on SaferAfrica and Athens’ meetings on the SaferAfrica website: http://www.saferafrica.eu/news/saferafrica-dialogue-platform-workshop-management-board/
Meet us in China at the World Transport Convention 2018
IRF’s (Geneva) longstanding partnership and collaboration with China Highways and Transportation Society (CHTS) and with the Government of China will be at centre stage again this year at the World Transport Convention 2018 to be hosted in Beijing from 18 to 21 June. Hosted by China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), organized by China Highway & Transportation Society (CHTS), and with the support of the Ministry of Transport (MOT), Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) the 2017 edition of the World Transport Convention (WTC) was an indisputable success. WTC 2018 wishes to push forward the innovation and development of the transport industry, and further promote the international exchange and cooperation in this field, especially the transport infrastructure connectivity among the countries along the Belt and Road.
With the theme of “Better Transport, Better World”, WTC 2018 is structured around five major components: opening ceremony & keynote presentations, transport sci-tech expo, technical sessions & workshops, 2018 urban traffic innovative design competition and 2018 college student bridge design competition, and " the Belt and Road " special activities.
IRF (Geneva) is pleased to support again this must attend event for Asia that is expected to attract over 5,000 participants. During the convention, the 2018 Transport Sci-Tech Expo covering an area of 30,000 square meters will be organized. The expo will have two major exhibition areas, namely the infrastructure exhibition area and the travel service exhibition area.
The technical programme, consisting of keynote speeches, thematic forums and specialized sessions & workshops as well as poster ones, will witness around 1,500 presentations. There will be over 30 thematic workshops focusing on hot issues and cutting-edge technologies in the field of transport, such as the development of long-span bridges, high-speed rail technology, big data, future transport, intelligent transportation, sharing economy and green mobility, and much more.
If you are interested in getting involved in one of the sessions that will be hosted by IRF (Geneva) please contact the Secretariatat info@irfnet.chThe official website of the conference is https://www.wtc-conference.com/
Applications for the Evonik Road Safety Award 2018 are now open!
IRF (Geneva) is pleased to support for the third year the Evonik Road Safety Award. Granted every year, the Evonik Road Safety Award acknowledges and rewards the contributions to road safety of public authorities worldwide.
With the Road Safety Award, Evonik aims to raise awareness for road safety initiatives that address the needs of vulnerable road users. Key criteria for the winning project are its contribution to
- Road safety (60%)
- Sustainability (20%)
- Innovation (10%)
- Replicability (10%)
Project candidates involve any completed infrastructure initiative, which includes some form of road marking with at least a one-year track record. Qualified applicants represent public authorities from a city, state, national or regional level, responsible for such an initiative. The prize of 10,000€ will be awarded in the form of a sponsored road marking application, a donation of traffic safety related items, or a donation to a non-profit organization.
Evonik bestows the prize upon identification of the winner by an independent jury of internationally recognized experts in the field of road safety, transport, and city design:
Application forms can be downloaded from www.degaroute.com and should be submitted to degaroute@evonik.com before May 31, 2018. The winning project will be announced in the month of August, followed by an award ceremony in late 2018 that will take place at a global or regional road safety event. More information – including the application form – is available on www.degaroute.com.
Tell us your story and apply for the Evonik Road Safety Award 2018!
IRF (Geneva) to support Qatar on its recycling strategy
The Pavement Preservation and Recycling Summit (PPRS) 2018 in Nice (26 - 28 March 2018) set the scene for the signature of an important MoU between Ashghal, the Qatari Public Works Authority and the International Road Federation (Geneva). Ashghal’s participation in the summit was part of its endeavour to open opportunities for cooperation and investment in the road sector and recycling of construction materials.
Ashghal’s delegation made of a group of senior officials was headed by H.E. Dr. Eng. Saad bin Ahmed Al-Muhannadi, President of the Public Works Authority. Ashghal has planned to recycle 3 million tons of asphalt waste over the next two years and is working with its partners to increase the proportion of recycled materials and use them in projects in a range of 15 to 50%, to be included with the specifications of QCS 2018. The MoU signed by Ashghal’s President Dr. Eng. Saad Al-Muhannadi and Mrs. Susanna Zammataro, Executive Director of International Road Federation (Geneva) aims at boosting cooperation in the field of construction recycling. “We are delighted to support Qatar in the implementation of its national strategy 2017-2022. IRF’s expertise and network will provide an extra gear to the ambitious plan set by Ashghal”, said Susanna Zammataro of IRF.
The National Strategy 2017-2022 of the State of Qatar aims: 1. at ensuring that at least 20% of recycled materials is used in road construction projects 2. a reduction of 30% for the cost of raw materials used in road construction in Qatar and 3. a greater uptake of environment friendly methods and techniques in the construction sector, in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 for sustainability.
Ashghal's engagement to promote recycling of construction materials looks at facilitating the establishment of a platform for the development of sustainable local infrastructure and reduce volume of import of aggregates and bitumen from abroad. This will of course have the effect of reducing costs and improve on time project delivery.
The signature of the MoU between Ashghal and IRF was also followed by the signature of an MoU between Ashghal and Anas Qatar Branch, who since 2012 works in Qatar to develop a Quality Assurance / Quality Control system for road pavements. The MoU marks the start of the e-library to be created by ANAS on Ashghal’s web portal to offer access to technical knowledge in the field of civil engineering, standards and technical specifications.
If you wish to learn more or get involved in IRF-Ashghal collaboration, please contact IRF Secretariat in Geneva info@irfnet.ch.
