Managing Speed in the Safe System
October 13 - October 22
Excessive and inappropriate speed remains one of the leading contributors to road traffic deaths worldwide. Effective speed management is achieved by creating a road transport system in which safe speeds become the natural outcome of sound engineering, evidence-based policy, targeted enforcement and informed decision-making.
This practical course equips engineers, road authorities, police agencies and transport professionals with the tools needed to diagnose speed-related risk, select evidence-based interventions and evaluate their effectiveness. Drawing on international case studies from both high-income and low- and middle-income countries, participants will learn how to develop speed management programmes that are technically robust, politically feasible and financially realistic.
Learning Outcomes
Drawing on internationally recognised practices, participants will learn how to:
- Explain the relationship between speed, kinetic energy and survivable crashes.
- Diagnose speed-related risk using crash data, conflict analysis and emerging digital tools.
- Select engineering and enforcement measures appropriate to different road environments.
- Apply international good practice to urban streets, rural roads and high-speed corridors.
- Design integrated speed management programmes combining engineering, enforcement and public engagement.
- Adjust legal, regulatory and operational frameworks to deliver more effective enforcement.
- Measure effectiveness through KPIs, Crash Modification Factors (CMFs) and ex-post evaluations.
- Develop practical implementation plans suited to local institutional and financial realities.
Target Audience
The course is designed for a
- Road authorities, Highway & Municipal engineers
- MDB project teams
- Road safety agencies
- Traffic police leadership
- Engineering firms
- ITS professionals
Course Structure
Date: Tuesday, 13 October 2026, 14:00-17:15 CET
Why speed remains the most important variable in road safety
Key topics:
- Why managing speed is central to the Safe System
- Human tolerance to crash forces
- Speed and crash severity
- Appropriate vs. excessive speed
- Setting Safe Speed thresholds
- Global trends in speed-related fatalities
- Foundational approaches to effective speed enforcement
- Debunking common myths about speed management
- Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) and in-vehicle speed technology
- Building a national Safe Speed strategy
- Innovation spotlight: how leading agencies are moving away from simply measuring speeds towards predicting where speed-related crashes are likely to occur
Date: Thursday, 15 October 2026, 14:00-17:15 CET
Turning information into engineering decisions
Key topics:
- Speed data collection methods:
- Traditional surveys,
- Floating / Connected vehicle datasets
- Crowd-sourced navigation data
- AI-assisted crash & conflict analysis
- Network screening & black spot analysis
- Dashboards for road agencies
- Innovation Spotlight: how AI can support engineering judgement
Date: Tuesday, 20 October 2026, 14:00-17:15 CET
Designing roads that encourage appropriate speeds
Key topics:
- Self-explaining roads
- Speed management through design
- Movement and Place Framework
- Road diets, Gateway treatments & Traffic calming
- Rural vs. urban speed management
- School zone treatments
- Speed and roadside design
- Speed management during roadworks
- Innovation Spotlight: Low-cost engineering interventions for LMICs
Date: Thursday, 22 October 2026, 14:00-17:15 CET
From isolated interventions to sustained results
Key topics:
- Speed enforcement technologies: fixed, mobile, and point-to-point/average-speed cameras
- Deterrence theory, enforcement visibility and publicity effects
- Legal, judicial and institutional frameworks for enforcement
- Public acceptance, communication and community engagement strategies
- Combining Engineering, Enforcement & Education
- Institutional coordination
- Monitoring and Evaluation: Performance indicators, Crash Modification Factors, Before-after studies
- Funding priorities
- Framework adjustments optimise the road safety effect of enforcement’
- Implementation roadmaps
- Capstone exercise: Participants develop a Safe Speed Action Plan
Instructors
Ali Zayerzadeh
Safe System Expert and CEO of Road Safety Pioneers NGO
Ali Zayerzadeh is an internationally recognised road safety specialist with over 20 years of experience in the development and implementation of Safe System policies, speed management programmes and evidence-based road safety strategies.
He has led major national initiatives spanning speed enforcement, crash data analysis, blackspot management and vulnerable road user safety, and has advised governments and international organisations across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Ali is particularly recognised for translating complex road safety evidence into practical tools that support safer infrastructure, more effective institutions and measurable safety outcomes.
Eur Ing Miguel-Angel Serrano Santos
MEng (Hons) CEng MICE CMgr MCMI FCIHT FSoRSA FASEVI
Miguel-Angel Serrano Santos is a distinguished Chartered Civil Engineer and internationally recognised authority in road safety. A graduate of the University of Granada in Spain, he currently serves as Lead Trainer for the International Road Federation – IRF.
His career spans over two decades across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, with notable leadership roles. He has played a pivotal role in fostering cross-border partnerships among engineering professionals and has delivered Traffic Management and Road Safety courses to students and practitioners worldwide.
Philip Wijers
Director Government Affairs, Sensys Gatso Group – Traffic Enforcement
Philip Wijers is a recognised expert in traffic enforcement and road safety, with a cum laude master’s degree in economic geography, specialising in transport economics, from the University of Amsterdam. His career spans both the public and private sectors, including business development and strategy roles in the airline industry, as well as positions at the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs and Dutch embassies in the Far East.
From 2010 – 2026, Philip has served as Director Government Affairs at Sensys Gatso Group (SGG), a Swedish-Dutch leader in road safety enforcement systems and services. In this role, he provides consultancy and collaborates closely with governments and road safety organizations to enhance road safety, reduce traffic speed, noise pollution, and emissions, and optimise traffic flows.
As Chair of the International Road Federation’s Road Safety Committee from 2022-2026, he headed and initiated various multidisciplinary task forces – bring together governments, academia, and the private sector – to develop practical solutions for pressing global road safety challenges such as the task forces on distracted driving, powered two-wheelers, roadsides, work zones.
He is a prolific author on automated traffic enforcement and PPPs, a regular speaker at international conferences, and a trusted consultant for national governments and multilateral organisations worldwide.
Alina F. Burlacu
Senior Transport Specialist, World Bank
Alina Burlacu is a Senior Transport Specialist with the World Bank Group’s Latin American and the Caribbean Transport Unit. Before her current role, she was part of the World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) team, where she led the speed management agenda, managed the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) program spreading across 15 countries and spearheaded road safety work with a diverse portfolio of governments, working at the nexus of numerous national, municipal and local governments in East-Asia Pacific and West and Central Africa.
Prior to joining the Bank, Alina served as the Personal Advisor to the Prime Minister in the Romanian Government, leading the elaboration of the National Road Safety Strategy, Action Plan and related legislation.
As a civil engineer by training, Alina also delivered road design consultancy services and is a certified road safety auditor. While her over 18 years of practical experience in road safety and road engineering gave her a grounded perspective, she also has a scholarly background in the subject from the University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Romania and Stuttgart University, Germany, with a PhD in Civil Engineering specialised in Road Safety.
Andrea Paliotto
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Andrea Paliotto earned his PhD from the University of Florence in 2022, following a degree cum laude in Civil Engineering in 2016. Since 2017, he has served as a research fellow at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, specialising in road safety and Human Factors. He has actively participated in several high-profile research projects, including PRACT, V4Safety, and CoEXist. A member of the PIARC National Committee on Road Safety since 2018, he has also contributed to international technical activities for safer infrastructure design, including the PIARC Technical Report “Setting Credible Speed Limits”. He has authored over 10 scientific papers published in international journals and conference proceedings.
Enrolment Fees
- Individual Registrations: 1100 CHF
- Group Registration (min. 3): 850 CHF
- IRF Members: 850 CHF
Enquiries: training@irfofficial.org
Why Attend an IRF Training Programme?
- Learn what actually works. IRF training demystifies complex concepts and translates them into actionable methods you can apply immediately.
- Upgrade your professional toolkit. You leave with diagnostic tools, checklists and frameworks used by leading agencies worldwide.
- Be taught by trusted experts. IRF instructors have hands-on experience delivering projects, reforms and technical assistance in dozens of countries.
- Engage with your peers. The format encourages discussion, collaborative exercises and sharing of institutional challenges and solutions.
- Strengthen your organisation. Participants return with the capacity to improve systems, processes, decisions and performance.
- Build towards long-term capability. Training integrates with IRF advisory services and capacity building programmes for lasting institutional impact.
- Recognised certification. IRF credentials help professionals demonstrate competence to employers, clients and funders.
