COVID-19: AN OPPORTUNITY TO TRANSFORM ROAD SAFETY

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

In the first four months of 2020, there have been about a quarter of a million COVID-19 related deaths around the world. Globally, authorities are still doing what needs to be done to stop the pandemic. People are adopting and endorsing safety protocols that completely change life as they knew it. 
As the world struggles through the tragic coronavirus outbreak, another health crisis has been silently going on for decades.

In a typical four-month period, more than 600,000 people would die on roads around the world. What are authorities globally doing about that? What are national road safety authorities doing? Road safety activity is not ‘business as usual’. Is there enough activity? 

Countless comparisons between the pandemic and road crash deaths are being made. The scale of the road safety problem puts the seriousness of the COVID-19 crisis in perspective. 

However, rather than comparing the extent of suffering and death wrought by both horrific causes, there may be broader lessons we can learn to save many lives and much future suffering.

The current experience with pandemic has provided us with guidance on how to re-design our work as well as generating revamped government accountability for health externalities caused by traffic, particularly road crashes. 

Along with all the suffering, loss, and upheaval of COVID-19, we have the opportunity to evolve.

#StaySafe
#StayConnected

INTERVIEW WITH OLIVERA ROZI, EIRA PROJECT DIRECTOR

In road safety, it is important to understand that very difficult work needs to be done and results may be visible only years after, even though we would want to see them immediately. You need to keep going.

To cite one of my favourite notes from Tagore: “The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.”  We need to leave safer roads for future generations.

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CROATIA AND EUROPE: SAME TRAFFIC RULES, DIFFERENT INTERPRETATION?!

There were 4,077 people fatally injured in ten Danube area countries throughout 2017 alone. Putting that number in perspective, comparing it for example, with an epidemic outbreak and it will be clear how we underestimate that number only because our opinion regarding traffic accidents is biased by the idea that it is entirely drivers' fault. Precisely this outdated way of thinking, which does not lead us towards saving those lives, is being tackled by the RADAR project seeking to increase awareness on all levels, from the general public to key decision-making stakeholders.  

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AMID THE PANDEMIC OUTBREAK THE FOURTH STEERING COMMITTEE METAMORPHOSED 

The RADAR project faced a roadblock when most organisations across the world started to adjust to remote work due to a health and safety situation. Without being able to get together a completely transnational team and by following the advice of institutional health officers, regional health authorities and national guidance for travel, the fourth Steering Committee meeting had to face a new reality. Instead of in-person meeting in Beograd, Serbia, the SC meeting successfully metamorphosed into a virtual one.

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A RECORD NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS FOR THE FIRST ONLINE ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE SAFETY TRAINING COURSE 

The first online training course initially planned in Moldova witnessed record numbers, with 47 road design engineers, road safety specialists, national authorities, road safety officers, and civil engineering students. This number confirmed the status of the training course as a leading course for road safety experts and policymakers, The three-day course was held on May 11 and successfully completed on May 13, 2020. 

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CAPITALISATION ACTIVITIES: PROJECT SLAIN

The European Commission Connecting Europe Facility managed by INEA has funded the SLAIN project (Saving Lives Assessing and Improving TEN-T road Network safety). The European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP) is the lead partner in this consortium project which aims to improve road infrastructure safety on European TEN-T roads through risk assessment. Among its activities, SLAIN encompasses the assessment of roads as to their readiness for connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). Technical input within SLAIN is provided by the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP). At the current stage, it is planned to collect data from a sample of 2,000 km of TEN-T roads in 4 different countries – Croatia, Greece, Italy, and Spain. An independent survey will be carried out to assess the infrastructure’s readiness for Automation. Results may be expected by the second half of 2020. 

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do you know any #roadsafety project in your region?

RADAR project is seeking identification of synergies and communication with other projects that tackle road safety, sustainable transport solutions and improved mobility in the Danube region. 

Let us connect! We would love to give your project a shout out. 

Contact our RADAR project communications manager at nina.petric@amzs.si. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

• June 2020 – Road Infrastructure Safety WEBINAR

Stay tuned for more events here. 

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