Alliance Newsletter

COVID-19 has quickly become the main priority for most of our governments. As road safety and mobility NGOs and advocates, what is our role in this crisis?

Our priority, as always, is the safety of our citizens. Hospitals and emergency services cannot manage road crash victims as they struggle to cope with the pandemic and governments are working hard to contain the virus. The strongest road safety message we can offer at this time is to follow your government's advice, stay at home, and if you need to go out, walk, drive, or ride carefully: use a seat belt or helmet, reduce your speed, don't drink and drive, and stay off your mobile phone. Be responsible for your own sake and the sake of everyone.

We wish you all well in these challenging times. Please stay safe and keep in touch.

Yours sincerely,

Lotte Brondum
Executive Director 

WHAT DOES COVID MEAN FOR MOBILITY AND NGOs? Within the last month, COVID-19 has shifted governments' and citizens' priorities and drastically altered our day-to-day lifestyles. It has implications for nearly every area of our lives and our work. Road safety is no exception. It is likely that the pandemic will have a long-term impact on the way we work, travel, and interact with one another. The Alliance will be holding a series of calls for NGOs to discuss what the pandemic means for road safety, how we respond now, and how we equip ourselves for new challenges and ways of working. Sign up HERE. Read about some of the emerging road safety implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, how NGOs are responding, and links to relevant resources HERE. While many things are uncertain and the picture is rapidly evolving, there is one road safety message that is clear. Charlie Mock, Professor of Global Health, University of Washington, sums it up, “The medical system is being stretched to, and, in some cases, beyond capacity in many locations. Hence, there is even more reason than usual to drive safely (including obeying speed limits), to avoid alcohol-impaired driving, and to use proper restraints. There is also good reason to avoid driving unless you really need to.” ONE MONTH SINCE SWEDEN  Just over one month ago, the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety concluded with new momentum to reduce road deaths and injuries on the world's roads. Watch our new video recalling our call to action for world leaders HERE. The Stockholm Declaration was the primary output of the conference and will form the basis for a new UN resolution on road safety. Find the Declaration HERE. While we know that the General Assembly meeting will not take place in April as planned, this will be a key document, and we remain ready to push its agenda. To catch up or as a reminder of the key events in Sweden, you can also find videos, photos, and films of the high-level panels and parallel sessions HERE. NGO/GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP IN UGANDA RECEIVES UN ROAD SAFETY TRUST FUND GRANT A joint project between the Ugandan government, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and Alliance member URRENO, was among the UN Road Safety Trust Fund grantees announced at a ministerial lunch hosted by Jean Todt, the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Road Safety, at the Global Ministerial Conference last month. The project will improve crash reporting and analysis to enable monitoring and evaluation, and planning of road safety implementation. Read more HERE. COMMITMENT FOR YOUNG VICTIMS IN SPAIN The first moment after a road crash is one of great confusion: people are in a state of shock and can experience intense reactions that they do not know how to manage. On 10 February 2020, Alliance member P(A)T, Spain, held a public ceremony as part of the #CommitToAct campaign. At the event, Miquel Buch, Minister of the Interior, and Juli Gendrau, Director of the Servei Català de Trànsit, committed to expand immediate psychological care for all seriously injured crash victims under the age of 18 (previously available to only those under age 12) and to expand the support for victims' families up to 12 months after an incident. Read more HERE and explore more commitments on our commitment tracker HERE. ALLIANCE WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS We are delighted to welcome two new members that have joined the Alliance recently: L'Association Annahda Al-Baamraniya pour le développement et l'éducation à la sécurité routière, Morocco Plataforma Motera para la Seguridad Vial, Spain. Read more about our new members and check out their profiles HERE.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND DEADLINES NOTE: Events and schedules subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. iRAP Star Rating for Schools four-part webinar series: 31 March–9 April 2020. Read more HERE. POSTPONED: Second UN Global Sustainable Transport Conference: 5–7 May 2020, Beijing, China. Read more HERE. Velo-city 2020: 2–5 June 2020, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Read more HERE. POSTPONED: 4th International Children's Road Safety Forum (FISEVI): 9–10 June 2020, Colombia. Read more HERE. Road to Vision Zero Conference, Brake: 17 June 2020, London, UK. Read more HERE. Universiti Putra Malaysia, postgraduate courses in road safety. Application deadline for September 2020 entry: 30 June 2020. Read more HERE. IRF Summit: 1–3 October 2020, Istanbul, Turkey. Read more HERE. NETS annual STRENGTH IN NUMBERS® Benchmark Conference: 14–15 October 2020, Denver, US. Read more HERE.

                                 

We're updating our serious injury guidance and we need your help!

Have you been seriously injured in a road crash? Or cared for someone who has been seriously injured? Have your say. Brake provides information and advice for people seriously injured in a road crash or people who are caring for someone injured in this way. You can view our guidance here. Please help us to provide the best possible information to anyone coping with serious, life-changing injuries following a road crash. Complete our short survey and let us know what you think. The survey will take between 10 and 15 minutes, and can be completed by anyone who has been seriously injured in a crash, or by anyone who has cared for someone injured in this way. You can also share this email with anyone you know who has experienced serious injury after a road crash. Thank you for your support. Your opinion is important to us.

Take the survey

RoadSafe News

International news
'Slow down traffic to ease health emergency’: Lord Robertson tells UK Parliament Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, Chairman of the FIA Foundation and a member of the UK House of Lords, urges legislators to address the leading cause of death and injury for young people around the world.  Read more...
ARRB Webinar: A national blameless culture in road incident investigations In this webinar, the Australian Road Research Board will examine the benefits and implications of establishing a national ‘blameless’ culture (as applied in other transport modes) in road incident investigations in Australia.   Read more...
The 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety has come to an end. Now the real work begins! Now is the time to turn ideas, experiences and shared knowledge and successes into action. A strong political commitment is required at all levels, together with regional and national strategies and road safety action plans.  Read more...
UK news
Ageing and Safe Mobility: 21st Century Streets. The Ageing and Safe Mobility: 21st Century Streets conference will take place on the 1st September 2020 at the Chakrabati Lecture Theatre, Oxford Brookes University.  Read more...
Driving at work
Driver Risk Management during the COVID 19 Outbreak The UK Government has relaxed drivers’ hours rules, and relaxed vehicle testing requirements in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.  Read more...
Business Champions lead the way They share their own stories – the challenges they faced, how they met those challenges, and the benefits they’ve seen as a result.   Read more...
Commercial Vehicle Safety Confence: The Challenges and Opportunities. The Commercial Vehicle Safety conference will take place on the 2nd December in Surrey.  Read more...
Free risk assessment tool now available. A new business management free online gap analysis tool is now available for all through the Driving for Better Business programme.  Read more...
Fleet Drivers can be better prepared for risks associated with ADAS Drivetech has released the latest in our series of Whitepapers focusing on the range of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (or, more popularly, ADAS) and how increasing automation is providing benefits, but also new challenges for drivers and driver training.  Read more...
Time Pressure and Driver Risk DriverMetrics has published a new white paper addressing Time Pressure and Driver Risk.  Read more...
Driving for Work, what's the risk? The Scottish Occupational Road Safety Alliance (ScORSA) will be holding a free seminar aimed at equipping those who drive for work to be safer on the road.  Read more...
Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV)
Automated systems need stronger safeguards to keep drivers focused on the road The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has issued a set of research-based safety recommendations on the design of partially automated driving systems.  Read more...
Survey Seeks Drivers Views on Autonomous Vehicles Drivers are being encouraged to share their views on autonomous vehicles, as part of a European-wide research project.  Read more...
Driverless vehicles demand bespoke control rooms Crossover AV is supplying bespoke control room solutions, together with event and meeting technology, to the world’s most advanced urban testing lab for driverless vehicles in London.  Read more...
BSI sets the standard for CAV test safety BSI has released a new specification setting out minimum requirements for managing safety during development testing and when trialling automated vehicles both on and off public roads.  Read more...
Young drivers
Young Driver Focus 2020: moved to 10th September 2020 The Young Driver Focus Conference 202 has been moved to the 10th September 2020.  Read more...
Safer vehicles
EuroNCAP rewards Volkswagen safety technology Euro NCAP has rewarded Volkswagen’s ‘Local Hazard Warning’ system with an ‘Advanced’ award.  Read more...
Safer roads
Research to look at side road layouts A new research project has been launched to explore issues linked to the design of side road layouts and the way priority is offered to different users.  Read more...
Safer drivers
Take Extra Care. Road Safety GB is encouraging all road users to do their bit to reduce the strain on the emergency services in the coming weeks and months, by taking extra care if they must make an essential journey.  Read more...
Failure to wear seat belts remains a challenge New PACTS report highlights the need for better evidence.  Read more...
Forthcoming events
CIECA Congress 2020. – 4 June 2020 Ageing and Safe Mobility: 21st Century Streets. – 1 September 2020 Young Driver Focus 2020 – 10 September 2020 NETS Annual STRENGTH IN NUMBERS® Benchmark Conference – 14 October 2020 National Transport Research Awards 2020 – 20 November 2020 The Commercial Vehicle Safety Conference 2020 – 2 December 2020

Last TISPOL Bulletin

Dear TISPOL Familiy and Friends,

after 20 years TISPOL members have decided to renew and give themselves a new and self-explanatory name. TISPOL comes from former times, when the “Traffic Information System” in its first steps was an information exchange platform, meanwhile it is a real network - aiming to much more than this.
Therefore we have given ourselves the name, which reflects our tasks even better:

ROADPOL – European Roads Policing Network

Being aware of other NGO’s of European Police Forces such as RAILPOL and AIRPOL, which have choosen self-explanatory names for their organisations, we now close the gap for the traffic mode on our European roads.

Our mission stays the same: “Crossing borders to save lives”. We will continue to devote our energy  making Europe's roads safer.

Our well-known project, in which we invite the citizens of Europe to give their contribution for saving lifes in road traffic, recently known as “EDWARD”, will also continue, and will get as well a self-explanatory name, which will be published accordingly.

We thank everyone who has supported us over the last 20 years by participating in the activities or at least by retweeting and posting our messages.
We would be pleased if ROADPOL could also count on your support in the future. 

Visit our new website www.roadpol.eu , contact us if you have any questions or suggestions. You will find all contact information on our website.

Soon it will also be possible to subscribe to the ROADPOL Newsletter, which will replace the old TISPOL Bulletin.

In future, the pan-European operation weeks will run under the name ROADPOL, the new calendar will be circulated shortly.

However, due to the current coronavirus situation, we have decided today to suspend the controls for the time being.

Actually we wanted to announce the official change from TISPOL to ROADPOL at our spring conference this week in Sevillia / Spain.
However, due to the current development situation regarding COVID-19, we have decided to cancel this conference. It would not have been compatible with our goal "Crossing Borders to safe lives" to ignore the hazard of spreading the virus further and endanger human lives as a result.

At this point we would like to thank all those who made the foundation of ROADPOL possible in the first place and who actively supported us.

We look forward to continuing to exchange information, good ideas and practices with all of you and let the network answer your questions on road safety issues.

Stay healthy!         

Οδική Ασφάλεια: Πολλά μέτρα και πολλά σταθμά. Ένα αποκαλυπτικό crash -test.

Στο εγχειρίδιο του Παγκόσμιου Οργανισμού Υγείας  «SAVE LIVES Δέσμη μέτρων για την Οδική Ασφάλεια» που κυκλοφόρησε το 2017 και εκδόθηκε στα ελληνικά από τον SOS Τροχαία Εγκλήματα (ΕΔΩ) στο κεφάλαιο «Πρότυπα ασφαλείας των οχημάτων»  αναφέρονται μεταξύ άλλων τα παρακάτω:

«Ο παγκόσμιος στόλος οχημάτων ξεπερνά το ένα δισεκατομμύριο και είναι πιθανό να διπλασιαστεί μέχρι το 2030. Ωστόσο, η εφαρμογή των κανονισμών για την ασφάλεια των οχημάτων διαφέρει σημαντικά σε ολόκληρο τον κόσμο: είναι επαρκής σε ορισμένες χώρες και περιοχές αλλά αδύναμη ή ανύπαρκτη σε άλλες. Τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες η νομοθεσία και η ζήτηση των καταναλωτών οδήγησαν σε ασφαλέστερα αυτοκίνητα σε χώρες / περιοχές υψηλού εισοδήματος. Πολλά από τα χαρακτηριστικά που ξεκίνησαν ως σχετικά ακριβά «εξτρά» ασφαλείας στα οχήματα υψηλής τεχνολογίας έχουν γίνει πολύ πιο προσιτά από τότε και θεωρούνται πλέον βασικές απαιτήσεις για όλα τα οχήματα σε ορισμένες χώρες / περιοχές.

Η ραγδαία αύξηση της μηχανοκίνησης σε χώρες / περιοχές με χαμηλό και μεσαίο εισόδημα, όπου ο κίνδυνος συγκρούσεων κατά την οδική κυκλοφορία είναι υψηλότερος και η χρήση μηχανοκίνητων οχημάτων αυξάνεται παράλληλα με την οικονομική ανάπτυξη, σημαίνει ότι υπάρχει επείγουσα ανάγκη να εφαρμοστούν αυτές οι βασικές απαιτήσεις σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο . 

Περισσότεροι από 40.000 θάνατοι και 400.000 σοβαροί τραυματισμοί θα μπορούσαν να αποφευχθούν και μέχρι 143 δις δολάρια  να εξοικονομηθούν εάν εφαρμόζονταν οι βασικές προδιαγραφές του ΟΗΕ για τα οχήματα, σε τέσσερις χώρες κλειδιά της Λατινικής Αμερικής (Αργεντινή, Βραζιλία, Μεξικό, Χιλή) έως το 2030.

Είναι σημαντικό να διασφαλιστεί ότι ο σχεδιασμός των οχημάτων συμμορφώνεται με τα αναγνωρισμένα πρότυπα ασφαλείας, αλλά ελλείψει τέτοιων προτύπων, οι εταιρείες αυτοκινήτων είναι σε θέση να πωλούν σε φτωχότερες χώρες παρωχημένα μοντέλα που δεν είναι πλέον νόμιμα σε πιο αναπτυγμένες χώρες. Ταυτόχρονα, οι εταιρείες αυτοκινήτων συχνά «απενεργοποιούν» τεχνολογίες που σώζουν ζωές σε νεότερα μοντέλα που πωλούνται σε χώρες όπου οι κανονισμοί είναι αδύναμοι ή ανύπαρκτοι».

Στο πλαίσιο των εκδηλώσεων για την 3η Παγκόσμια Υπουργική  Διάσκεψη για την Οδική  Ασφάλεια   (19 &20 Φεβρουαρίου 2020 στη Στοκχόλμη), η  NCAP πραγματοποίησε, επιτόπου, ένα crash test μεταξύ δύο «ίδιων» αυτοκινήτων. Συγκρούστηκαν δυο Nissan NP300 φαινομενικά όμοια αλλά τελικά πολύ διαφορετικά.

Το ένα που πωλείται στην Ευρώπη (το συγκεκριμένο μάλιστα που συμμετείχε στο test ήταν μεταχειρισμένο) αποδείχτηκε με βάση τα αποτελέσματα αρκετά ασφαλές ( ****) ενώ το δεύτερο (καινούριο) που πωλείται στην Νότια Αφρική αποδείχτηκε μια παγίδα θανάτου (0*).

«Τέτοιες πρακτικές πρέπει να λήξουν» επεσήμανε ο Dr Etienne Krug, εκπρόσωπος του Π.Ο.Υγείας. Στο θέμα αναφέρθηκε και η Zoleka Mandela, εγγονή του Νelson Mandela,  που παραβρέθηκε στη διάσκεψη ως μητέρα θύματος τροχαίου που έχει ενεργό ρόλο στις προσπάθεια ανάπτυξης πολιτικών πρόληψης στη Νότια Αφρική.

Ο τεράστιος αριθμός θανάτων και τραυματισμών που συνεχώς αυξάνονται στις φτωχές και μεσαίου εισοδήματος χώρες, είναι φανερό πως δεν οφείλεται μόνο στους οδηγούς, ούτε οφείλεται σ αυτό που στην Ελλάδα μας αρέσει να θεωρούμε «ζήτημα παιδείας» η ευθύνη των αυτοκινητοβιομηχανιών που παράγουν και πωλούν τέτοια οχήματα, όπως και η ευθύνη των κυβερνήσεων των χωρών που επιτρέπουν την εισαγωγή τους είναι προφανής. Και προφανές είναι πως στις χώρες αυτές αυτά τα φονικά όπλα θα διαφημίζονται ως ταχύτατα, ασφαλέστατα κλπ.

Γι αυτούς που νομίζουν πως αυτά είναι προβλήματα που δεν μας αφορούν ως πολίτες μιας ευρωπαϊκής χώρας να σημειώσουμε πως αν αυτό ισχύει για την αγορά νέων οχημάτων, η κατάσταση δεν είναι το ίδιο ξεκάθαρη όσων αφορά στα εισαγόμενα μεταχειρισμένα.

Αλλά δεν είναι μόνο το όχημα.

Όταν νόμιμα διαφημίζονται και νόμιμα πωλούνται στη χώρα μας ελαστικά μηχανής με 30€ το ζευγάρι(!), ελαστικά αυτοκινήτων με 45€ η τετράδα(!) η κράνη μηχανής με 25 έως 30€(!) αναρωτιέται κανείς ποιες προδιαγραφές ασφαλείας τηρούν όλα αυτά και ποια είναι η συμμετοχή τους στα αυξημένα ποσοστά θυμάτων τροχαίας στης χώρας μας.

Να μιλήσουμε για το τι κάνει το κράτος; Όχι βέβαια, αυτά είναι ζητήματα ελεύθερης  αγοράς.

Το κράτος είναι απλά για να καταγράφει τα θύματα.