Brescia, 4 October 2019

The European Road Safety CharterA new phase for renewed commitments

Content of the presentation:

Road Safety in the EU

What is the Charter

Who are our members

2016-2019 milestones

Why and how can you join

What you can do for road safety

Developing an ERSC good practice

Good Practice examples

Progress towards 2020 target

What is the ERSCharter?

• Largest civil society platform on road safety

• Launched in 2004 by the European Commission as part ofthe Road Safety Action Program 2003 – 2010

• Based on the principal of shared responsibility andmobilization of all stakeholders in improving road safety.

• Encourages civil society to take action on road safety;facilitates acquisition and sharing of knowledge on roadsafety; encourages dialogue and exchange of road safetyexperiences and good practices

Who are the ERSC members?

• Over 3500 Charter members representing: Companies, Associations, Local and National Authorities, Research Institutions, Universities and Schools and other groups of civil society committed to take actions for road safety.

• Members carry out road safetyactions and initiatives targeted attheir members, employees andthe rest of civil society.

• 384 Italian members currently

European Road Safety Charter2016 – 2019 milestones

• National events in 28 EU countries

• Annual good practice campaign

• Annual Excellence in Road Safety Awards- call for good practice at the beginning of the year

• Excellence in Road Safety Awards Ceremony 26 June 2018, Brussels

• Webinars on Road Safety topics

• Newsletters and Social media (Facebook, Twitter)

• Website www.erscharter.eu

Why join ERSC?

Contribute to reducing the number ofdeaths and serious injuries every year;lessen the environmental impact oftraffic crashes, reduce the hefty financialcost;

Share information about you road safety activities;

Share information about your road safety events, make them public and invite participants;

Access your customized toolkit for promotional material and commitment guidelines;

Why join ERSC? Participate in the Excellence in Road

Safety Awards held annually;

Receive genuine recognition for yourefforts though visibility at Europeanlevel;

Be featured on ERSC media channels,website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

Explore similar actions of otherERSCharter members and get inspired

Inspire others by sharing a testimonialabout your road safety commitmentand the process of developing andimplementing your action.

How to become a member of the Charter?

1. Go to the ERSCharter’s website: http://www.erscharter.eu/ (change the language on the upper right side of the website).

2. Create an account by selecting the “Join!” button

• Give information about your organisation;

• Read and accept ERSCharter’s principles;

• Select your target group(s) and topic(s).

3. Confirm your subscription. You willreceive an e-mail with a questionnaireasking some more details about yourorganisation and your road safetyactivities.

Once you have filled out this shortform, you are a member of theEuropean Road Safety Charter!

What you can do for road safety

Government and authorities – main role!

Other stakeholders’ involvement boost the efforts of thegovernment;

Private companies - employees targeted measures orcorporate-level measures impacting the society at large;

NGOs - critical role in pushing for progress and providingalternative services;

Schools and academic institutions - vital role in educatingroad users and future drivers;

Cooperation between stakeholders brings the bestoutcomes.

Possible problems/topics to tackle• Vulnerable road users (VRU): children, young

adolescents, elderly, cyclists, pedestrians

• Dangerous behavior in traffic: excessive or

inappropriate speed, driving under the influence

of alcohol or drugs; the lack of use of seat belts,

distracted driving

• Infrastructure design

• Vehicle safety

ERS Charter Good Practice

Addressing risky behaviour anddeveloping awareness-raising campaignsremains a key focus for ERSC members.Members are encouraged to developspecific commitments and share goodpractices.

The ERSC good practices arecommitments which bring an innovativeset of resources, are supported byevaluation measures and respond to keyroad safety challenges and so have ameaningful impact.

Answering the call for good practices isthe first condition to participate in theERSC Excellence in Road Safety Awards.

Developing an ERSC good practice

1. What problems/topics do I identify?

2. Why is it relevant for my organization to address those problems/topics?

3. Do I have enough knowledge about the problems I identified?

4. How can I improve my knowledge about the problems I identified?

5. Which problem(s)/topic(s) do I want to address?

Step 2: ObjectivesUltimate goal should be less road deaths and injuries.

Step 1: Road Safety Assessment

1. Who is involved?

2. What do I want to achieve?

3. Why is this goal important?

All objectives should be SMART:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Relevant

• Time-bound

Step 3: Action plan

Step 4: Implementation of action plan1. Prioritize your actions2. Time-frame: the efficiency of your actions can be influenced by their timing.3. Include a communication plan4. Include a formative evaluation: Ask yourself whethereverything is going according to the plan, and make adjustments if necessary.

1. Process evaluation2. Effect evaluation3. Before-after measurements

Step 5: Evaluation

Objective indicators• Decrease in number of collisions

and victims• Decrease in traffic safety offences• Decrease in costs of collisions• Decrease in level of risk exposure• Indicators measuring participation• Visibility on social media• Decrease in level of air pollutants

emissions

Subjective indicators• Increase in road safety knowledge:

attitudes to road safety and habit changes

• Based on perception of external observers: degree of compliance with goals and objectives; compliance with the initial action plan, relevance of actions, communication efforts.

Example: Municipality

Problem identified: 30% of road collisions in 2010 involved a senior citizen

Target: persons aged > 65

Results: 43% reduction in collisions involving seniors (2016 – 2015)

Problem identified: high number of collisions involving children

Target: children and parents

Results: 29.671 app downloads, 101.500 game sessions, over 9000 slowdowns.

Example: Association

ERSC Good practice: MR. Bear

Example: School

Lockerbie Academy (UK)Winner Excellence in RS Award 2016

Problem identified: high profile fatal crash inthe region involving young adolescents

Target: adolescents and young adults (15-25)

Actions:

• introduced road safety themes to physicslessons

• worked with police officers to talk throughcollision investigation techniques, linkingthem to core concepts of measuring forceand velocity.

• pupils took part in simulated crashinvestigations based on real collisionsoccurred in local area.

Evaluation: using surveys; evaluated in termsof ease of use and understanding togetherwith the impact it may have on the youngpeople as drivers in the future.

Example: Large company

CTT - Correios de PortugalWinner Excellence in RS Award 2017

Problem identified: large fleet and thousands of workersdriving - need to reduce road collisions involving their employees

Target: employees (2532 drivers in 2016)

Actions: Road safety programme, including:

Diagnosis road collisions (2000 collisions annually)

Accident control – monitoring of drivers and teams withhighest collision rates

Vehicles safety: renewed equipment

New drivers: psychological evaluation training & assessment

Recognition and promotion of ‘safe’ teams

Communication

Training of drivers

Results: 2016 to 2014

- Less 23.7% of work accidents with road cause; 53% reductionof absenteeism

- Less 5.7% of total accidents (and damage) per million Km

- Reduced 22.5% of costs per million Km

- Reduced 62.5% of absenteeism per million Km

Example: TrafficResearch institution

VSV (Belgium)

Problem identified: Nearly 1/3 of all cyclists whoare severely injured in a bicycle crash sustain headand/or brain injury. Especially young children are atrisk

Target: primary school children

Actions:

• Helm Op Fluo Top (‘wear a helmet and shine inthe dark’) motivates primary school children towear a cycle helmet and a safety vest whencycling or walking to school.

• Children receive tokens on a savings card foreach day they wear a helmet and/or a jacket.

• A full savings card gives right to benefits such asfree entrance tickets for a zoo, leisure parks etc.

Results:

• 87% of children wearing safety vest to (17%before the project);

• 98% of the participating schools evaluated theirexperience with the project as ‘positive’;

Resources:

• Your creativity

• ERSC good practice

examples

• Commitment guidelines and

good practice guidelines

• Cooperation

• CAST – Manual for

Designing, Implementing

and Evaluation Road Safety

Communication Campaigns

(https://publications.europa.eu/s/egPm )

Thank you for your attention.

theodora.calinescu@etsc.eu