HOW ROAD SAFETY VARIES ACROSS EUROPE: A VIEW FROM ETSC – THE EUROPEAN TRANSPORT SAFETY COUNCIL
SPEAKER:
PROFESSOR RICHARD ALLSOP, OBE MA PHD DSC FRENG FICE FCILT FIHT FSS
Emeritus Professor of Transport Studies, University College London; Board Member of ETSC and Chairman of its PIN Programme
DATE:
14 JULY 2009 (TUESDAY)
TIME:
19:00 - 20:00
VENUE:
WANG GUNGWU THEATRE, GRADUATE HOUSE, THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
ORGANIZED BY:
Institute of Transport Studies, The University of Hong Kong
ABSTRACT:
ETSC is a Brussels-based independent organisation founded in 1993 and dedicated to the reduction of the number and severity of injuries in transport accidents in Europe. It provides an impartial source of expert advice on transport safety matters to the European Commission, the European Parliament, EU Member States and neighbouring countries. One of its current activities is the road safety performance index programme PIN, whose aim is to help EU Member States in improving road safety by comparing Member States' performance with a view to identifying and promoting best practice and encouraging the kind of political leadership that is needed to reduce the disproportionate risk of death and injury currently associated with using the roads.
Since June 2006, national research organisations and independent researchers from 30 countries participating in the programme have been providing the best data available in their countries about a range of aspects of road safety, and these data, together with information from cross-national European sources, have been used to compare a range of aspects of performance quantitatively among the 30 countries. The results of these comparisons are communicated, with the help of commentary from experts across the 30 countries, in ways that aim both to inform all those concerned with road safety, and to influence opinion formers and policy makers as well as interested members of the public.
The lecture will present many of the findings of this work in the context of discussion of the challenges the programme has presented in terms of the methodology of such international comparisons and the balance that has needed to be struck between scientific rigour and effective advocacy.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Professor Richard Allsop has extensive experience of research, training and advisory work on road safety, traffic management and other aspects of transport policy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and has a DSc in Engineering from UCL (University College London), where he is Emeritus Professor of Transport Studies, having been Professor since 1976 and Director between then and 1997 of what is now the Centre for Transport Studies. He has contributed extensively to road safety research and policy, including leading the production of the IHT Gudelines for Urban Safety Management, and more widely to transport research and its applications, for example in traffic signal control and in helping to lead the production of the IHT manual Transport and the Urban Environment. He is a member of the UK Government's Road Safety Advisory Panel and chairs its Statistics Group, having previously chaired the group which developed numerical advice to Ministers on the setting of the current road casualty reduction targets for Great Britain. He is a Board Member of the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) and chairs its road safety performance indicator programme PIN, and is a Director of PACTS, the UK Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety. He has also provided inputs to road safety policy in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Poland, and lectured and contributed to research in many other countries.
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