IRU and the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) are partnering on road safety. In this joint article, Vincent Erard and Willem Groenewald outline the solutions provided by the two organisations for companies in the sector.
Halfway through the UN’s Decade of Action, much remains to be done to halve the number of deaths on our roads and turn the global Vision Zero approach into reality. We believe that every life lost on the road is one life too many, and every injury is one injury too many. We know that all road traffic deaths and injuries are preventable. We have the power to drive change.
To achieve our goals, we face significant challenges – policies and awareness raising are not enough. Road safety is a shared responsibility, requiring the commitment of us all.
How can the FIA and IRU, with our members, drive progress faster and further?
At the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, we called for a shift in mindsets and the adoption of a safe mobility culture. This means a world where safety is prioritised by all governments, road users, NGOs, and the private sector. Such cultural change is essential to achieving our goals and making every journey safer.
By joining forces, we want to lead this movement – reaching over 80 million road users and more than 3.5 million companies operating mobility and logistics services worldwide. And we are already taking decisive action, going beyond individual efforts to target broader changes within organisations.
The FIA has introduced its Road Safety Index to encourage companies to measure their road safety footprint just as they do for their carbon footprint. By making road safety a key part of ESG reporting, the Index can be a game-changer, encouraging companies to take concrete steps to reduce deaths and injuries on the world’s roads.
Ten companies – Amazon, BAT Italia, Honda, Ikea Supply Chain Operations, TotalEnergies, Shell, Uber and Waymo – have now achieved the highest available 3-star rating, demonstrating their commitment to the highest road safety standards. But this is just the beginning. The Index will expand to 5 stars in 2026. The FIA aims to unite its members into a powerful network to connect with companies, increase participation, and accelerate adoption.
IRU will expand its RoadMasters and Academy programmes to help fleet operators address one of the biggest road safety challenges: the human factor. Monitoring and understanding drivers’ abilities and providing targeted training and support helps companies significantly improve road safety. Based on decades of IRU’s work developing global UN road safety standards for commercial operations, these programmes also feed back on-the-ground safety experiences from companies to make them even more powerful over time.
Our collective aim is to give companies the tools they need to drive road safety in a structured, evidence-based and strategic way.
We believe this is the next frontier. It is estimated that one-third of total global road deaths – as many as 400,000 fatalities annually – occur in crashes involving someone driving at or for work. Real progress in road safety will be achieved when organisations use these tools to make meaningful changes in their daily operations.
Following on from the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, we commit to empowering more companies than ever before to improve driver behaviour, actively reduce their road safety footprint, and join us in advancing towards a global Vision Zero.
- Vincent Erard, Senior Director of Strategy and Development, IRU
- Willem Groenewald, Secretary General for Automobile Mobility, FIA