At the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, which gathered 1700 participants from 140 countries in Stockholm this week, IRU called for a road safety culture focused on training and skills development, certification and internationally harmonised standards.
Despite mounting national and international efforts to stabilise road fatalities and injuries by 2020, the international communities failed to achieve their main objective of The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020. This is partly due to the lack of focus on the human element – the cause of 85% of road accidents.
“We cannot continue with business as usual. We know that the human element is the biggest factor affecting safety on the roads and must, therefore, sit at the heart of change,” said IRU Secretary General Umberto de Pretto during his speech. “We need to enforce training focused on cultural as well as technical factors and ensure that reporting and certification schemes test, measure and recognise progress.”
IRU’s most recent survey of mobility and logistics operators in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States supports this call as 86% of the respondents are in favour of certification schemes.
“Logistics and mobility operators are already investing heavily in road safety and will continue doing so. Ultimately, road safety improvements will lead to less accidents, technology that supports the drivers and more safe and secure parking areas – elements that ensure decent working conditions, which in turn will help address the driver shortage situation our industry is facing,” concluded Umberto de Pretto.