Learning from data for better road safety policies
Good data is essential for developing good road safety policies. Learning from data was at the core of the ITF's 4th Safer City Streets network meeting, on 20-21 November 2018 in London and Manchester, UK (photo).
The meeting of the global traffic network for liveable cities, gathered representatives from 18 different cities. As in previous meetings, the focus was on the specific challenges facing cities. Participants stressed the need to collect mobility data, and to better manage speeds in urban areas. They agreed on the need to analyse risk: not only the risk to oneself but also that imposed on other road users. The meeting also marked the launch of the first global road safety benchmark at city-level, which signals significant progress in this area.
The report reveals striking differences in road safety performance between cities. Amongst the report's recommendations is a call to create mobility observatories to collect and report on a wide range of urban mobility and road safety data. The accuracy of data can be improved by including the collection of traffic casulaty data from hospitals. Finally, the study promotes the adoption of ambitions targets to reduce the number of casualties in cities.
The network meeting was jointly organised with the POLIS working group on road safety. Buenos Aires, Argentina, will be host city for the 5th Safer City Streets network meeting on 10-11 April 2019. Save the date!