Designing streets for safer speeds
Last month EASST partner Gela Kvashilava of the Partnership for Road Safety in Georgia attended a two-day workshop in Lisbon, Portugal looking at how global street design tools can be used to reduce speed, and traffic casualties, in local contexts.
The workshop was hosted by the NACTO Global Designing Cities Initiative, a programme focussed on “inspiring a shift toward safe, sustainable, and healthy cities through transforming urban streets.”
In Georgia, the Partnership for Road Safety has been using NACTO’s Global Street Design Guide to transform school zones and routes to school in Tbilisi – ensuring that children across the capital have safe access to education.
The workshop was designed to better understand the key themes that are important in safe speeds projects and discuss different ways to ensure NACTO’s upcoming publication Designing streets for safer speeds is as applicable to as many different contexts as possible.
EASST’s Gela Kvashilava commented:
“Vehicle speed is the major risk factor in traffic fatalities. Many cities are now piloting and implementing various programmes and we need tools to address this issue. The development of a global ‘safe speeds’ manual that speaks to everyone, not only technicians, is vital.”
In particular, discussions aimed to identify the major roadblocks in safe speed design and planning processes – including getting key decision-makers and stakeholders on side.
EASST is proud and delighted that Gela was able to represent the region at such a formative meeting of a global initiative that promises to have local, on-the-ground relevance. We look forward to sharing the Designing streets for safer speeds in the near future.
In addition, in October, Gela became a member of the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS), an independent non-profit organisation whose goal is to reduce the impact of misuse of alcohol and drugs by operators of vehicles in all modes of transport.
