New challenges ahead

on

Tuesday 14th December 2010
(9.00 - 16.15)

Thon Hotel - Avenue du Boulevard, 17 - 1210 Brussels

On 14 December 2010, the ERF held its well-timed Road Infrastructure Safety Forum titled “New Challenges Ahead”. The event proved an ideal opportunity for stakeholders and policymakers to gather, exchange views and discuss about how road infrastructure can provide solutions that can help make our roads safer and contribute within the framework of the European Commission’s 4^th Road Safety Action Programme.

The Forum was structured around four thematic priorities that dealt respectively with Vulnerable Road Users/Ageing Population, Rural Roads and Secondary Road Network, European Norms and Standardisation and ITS Safety and Mobility. During the Forum a number of keynote speakers, representing European Commission, CEN, National Road Associations, users’ associations, road equipment manufacturers and various federations, took turns in offering their suggestions and ideas over the next steps to undertake in the years to come which would yield additional safety on roads.

The event gathered around 60 high level participants and was a general agreement that road infrastructure sector can play a key role and can offer simple, effective and cheap solutions to improve the road network and enhance Road Safety, especially in this period of economic constraint. Moreover, the need for a holistic, integrated and balanced approach that maximises road safety for all road users collectively was reiterated. Last but not least, the Forum’s participants urged the European Commission to support research and implementation of road safety infrastructure solutions that are needed to reach the new ambitious objective, as well as better understand how infrastructure can adapt to the needs of an ageing population.

In his closing words, Christophe Nicodème stated that ‘now more than ever, I am convinced that road infrastructure can provide much needed solutions that can be of great benefit to road users in a cost-effective manner, as it is now clear that more will have to be done with less. In this spirit, I invite all stakeholders today to provide us their inputs and ideas that can serve as blueprint for action over the years to come’.