Summary

The 2021 iRAP Innovation Workshop was held on 7 and 14 October 2021 and attracted 1,314 registrations from 124 countries. It was co-hosted by iRAP and the Regional Road Safety Observatories in Africa (ARSO), Asia-Pacific (APRSO), Ibero-America (OISEVI), Europe (ERSO), Western Balkans (WBRSO) and Eastern Partnership (EaP).

The 2-part online event with the theme “Data-Driven Innovation to Halve Road Fatalities and Injuries by 2030” brought together global innovation, AI, policy, technical and road safety leaders, along with investment experts, with the capacity to implement change and eliminate high-risk roads.

Big data and artificial intelligence can play a lead role in building the social and economic business case for safer roads and creating the scale of change needed to save millions of lives.

The Second UN Decade of Action 2021-2030 aims to halve the number of global deaths and injuries by 2030.  All countries have the opportunity to adopt and achieve the 12 UN Global Road Safety Performance Targets.

Effective action, policy-making and investment will require accurate road safety data collected through transparent, rigorous and efficient methods that meet the global safety standard for benchmarking and comparison across time. A global challenge requires a global solution and the regional road safety observatories present an opportunity for joint regional efforts and economies of scale. The Regional Road Safety Observatories supported by iRAP and other intergovernmental organisations, aim to accelerate country-level improvements in data collection, analyses and decision making.

The 2021 Innovation Workshop aimed to explore the data need and shine a light on cutting-edge practice and emerging research and innovation in data collection, partnerships and programmes. Partnership opportunities for efficiencies of scale in resourcing and implementation were explored.

Eight iRAP Innovation Workshops have previously been held in Stockholm (an official pre-event of the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety), Washington, Manila, London and Melbourne.

Event Communique

See the Event Communique here with 24 key recommendations arising out of the Workshop for the consideration of global stakeholders shaping their plans for the UN Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030.

Event Recordings

Recordings of the Innovation Workshop are linked below:

Day 1 Recording – Thursday 7 October (English)
Day 2 Recording – Thursday 14 October (English)

The event was also translated into 4 languages – Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and French. The links to the translation recordings will appear here soon.

Programme and Presentations

PROGRAMME

See the programme here. Workshop sessions focussed on:

• A world free of high-risk roads and the critical role of the RRSOs
• Data-driven successes in safety
• How could big data change the game for road safety?
• Applications of big data for road safety
• Telematics and speed data solutions
• Fleets and crash prediction
• Reflections on opportunities for the Regional Road Safety Observatories and the future

PRESENTATIONS

Copies of the workshop presentations (where provided) are linked below.

Day 1 – Thursday 7 October

​Session 1 – Opening: A Global Structure to Deliver the 2030 Targets

Session Moderator: Monica Olyslagers Global Innovation Manager and Cities Specialist, iRAP

• Opening Address Rob McInerney CEO, iRAP
• Keynote Address Jean Todt UN Special Envoy for Road Safety
• The UN Decade Plan and the data needs for the 12 Global Targets Etienne Krug Director, Social Determinants for Health, World Health Organization
• World Bank RRSO partnerships Veronica Raffo Senior Infrastructure Specialist, World Bank
• Observatories Panel: The critical role of RRSOs in measuring and managing infrastructure performance and progress to date 
  Panel Moderator: Maria Segui-Gomez Special Advisor for Road Safety, FIA
  Pablo Martinez Carignano (National Road Safety Agency Argentina) Representative, Ibero-American Road Safety Observatory (OISEVI)
  David Shelton (Asian Development Bank) Secretariat Lead, Asia Pacific Road Safety Observatory (APRSO)
  Benacer Boulaajoul (Morocco National Road Safety Agency) Chair of Transitional Steering Commitee, Africa Road Safety Observatory (ARSO)
  Matej Zakonjsek (Transport Community) Representative, Western Balkans Road Safety Observatory (WBRSO)
  Erekle Kezherashvili (Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia) Eastern Partnership Road Safety Observatory (EaP)

Session 2 – Data Driven Successes in Safety

Session Moderator: David Shelton Senior Transport Specialist (Road Safety), Asian Development Bank (ADB)

• AiRAP and the Global Standard James Bradford Global Technical Director, iRAP
• AiRAP and the expanded opportunities for road authorities Fritha Argus Research and Data Coordinator, Main Roads Western Australia
• Roads that Cars Can Read: The SLAIN experience Marko Sevrovic Senior Road Safety Engineer, European Institute of Road Assessment – EuroRAP (EIRA)
• DRIVER 2.0 and new guidelines for data review Alina Burlacu Senior Transport Specialist, World Bank
• Motorcycle safety in Malaysia Alvin Poi Wai Hoong MyRAP Programme Manager, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS)

Session 3 – How Could Big Data Change the Game for Road Safety?

Session Moderator: Matthew Baldwin Deputy Director-General, DG MOVE

• AiRAP and the vision for the future Monica Olyslagers Global Innovation Manager and Cities Specialist, iRAP and Andrey Laugman Global Technical Development Manager, iRAP
• Big data and transport models: Lifting the barriers to data sharing Alexandre Santacreu Policy Analyst – Road Safety, International Transport Forum
• The Development Data Partnership: Public-Private Data Collaborations for Safer Roads Holly Krambeck Program Manager – Data Lab, World Bank
• How could big data change the game for road safety? James Bradford Global Technical Director, iRAP

Day 2 – Thursday 14 October

Session 4 – Applications of Big Data for Road Safety

Session Moderator: Saul Billingsley Executive Director, FIA Foundation

• Improving the health and well-being of young people with AI Eva Moldovanyi Grant Manager, Fondation Botnar
• Ai&Me and Star Rating for Schools Mirjam Sidik CEO, AIP Foundation and Shanna Lucchesi Ai&Me Project Lead, iRAP
• Innovative approaches for liveable cities Raj Cherabul CEO, Chennai Smart City Limited

Session 5 – Telematics and speed data solutions

Session Moderator: Hans Peter Bauer Safety Director, European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA)

• Global scaling with Road AI and navigation data Peter Jamieson Managing Director, Anditi and Bart Volckaert Program Manager, TomTom
• Using telematics speed data for road safety Sam Chapman Chief Innovation Officer, The Floow
• Speed management in Latin America Nathaly Torregroza Consultant, Head of the Road Safety Office, Secretariat of Mobility of Bogotá

Session 6 – Fleets and Crash Prediction

Session Moderator: Tawia Addo Ashong Pillar Lead Road Safety, SSATP

• Safer Roads Studio David Braunstein Together for Safer Roads
• Crash data needs for road safety planning in India Ravishankar Rajaraman Technical Director, JP Research India (JPRI)
• Fleet data and health and safety Tom Lopez Managing Director, Safety and Dangerous Good Programs, FedEx

Session 7 – Closing and reflections for opportunities for RRSOs and the future

Session Moderator: Greg Smith Global Programme Director, iRAP

• Observatories Panel Discussion: Reflections for opportunities for RRSOs and the future
  Alvaro Gomez Mendez (Dirección General de Tráfico) Secretary, Ibero-American Road Safety Observatory (OISEVI)
  Liljana Cela Secretary, Western Balkans Road Safety Observatory (WBRSO)
  David Shelton (Asian Development Bank) Secretariat Lead, Asia Pacific Road Safety Observatory (APRSO)
  Tawia Addo Ashong Pillar Lead Road Safety, SSATP Africa Transport Policy Programme
  Peter Whitten Secretary, European Road Safety Observatory (ERSO)
  Erekle Kezherashvili (Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia) Eastern Partnership Road Safety Observatory (EaP)

SPEAKERS

Speakers bios (if supplied) can be found here.

Questions and Answers

Many questions were received in the live webinar chat. Too many to answer during the sessions. See the Questions and Answers (where we were able to obtain them) here.

Evaluation

After each live session, the attendees were invited to provide feedback via a post-event survey. Overall we received 259 evaluation responses, with 80% indicating they found the Workshop valuable or very valuable. 97% said data is very important or critically important to road safety – we won’t achieve the targets without it. See the full results of the evaluation here.

Photos

Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety opens Workshop

Maria Segui-Gomez, Special Advisor for Road Safety, FIA moderates the Observatories panel

Alex Santacreu (ITF) and Matthew Baldwin (DG MOVE) discuss draft recommendations for data sharing

Mirjam Sidik, CEO, AIP Foundation presents on Ai&Me and Star Rating for Schools

Bart Volckaert, Program Manager, TomTom presented on Global scaling with Road AI and navigation data

Innovative approaches for liveable cities with Raj Cherabul CEO, Chennai Smart City Limited

Final closing reflections from the Observatories – Alvaro Gomez Mendez (OISEVI), Liljana Cela  (WBRSO), Tawia Addo Ashong (ARSO), Peter Whitten (ERSO), Erekle Kezherashvili (EaP). David Shelton (APRSO) is present but not pictured.