The need for continual improvement of road safety and for saving human lives in road traffic has been greatly recognized by the Project. To that end, a two-day training was held on 21/22 July, 2020, to show in which ways road safety can be managed efficiently and how the number of road traffic casualties (deaths and injuries) can be consequently reduced. The training was organized for national level officials from institutions and organisations in charge of road safety.
The topics were presented by internationally renowned road safety specialists, including Alan Ross, Dragoslav Kukic, Dejan Jovanov, Krsto Lipovac. The presentations were followed by interactive discussions, reflecting different views and opinions, but confirming the same goal – to improve road safety in Serbia.
Important questions raised
The trainees (more than 30 of them) raised questions and exchanged their knowledge and experience on specific topics from their expertise. The presentation of one of the topics – Road safety impact assessment, was welcomed with delight by the experts present, given a huge potential it has for road safety improvement, and since this topic has not been addressed sufficiently so far.
Other topics also attracted attention, to name just a few: Introducing ISO 39001 standards for the purpose of efficient road traffic safety management, or Road safety management based on data, where it is important to say that there is no safe road traffic system or efficient road safety management without valid and reliable road safety data, etc. Everybody agreed that addressing these and other important road safety topics further would lead to safer and higher-quality roads and road infrastructure in Serbia, in the long-run, for the benefit of all road users. The participants also agreed that the implementation of adopted laws, by-laws and other provisions applicable in this area would eventually ensure the rule of law in the road safety sector, which would also improve the level of road safety of all road users in Serbia, no matter if they are drivers, pedestrians, motorcyclists, children, elderly road users, etc.
Similar training will be organized for the members of local Road Safety Councils, in line with the Project Work Plan and in compliance with restrictions imposed by COVID-19 pandemic.