Posts

Slowing down pollution and speed

Image
Will the lock down help to reduce the number of Road Traffic Victims? A)   Increased speeding reported on empty roads across the world If you go through the news and social media posts, you learn that in many countries empty roads are tempting drivers to go out and shift into high gear. Coronavirus lockdowns have drained traffic from normally crowded roads. Brussels Times: Coronavirus: Fewer road fatalities and accidents from mid-March Brussels times But that has opened space for drivers who want to defy police warnings and automated traffic enforcement systems to go racing in the streets. In the US according to data by transportation analytics firm INRIX, the average speed on interstate highways, state highways and expressways in those areas increased by as much as 75% compared to January and February. In New York City, transportation officials reported an increase of m...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
The Show will go on Big Quantity: 1.700 people from 140 countries came to Stockholm to participate to the 3. Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety from 17-21 february. Some FEVR members were attending too, to assist to a huge series of Pre-events, Side Events, Parallel events and also Higher and lower Level Events. Some of our members unfortunately could not attend as there were only limited invitations foreseen for NGO´s by the Swed´s.  We also disvovered that’s very expensive over there, for accommodation and especially for hiring a conference room. Four times more than in Brussels top venues. I remember in Brasilia we could use the rooms in the venue for free, for our side-events. But that’s this business. Here are some of my impressions: Pre-events, a lot took place at the same time and I regret that some with the same topic like road safety in urban areas, could not be managed to have a common event with common stakeholders in one common room. ...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
L´Union fait la Force How the Road Victims landscape has changed during the last 25 years. In the early nineties we saw a big social movement in Europe and elsewhere setting up institutions and nonprofit organisations for different causes. In the field of Road Safety one can certainly mention the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) a Brussels-based independent non-profit making organization, dedicated to reducing the numbers of deaths and injuries in transport in Europe, founded in 1993. For those representing road traffic victims it was FEVR, the European Federation of Road Traffic Victims, the only international federation representing Victims at this time, starting in July 1991. Today there are many more global actors, alliances and partnerships working for and with Road Traffic Victims. Regional and global Road Victim associations have been set up like FICVI the Ibero American Federation against Road Violence or IRVP, the International Road Victim P...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are streets 4

Image
R eading with interest Peter D. Nortons book:  The dawn of the Motor age in the American city. 4 pedestrians fights  In 1920  there were already movements  representing the interests and rights of pedestrians: Book reading: City Streets, like city parks where public spaces and  people on foot, including children at play, had a rightful claim to street space. At those times there were few cars in the Streets and " when motorists first intruded upon city Streets, annoyed pedestrians found epithets for the more aggressive ones. Some called them "joy riders", others "speed Maniacs". Both Terms connoted irresponsibility and reckless disregard for the rights and safety of other street users." After World War I, the scale of death on Streets in America grew fast. In the first four years after Armistice Day more Americans were killed in automobile "accidents" than had died in the battle in France. In 1925 in the US, cars and trucks kill...
Post a Comment
Read more