Road safety campaigner David Ward

David, you’ve been involved with a lot of road safety initiatives over the last 25 years, Global NCAP, Stop the Crash Partnership, the Commonwealth Road Safety Initiative and the #50by30 road safety campaign as well as the UNGA’s Decade of Action for Road Safety.

What were some of the highlights over the last 10 years? What successes have been made?

We have now completed the first decade (2010-2020) of action for road safety. It’s had a significant impact. Compared to the global forecasts in 2010 of a substantial increase in road fatalities and deaths; in fact they have stabilised over the last 10 years. And this has happened despite increased motorisation and population growth. But traffic deaths are still far too high, at 1.35 million annually, with the majority occurring in developing countries.

What is your focus for the future?

Now we need to achieve a substantial reduction which was the reason we launched our #50by30 campaign to set a new target to halve road deaths by 2030. The campaign has been successful with the new target endorsed last year by the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety held in Stockholm in February and then by the UN General Assembly in August. Now all UN Member States have a shared commitment to reduce road deaths and injuries.

What lessons have been learnt during this time?

The big step forward has been a much better understanding of what works in road injury prevention and on the governance framework, what is needed to tackle road safety issues effectively. The Towards Zero Foundation is promoting “The Safe Systems Approach” which aims to co-ordinate action promoting safer roads, safer road users and safer vehicles. It is a holistic strategy not relying on just one measure.

In the past - looking back as far as the 1950s - the approach to road safety was to blame the victim. Road crashes were mainly attributed to driver error and the priority back then was to try to just fix that. The realisation now is that people will always make mistakes and fixing human error is mission impossible. Recognising this gives a new perspective for those responsible for the design and management of our road traffic system. We need to improve safety technology, provide safer road infrastructure; better enforce road traffic rules and prioritise post-crash care so that human error is not punished by death.

Only last year you launched the Commonwealth Road Safety Initiative – can you tell us more about this?

With 54 countries across the Commonwealth there are great opportunities to represent road safety. The sad fact is that road crashes are the number one cause of death in young people and children across the world. With 60% of the Commonwealth population under 30 years old the aim is to set out clear recommendations on how Commonwealth countries can reduce their level of road casualties and demonstrate leadership on this much neglected global issue. We are delighted to have strong support from His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent who spoke at our event launch last year. We are encouraging the Commonwealth to support the UN #50by30 target and we will take this message to the next Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda (due to take place in June).

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) have adopted a second Decade of Action for road safety - How much more work is there to do in reducing road accident numbers?

There is much to do and a big part of this is spreading the benefits of the safety technology worldwide. Since 2011 the single most important advancement we have seen in terms of technology is ESC (electronic stability control). Over the last 10 years, its fitment rate has doubled and is now included in about 80% of new passenger cars. This is a huge step forward, driven by governments regulating and NCAP (new car assessment programme) including it in their safety ratings.

In the next decade we will see the benefits of ESC flow through the whole vehicle fleet (new and used) as it turns over. By 2030 I hope ESC will be fitted to nearly every car on the world’s roads. But there are more solutions to come, for example, AEB (automated emergency braking) could have a big impact. At the moment take up is very slow in emerging markets. The good news is that it will be mandatory in the European Union (EU) in the next few years and we want to see other regions take the same step.

With road safety now a UN Sustainable Development Goal - How can improvements in sustainability efforts in sectors such as transport, health and wellbeing, equality and climate control integrate road safety measures into their thinking?

There are strong synergies and it makes sense to combine measures to improve road safety and tackle climate change. For example, better speed management - even just reducing speeds by 5-10 km p/h both on high speed roads and in urban environments will save lives and also save fuel.

Technology can also play a key part. We all know how easy it is to drive with a heavy right foot. A lot of speeding is unintentional, and this can be avoided if the vehicle is equipped with Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA). This technology detects the speed limit and slows the vehicle down appropriately. So ISA, which is also being mandated for new vehicles in EU from 2022, is a technology that will lead to smarter, safer and greener driving.

How important is encouraging behaviour change to achieve better road safety? What will be the Towards Zero Foundation’s focus in the coming years?

We have found that campaigns relying on pure behaviourism, in isolation, do not work. Campaigns such as drink driving awareness, wearing seat belts, or motorcycle helmets are much more effective when they are organised in conjunction with stronger enforcement. It is also clear that strong police enforcement works better when it is accompanied by public awareness campaigns. So the two really need to be linked for maximum effectiveness.

Automated speed enforcement though cameras also works well. And these technologies need to be supported by road design that limits both the likelihood and consequences of driver error. For example, roundabouts are the safest form of junction, and roads can be engineered so that they are more pedestrian friendly especially in urban environments.

What technologies do you believe to be the key players in improving road safety in the future?

The technology is constantly evolving. Anti-lock brakes (ABS), ESC and now AEB are all important. In emerging markets, achieving full fleet penetration of ESC is the priority.

We must not forget, however, that passenger cars are only one part of the vehicle fleet – these technologies work just as well in trucks, buses, coaches, minivans. It is particularly important for commercial vehicles which are on the road far more than passenger cars. The safety advantages are vital for those driving these vehicles for work but also for the companies that own them. They want their vehicles to be in service and they have a duty of care to keep their employees safe. So these technologies are ‘must haves’ for responsible fleet managers.

Two wheelers are also of great importance, we want to see much more progress on anti-lock braking in motorcycles – which is a highly effective safety technology. India has now mandated ABS in bikes above 125cc, the same as in the EU. This puts them ahead of the US. Next, we want to see ABS introduced for all motorbikes that can exceed 50 km/h where there are high volumes and the safety risks are just as great as larger capacity bikes.

How can industry, global fleets and companies such as Bosch support the goal of halving road deaths and serious injuries in the next decade?

Well firstly all industry can ensure that they manage their own fleets as safely as possible. Better fleet safety has tremendous potential. That is why we are encouraging companies and the public sector only to buy or lease 5-star NCAP rated vehicles wherever possible. A good example of this is the UK government which at the end of last year updated its own procurement rules to require all its departments and agencies only to buy Euro NCAP 5 star rated vehicles.

Over the last decade we have seen how safety technologies like ESC have really progressed and this is a really great achievement of the automotive industry. And in this respect it is clear that the tier 1 suppliers have been the safety star players of the automotive industry as a whole. Companies like Bosch, Conti, Denso and ZF have been at the cutting edge of safety innovation, sustaining their impressive efforts over decades. We want to see more rapid take up of their safety technology right across the world.

Of course, it’s good business for companies like Bosch but we all benefit from your technology and innovation that makes our roads safer. We also very much appreciate the suppliers’ engagement with the Decade of Action for Road Safety. Since 2015 we have been very pleased to work together in the Stop the Crash Partnership where we promote these safety technologies in demonstration projects around the world.

Road safety can be seen as a ‘Cinderella’ subject, so we need powerful voices to speak up for road safety globally. We now have a new decade of action from the UN and the new #50by30 target. In 2022 the UN General Assembly will hold a special Heads of Government meeting on road safety. That’s an important opportunity to promote strong road safety leadership not just from governments but by the private sector too. We look forward to working with Bosch to ensure that road safety is recognised at the top of the global agenda. That is the best way to ensure that the #50by30 target will be reached.