The Charter at CESTE 2022

On the 23rd of March, The ERSC Team presented the European Road Safety Charter at the 46th edition of the International Road Conference & Expo “CESTE” in Rovinj, Croatia.

 

The conference was an opportunity for local and foreign experts in planning, construction, maintenance and traffic infrastructure to discuss together how we can improve our roads and traffic. No less than 37 presentations where given, and the topics of the conference were as diverse as the solutions to safer roads. Presentations on road management, construction and maintenance revealed new technologies that can prevent crashes, or make them less severe by for example using new types of material for creating medium barriers that can absorb the impact of trucks hitting the side of the road.

 

One of the presentations by Baldinistudio d.o.o. in the topic Planning & Designing highlighted the use of BIM (Building Information Model) technology in road design and how it can improve standardization of infrastructure design workflow, minimize errors and encourage safe and economic modeling. The growth of traffic volumes on road networks has led to an increase in the complexity of road design, which makes the driving task more difficult and intense.

 

Arcadis from The Netherlands revealed a new methodology on how to determine the complexity of road networks via 11 criteria in road geometrics, road configurations, traffic flows, and signage as part of the topic Smart and Sustainable Mobility. Another presentation, given by the organization Semmelrock Stein + Design d.o.o., discussed the benefits of using concrete products for landscape sustainability. Krešimir Viduka from the National Relay of Croatia, Hrvatski autoklub, gave a fascinating talk about the Star Rating for Schools project, which aims to improve the quality of transport infrastructure within the school zone by carrying out road safety audits.  


All these different projects reveal that Vision Zero plays a crucial role for all types of projects, organisations, and target audiences. Therefore, we as the ERSC Team encouraged all participating experts to join the network of the European Road Safety Charter and share their experiences with Europe. 

 

The conference was closed with a debate between high-level experts about how to implement new road safety measurements and to convince local authorities to invest in Vision Zero. their message to the world was clear: sustainable development of the transport system should go hand in hand with the optimalisation of the safety of all road users.