Short Report: CHARTER WORKSHOP PORTUGAL, 4 JUNE 2019, LISBON

REPORT CHARTER WORKSHOP PORTUGAL, 4 JUNE 2019, LISBON


On June 4th a new Charter workshop was held in Portugal, at the CTT in Lisbon. Speaking of the CTT,  which is the national post of Portugal and national relay of the Charter in Portugal, received the Award for Excellence in Road Safety in 2017 in the category ‘large enterprise’ at the Award ceremony in Bucharest.


The auditorium of the CTT building in Lisbon was the venue for this Charter workshop in Portugal. Almost 90 people, current members and potential members of the Charter, were registered to participate. Different in type of organisation but similar in mission: committed to decrease the number of deaths and severely injured on European roads!


The Charter workshop was opened by Miguel Gromicho, physical resources and security director of the CTT. He was pleased and honoured to welcome Portugal’s road safety stakeholders at their premises.


Rui Ribeiro, president of Autoridade Nacional de Segurança Rodoviaria (ANSR, the national road safety authority), confirmed the importance of continuing efforts to improve road safety. The data and graphics that Mr. Ribeiro presented, showed the improvements over the last years.


Vincent Leroy of the European Road Safety Charter Team presented the European Vision on Road Safety and explained what the European Road Safety Charter is, why you should join, how you can join and what the added values and advantages are of the Charter community.


One of the main objectives of these Charter workshops is to share knowledge, to exchange good practices and to build capacity within a growing network of road safety stakeholders. José Fernando Guilherme, CTT transport manager, explained the CTT Road Safety program that was awarded in 2017 by the European Commission for their excellence in road safety.


During the coffee break all participants could eat a piece of the birthday cake that was provided by the CTT to celebrate their anniversary, together with the 15th anniversary of the ERSCharter.


After the coffee break the workshop continued with presentations of different organisations, showing how they are taking a real commitment in orad safety.


José Sousa, director of services of the Directorate-General of Education, expressed the importance of road safety education and the principle of life long learning where we must aim at.


Lurdes Bernardo, director of Formation & Certification at the Institute for Transport & Mobility, confirmed the crucial part of educating people towards an appropriate behavior and to improve their knowledge on and skills in road safety so drivers can be prepared and certified accordingly when using the roads.


A specific step in certification is the implementation of ISO39001. Joaquim Machado of the National Road Safety Authority explained this process and how to achieve and maintain this certificate.


Pedro Homem de Gouveia, Planning Team Leader at the Lisbon city hall, presented and explained Lisbon’s Road Safety Plan towards Vision Zero.


After the different presentations it was time for the debate and conclusions on ‘how to increase commitment to road safety’. Prof. João Queiroz from ISCTE moderated the dynamic debate with participation of Ana Tomaz (Vice-President of ANSR), Fátima Pereira da Silva (ICADTS), Alain Areal (PRP), Ana Raposo (AFESP), João Tiago Pereira (General-Manager at Top Driving Solutions) and the very interested audience, that also regularly intervened.