Educational staff

TyreSafe is addressing the critical issue of tyre-related road casualties by equipping all road users with the knowledge to identify and act on poorly maintained or illegal tyres. Our mission follows the Safe System approach, recognising human error and injury tolerances, and aims to eliminate harm through education, engineering, and enforcement. TyreSafe’s focus is on reducing incidents caused by poor tyre maintenance, illegal tread depth, under-inflation, and other defects. Research consistently shows tyres are one of the most neglected safety components. Data from our 2023 Tread Depth Survey revealed over 6 million tyres are replaced annually when already illegal. A 2022 post-collision investigation revealed that 81% of vehicles involved in incidents had tyre defects. Despite this, under-reporting in Police collisions data, Stats19, limits national awareness. TyreSafe’s campaigns, research and stakeholder engagement address this knowledge gap. We work with government, emergency services, tyre industry and other road safety groups to increase understanding and action. TyreSafe’s vision is zero harm from tyre defects on UK roads. By raising awareness, influencing behaviour and advocating for better data and enforcement, we aim to instil long-term change and reduce preventable tyre-related collisions and casualties.

Children and young people (till 25 years old) make up 41% of the world’s population (United Nations, 2024) and about 25% of this age group is represented in the EU population (Eurostat, 2024). They are an active group, often dependent on public space for movement and social interaction. Yet, that public space is not designed with them in mind, nor does it reflect their world and needs. This has consequences. Every day in Flanders, an average of 10 students (aged 3 to 18) are involved in traffic crashes on their way to school (VIAS Institute, 2019–2023). Over 60% of those victims were walking or cycling. In Europe there were still 455 fatalities amongst children and 2 388 fatalities amongst youth which shows that mobility is not yet inclusive, safe and of high quality for all.
Poorly adapted public space brings dangers and challenges, but it also has more subtle barriers. Children and young people are becoming increasingly less physically active. Regular movement is however essential for both their physical and mental health. One way to encourage this movement is by promoting walking and cycling from an early stage and at a young age.
Inadequate public space also negatively affects the independence of children and young people. About a quarter of students in Flanders are driven by car even for short trips between home and school. That’s unfortunate, because travelling independently helps children learn how to navigate their environment, assess risks, and interact with other road users. This builds confidence and equips them with the skills—and the right—to travel alone.

In Valladolid, one of the main road safety challenges we identified was the safety of children on school routes, especially at intersections with high vehicle flow and limited visibility. Traditional pedestrian crossings, marked only by paint, often fail to capture drivers’ attention — particularly during early morning or late afternoon hours when light conditions are poor, and traffic is dense.

Children, due to their smaller size and unpredictable behavior, are among the most vulnerable road users. Despite the presence of static signage, many drivers fail to reduce speed near school zones, and pedestrians, especially children, faced heightened risks when crossing.

We addressed this issue by implementing the Retrolight System®, an innovative smart crosswalk solution with embedded LED panels and intelligent vertical signage, in one of Valladolid’s key school routes. The system uses real-time sensors to detect pedestrians’ intention to cross and activates dynamic lighting both on the ground and in vertical signs, immediately alerting approaching drivers. By combining active visual cues with automated detection, the system significantly improves pedestrian visibility, raises driver awareness, and ultimately reduces crossing-related risks. This project serves as a replicable model for enhancing safety on school routes across urban environments.

Due to the specific characteristics of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship — extensive forested areas, type of the road infrastructure, and the predominance of single-carriageway, two-way roads — we record a higher-than-average number of severe traffic incidents compared to the national average. These include collisions with wild animals, crashes into roadside trees, and head-on vehicle collisions. Statistically, these are the leading causes of fatal accidents in our region. If we were able to reduce the number of such incidents to the national average, then — considering the number of fatalities — we would have a real chance of becoming the safest voivodeship in Poland. We recognize the need for infrastructural improvements: traffic separation, reducing the number of potentially hazardous objects within the road zone, and, equally important, the need to change driver behavior. Excessive speed is a common factor contributing to accidents, which we, as the Police, strive to address through monitoring and speed enforcement. However, we believe that effective educational initiatives can bring measurable improvements in road user awareness and, in turn, lead to meaningful changes in behavior on the road.

Serious accidents involving the so-called “blind spot” of heavy commercial vehicles, as well as a safety summit convened years ago by the city government, prompted the Vienna Chamber of Commerce to take initiative as early as 2017. The goal of the traffic safety project "The Dangers of the Blind Spot” is to raise awareness among pupils (3rd and 4th grade, by the age of 8-12 years) about potential sources of danger through theoretical instruction and then to train proper behavior in the area of the blind spot at a practical training station.

Road crashes is a major societal problem worldwide, especially in cities where pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are highly exposed and vulnerable in case of a collision. The new policy of city-wide 30 km/h speed limit is intended to ensure vulnerable road users’ safety accounting for 70% of deaths in road crashes in urban areas in Europe.

Scientists urge continuously for lower speeds; however, speeding remains a model and sought behaviour among most drivers and riders, especially the young. The voices of vulnerable road users for less speeding remain weak towards our long-established car and speed-centred societies.

The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) launched the innovative and original 30 Marathons in 30 months campaign (www.georgeruns30x30.com), aimed at promoting city-wide 30 km/h speed limit in all cities worldwide, as a key policy for safer, healthier and greener cities for all. The NTUA campaign was implemented by the internationally renowned NTUA Professor George Yannis, who is ranked 2nd in Europe and 9th worldwide in road safety science, and supported by the NTUA Road Safety Observatory (https://www.nrso.ntua.gr), a Centre of Research and Innovation Excellence on road safety with global recognition.

This impactful campaign represents a major shift towards a more human-centred approach to urban planning, where people are at the heart of design decisions.

At Grupo Santalucía and its Agency Network, we are concerned about accidents caused by mobility and road safety issues.

Since 2021, we have gone beyond the business sphere of the Group. We aim to extend our concern, means, and resources to society, with a special focus on older adults, to raise awareness and educate senior citizens about road risks they face, especially in cities as pedestrians. We also want to make them protagonists of the change through active listening to their requests as road users, with the aim of improving mobility and safety in their environments.

To this end, we began senior road safety campaigns in 2021. The challenges we encountered and that shape the mobility of this group include:

7 out of 10 seniors live in cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants.

Walking is a common form of travel among older adults.

Psychomotor conditions can lead to incidents during travel.

40% of traffic fatalities occur in urban areas.

Of those, 69% are pedestrian fatalities.

The fatality rate in these accidents is 4.2 times higher than for the rest of the population, rising to 9.2 for those over 85.

For a long time our roads have prioritized movement, and their design was left to traffic engineers.

But with the many challenges we face, streets need to serve more purposes beyond traffic flow. Streets are shared public spaces that should serve more goals (SDGs) and should reflect the diverse needs of all users. To turn this conversation around we launched “De rechtvaardige straat”(The Just Street).

The five guiding principles of the manifesto reframe how streets can be viewed and shaped. Creating a more inclusive, safe, and a more social and vibrant space between buildings. Safety is emphasized through thoughtful design that invites walking, cycling, and lingering without fear. Key elements include variety, accessibility, and active public participation in shaping the street environment.

Supported by thousands of citizens and hundreds of organizations, we offer this community actionable tools: inspiring content, events, and an annual action week. Together, we reclaim the street as a truly public space—where even drivers feel safe from making unintended mistakes, and all users can coexist with confidence and care.

Our goal is nothing less than systemic change: towards streets that foster safety, equity, and livability for everyone. Through De Rechtvaardige Straat, we are building a new understanding of what purpose streets serve and in parallel outline a new standard for road design and use—one that values every life and every journey. More safe streets as a result of more just and human centered streets.

There is a large number of safe driving courses for drivers on polygons in the Czech Republic. Drivers are taught how to react when driving in poor conditions, while being in the safe environment of a closed polygon area. It prepares them for safer driving in traffic. However, these courses are only available to drivers without significant medical limitations.

In the Czech Republic people with hearing impairment or physical disabilities are also able to drive. Until recently, there were no safe driving courses for people with disabilities and therefore they did not have the same training opportunities as drivers without ones. Thus, in regular traffic there is a group of drivers interested in safety education that is not available to them. Because of that they put themselves and those around them at greater risk.

Driving calmly and without stress should be possible for every driver, regardless of the external driving conditions. Safe driving courses allow the driver to experience dangerous situations and then not be afraid of them in regular traffic. These courses should be available to all groups of drivers that are active participants in traffic: including drivers with disabilities, who currently often face hidden barriers just entering driving schools. Platforma VIZE 0, which has been devoted to drivers’ education for a long time, has taken this education gap under its wing by creating the Courses for Drivers with Disabilities. By organising these courses, a database of participants is created. These participants not only actively improve their driving skills but also provide valuable feedback. It helps to expose discriminatory attitudes in the current system of training future and current drivers, such as admission to driving schools etc. The courses then serve as the starting point on the way to developing a new methodology for working with drivers with disabilities: from adjustments in teaching and instructors' approach to recommendations for final exams. The methodology will make life easier not only for those with disabilities but also for instructors in driving schools.

Traffic safety and mobility education is an important component of the Safe System approach in Europe. The educational objectives go beyond the mere prevention of accidents and include the protection of the environment and health. Throughout Europe, efforts are being made to provide such safety education at all school levels. In Austria, traffic safety education is already firmly anchored in the elementary school curriculum. Although an interdisciplinary approach is required in secondary schools, there are no specific lessons scheduled for this purpose, which makes it more difficult to implement in the classroom. However, developmental psychological findings and accident statistics show that traffic safety education is particularly important after elementary school. A comprehensive and continuous educational concept is therefore essential in order to provide children and young people with the necessary skills to participate safely and responsibly in traffic. In order to achieve the competency goals, set by the Ministry of Education, teachers require support in the form of specific lesson plans and materials. Therefore, in 2018 the KFV “Risi & Ko” teaching materials for secondary schools level 1 were created.