On the Road with ASIRT . ---------------------------------------- - --- Winter 2023
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Dear Friends,
Both official data and anecdotal sources indicate that international travel is once again extremely popular. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, Americans have resumed their overseas travel for business, pleasure, education, and humanitarian endeavors. We have all warmly welcomed this opening of borders. Our cabin fever can now be abated, our intellectual curiosity satisfied, and we are once again able to fulfill our responsibilities as citizens of the world.
However, as we celebrate and take advantage of our opportunity to travel the roads of the world once again, it is important to remember that road crashes remain a major health risk for travelers. While road safety in several countries, particularly in western EU countries, has improved, the number of road crashes in many countries remains high and has even increased. As always, being well informed enables us to make wise travel choices. I urge everyone to learn as much as you can about the road conditions and travel options in the countries to which you will be traveling. ASIRT’s acclaimed and detailed, country-specific Road Safety Reviews are among the excellent resources which are available. Please visit asirt.org to learn how you can access the reports. Bon Voyage!
Warmly,
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Rochelle Sobel
Founder and President
ASIRT
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ASIRT Gala Celebrates Road Safety Champions, Urges Interventions to End Deaths and Injuries on the Roads
The energy was palpable as attendees gathered at the first ASIRT in-person Gala in three years. Guests were excited to reconnect with colleagues and friends as ASIRT recognized this year’s road safety champions.
Gala Master of Ceremonies and ASIRT Board Member Andrew Koblenz, Executive Vice President/Legal and Regulatory Affairs for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), and ASIRT Founder and President Rochelle Sobel facilitated an inspiring and personal program featuring outstanding speakers and road safety advocates, honorees, and winners of a student road safety public service announcement (PSA) video contest.
The program opened with personal and thoughtful pre-recorded remarks from U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Acting Administrator Ann Carlson. David Strickland, Vice President of Global and Regulatory Affairs and Transportation Technology Policy at General Motors, delivered the keynote address and also was awarded the ASIRT 2022 Global Road Safety Industry Champion Award for his tireless and steadfast commitment to and support of industry and government road safety efforts. Along with David Strickland, ASIRT recognized two other noteworthy honorees, Dr. Adrian Lund and Emma MacLennan. Continue reading about the Gala here.
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Local Initiative: Public Meeting about Sidewalks
ASIRT has successfully helped to promote several important road safety improvements in its own backyard in Montgomery County, Maryland. These include the upcoming installation of additional street lights on a poorly lit road with heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic and the adjustment of traffic light timing/intervals to enhance the safety of pedestrians crossing and walking at a major crosswalk.
A key initiative of the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) involves a proposal to install sidewalks in several streets in the County. A virtual public hearing to obtain feedback from the local community in Willerburn Acres and other interested parties is scheduled for January 25, 2023 at 7:00 pm. Participants are required to register for this hearing. Written comments on the sidewalk proposal are due to Lori Main of MCDOT's Annual Sidewalk Program Division of Transportation Engineering by February 22, 2023, at 5:00 pm.
ASIRT believes in the separation of pedestrians from vehicles, among other measures, through the installation of sidewalks, and is supportive of the County plan. Given the importance of the issue, neighbors are encouraged to attend and express their positions.
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2022 World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims |
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World Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims is commemorated worldwide each year on the third Sunday in November.
Click here to read the 2022 statement entered in the Congressional Record by Representative Richard Hudson, Co-chair of the Congressional Global Road Safety Caucus. Read Senator Chris Van Hollen’s statement.
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ASIRT Road Safety Reviews
Recently updated RSRs now available in the ASIRT library of reports include China, Costa Rica, Germany, Jamaica, Japan. Kenya, Kuwait, Morocco, The Netherlands, Oman, Peru, Poland, Portugal, and Turkey. ASIRT subscribers (corporations, colleges, universities, humanitarian organizations and nonprofits, as well as individuals) can access the RSRs through their portal. Free sample reports can be downloaded after registering on the ASIRT website.
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Focus On: ASIRT Board Member Paul Blank
Paul Blank has served on the ASIRT Board of Directors since 2003. He was a past honoree and recipient of the ASIRT Marom Professional and Community Leadership for Global Road Safety Award. Among his contributions, Paul assisted with the Faces Behind the Figures publication and has written editorials on behalf of ASIRT. He also has represented ASIRT at international conferences and meetings in Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and Kenya and is the founder of the PBI, Paul Blank Invitational – a charity football game that has raised funds for ASIRT.
Paul is an educator at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Maryland, where he has taught for the past 30 years. He holds degrees from Brandeis University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is an accomplished musician and an avid hiker who has climbed Mount Kala Patthar (Everest), Kilimanjaro, Mount Olympus and Mount Toubkal.
Paul believes we must educate the public to recognize that road crashes are preventable. We know what needs to be done. We just need to make it happen.
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Road Safety in the News
More than 300 people were killed on roads in the DC area in 2022. Read more.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee supports lowering the legal blood alcohol limit for drivers who are considered drunk. Read his comments.
The Finnish Transport and Safety Agency announced this week that they’ll soon be introducing the world’s first digital drivers license. Read more.
New crash test spotlights lagging protection for rear passengers. Learn the details.
NHTSA Estimates for First Nine Months of 2022 Suggest Roadway Fatalities Beginning to Level Off After Two Years of Dramatic Increases. Review the projections.
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