Organizers
The International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD is an intergovernmental organisation with 69 member countries. It acts as a think tank for transport policy and organises the Annual Summit of transport ministers. The ITF works for transport policies that improve people's lives. Road safety is an important pillar of ITF’s work.
The International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group (IRTAD) is a permanent working group of the International Transport Forum at the OECD on traffic safety data and their analysis. IRTAD was founded in 1989 and has become a central force in the promotion of international co-operation on road safety data. It currently includes around 80 members and observers from 40 countries, representing transport ministries, national road administrations, road safety research institutes, universities, international organisations, industry, non-governmental organisations and others. Its key outputs are the IRTAD database, which currently includes data from 34 countries, and the IRTAD annual report on road safety performance.
The IRTAD Group’s objective is to progressively include more countries in the group and the database, while attaching high priority to the quality of data, which is essential to conduct sound research and analysis as a support of effective road safety strategies.
IRTAD has a long standing tradition of organising international conferences (Helsinki in 1995, Vienna in 2000, Brno in 2006, Seoul in 2009, Buenos Aires in 2013, Marrakech in 2017, Lyon in 2022), open to a wide audience in order to share its experiences in safety data collection and analysis and learn from initiatives of others in the use of data for shape road safety policies and interventions.
This 8th IRTAD Conference is organised jointly with the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
The NTUA Road Safety Observatory (NRSO) is a Center of Research and Innovation Excellence on Road Safety, with global recognition. The mission of the NRSO is to contribute to the reduction of the number of road crashes and of the related casualties in Greece, in Europe and worldwide through the scientific support of evidence-based decision making for the necessary road safety policies, programmes and measures.
Objectives
In September 2020, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution "Improving global road safety", proclaiming the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, with the ambitious target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. Progress made during the previous Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 did not result in reaching the target set (50% less road fatalities in the period 2011-2020) but has laid the foundation for accelerated action in the years ahead.
The highly ambitious target for reducing road crash fatalities and injuries poses a significant challenge to all governments to reinvigorate their national road safety policies and action plans. As we are entering the second decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-30, we need solid crash and safety data to set national and regional targets, build road safety plans, monitor progress and report on results. Data and targets are needed not only on road crash casualties but also on safety performance indicators, vehicle fleet and mobility trends.
The objectives of the Conference are to discuss improvements in the quality of data systems and data analysis in IRTAD and other countries by fostering knowledge transfer among participants, with particular emphasis on road safety performance. Specifically, the Conference aims to:
The Conference is open to all and is primarily for the attention of road safety researchers, data analysts, those involved in collecting safety data and developing databases, and all those using the results of research to advise decision makers on road safety matters.