Celebrating the Public-Private Partnerships of TSR

Hi Friend,

According to George Washington University, a new series in The Lancet finds that we could save 540,000 lives worldwide with proven road safety interventions. We are all familiar with statistics like this highlighting the devastating impact of traffic crashes and injuries. The Lancet 3-part series is well worth diving into as it looks at trauma care for road injuries and studies four road safety risk factors—speed, drunk driving, helmet, and seatbelt use. Its analytic commentary also outlines some of the pitfalls that must be overcome across numerous sectors to make roads safer.

We have always known that road safety does not happen in a vacuum – it takes partnerships and professionals dedicated to making roads safe for ALL users.

And that is what we do at Together for Safer Roads as a member-based organization—our public-private partnerships, now honored on a more global stage as discussed below, are making a real difference in this public health issue that impacts every country. Below, you’ll find a glimpse of what we’ve collectively accomplished so far in 2022.

Here’s to keeping road safety top of mind as we work towards continued change in the world’s roads.

Meet Our Members and Partners Dedicated to Achieving Vision Zero

As a global NGO dedicated to equity and road safety, we’ve been leveraging private-sector technology, data, and expertise to prevent traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities worldwide for more than 7 years.

We work with government, businesses, and community stakeholders on local projects, fleet safety management, and technology initiatives. But none of this would be possible without our members and partners who support our goal of reaching Vision Zero—the elimination of all traffic fatalities and severe injuries.

Meet our more than 40 members and partners dedicated to improving road safety for everyone across the globe.

Together for Safer Roads - A P3 Impact Award Semi-Finalist

We are thrilled to announce that TSR’s partnership, Accelerating Vision Zero Through Advanced Video Analytics, in Houston has been selected as a semi-finalist for the P3 Impact Award.

In 2020, as part of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s "Complete Communities" program, we collaborated with Connect Community, Houston Public Works, Houston Planning, Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, and AIG to turn Hillcroft Avenue, once considered one of the most dangerous roads in Houston, into a safer and more equitable road.

This was the first project in Houston to use more current video-based near-miss analysis for scoping, planning, and assessment. The analysis, recommended by TSR, and analyzed by the Kinder Institute at Rice University, provided timely and quantified insight on near-crashes, road user types and their movements, speeding infractions, and lane violations.

The P3 Impact Award—created by Concordia, the University of Virginia Darden School Institute for Business in Society, and the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Partnerships—recognizes and honors leading public-private partnerships (P3s) that improve communities and the world and seeks to highlight leading practices and actionable insights in the P3 arena.

Finalists will be invited to present their partnership at the 2022 Concordia Annual Summit, taking place the week of September 19th in NYC and via a hybrid format, to the panel of judges for final evaluation, at which point the winner will be announced to a live, global audience.

TSR Attends United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) First-Ever High-Level Meeting on Global Road Safety

TSR recently attended the United Nations General Assembly's (UNGA) first-ever High-Level Meeting on Global Road Safety in New York City, where we provided a hands-on look at one of our "Truck of the Future" vehicles as pictured above. Thank you to our partner, the City of New York's Department of Citywide Administrative Services, who is currently piloting it in one of their trucks, for granting us access to it in order to showcase how the technology dramatically improves road safety.

At the two-day High-Level session, the General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution to improve global road safety and reduce traffic deaths. Road crashes disproportionately impact developing nations by being the leading global cause of death for those aged 5 to 29 and cost countries 3-5% of their annual GDP on average.

The Assembly also stressed its commitment to reducing these fatalities in half by 2030 and to implementing a "safe system" approach. As described by the UN's press release covering the session, the Assembly will convene another high-level meeting in 2026, which will act as a midterm review of the political declaration's implementation.

TSR's Mid-Year Update

It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through July let alone 2022. We wanted to provide an update on all that we’ve accomplished in 2022 so far. And by "we" – we do mean the collective we of our members and partners. We can not do this work without you.

Some key highlights we wanted to share with you are:

We were recognized as an honoree in Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards 2022 for our work accelerating Vision Zero through advanced video analytics in Bellevue, WA.
We launched our Direct Vision Standards campaign with the City of New York and the U.S. DOT's Volpe Center.
We showcased the Truck of the Future at the City of New York's Fleet Show.
We’re scheduled to speak at the City of New York's Vision Zero Fleet Safety Forum October 25th.
As in years past, we’ll be involved with Transportation Alternative’s Vision Zero Cities conference in New York on October 19-21.
Expert road safety practitioners submitted over a dozen case studies for our near-miss best practices report with ITE, which is due out in Q4 2022.
Construction on Hillcroft Avenue is completed and data has been collected for a groundbreaking before and after study using near-miss analytics. A ribbon cutting and community celebration with Houston Mayor Turner will be held later this year.
The FOCUS Fort Collins cohort "graduated," and leaders from Anheuser Busch's Fort Collins brewery presented fleet safety best practices to the group. The cohort also included training from the City of Fort Collins in their nationally recognized Bicycle Friendly Driver program.
As noted in earlier communications from us, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is confirmed to speak at our Annual Meeting in September. A landing page and more information will be available soon.

Road Safety in the News

By monitoring the news for road safety coverage, we can proactively keep up with trends. Below are some articles you may find interesting:

Hoboken Hasn’t Had a Traffic Death in Four Years. What’s It Doing Right? - The city has aggressively installed the things that are proven to make cities safer and more efficient for everyone - bike lanes, curb extensions, bus lanes, high-visibility crosswalks, and raised intersections.
Michelle Yeoh: From Martial Arts Mega Star to Global Road Safety Ambassador - The actress is now a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) goodwill ambassador advocating for greater road safety worldwide.
New Resources for 5-star RAPs - An online package of new Resources for 5-star RAPs (Road Assessment Programs) launched earlier this month to support those around the world eliminate high-risk roads and save lives.
US Cities are Gearing Up for More Public-Private Partnerships – Launched by the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), a new taskforce will be a forum for mayors to discuss opportunities, challenges, and best practices around partnerships with private companies and non-profits as cities look to make the best use of recent historic federal funding.
Why Isn’t There a Canadian Traffic Safety Crisis? - As roads in the U.S. get more dangerous, Canada’s traffic fatalities have been going down. These practices and policies help explain why.

Member News

AT&T - FirstNet, built with AT&T and the only network built with and for America’s first responders and the extended public safety community, is equipping the LAPD with expanded capabilities to better serve those who live, work and visit LA . . . read more
Autoliv - Autoliv and POC, a leader in cycling protection, have joined forces to study and develop bicycle and e-bike helmets equipped with airbag technology to improve head protection and reduce the consequences of an impact . . . read more
Derq - Through a demo for Florida's DoT, Derq deployed VRU protection—technology designed to prevent collisions between drivers, pedestrians and cyclists—showing edge capabilities to improve safety . . . read more
Geotab - Geotab, which specializes in connecting CVs to the cloud, has announced a tie-in with Renault to combine vehicle telematics capabilities with its fleet management platform . . . read more

HAAS Alert - HAAS Alert received the first-ever Stellantis Start Up Award for Customer Experience, highlighting the launch of their Safety Cloud® alerts in Stellantis vehicles . . . read more

iHeartMedia - iHeartMedia recently announced the first slate of iHeartPodcasts from its NextUp Initiative, which aims to elevate voices from all backgrounds, including members of historically underrepresented groups . . . read more

PepsiCo - Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo®, recently announced its revitalized commitment to truck driver retention and comprehensive well-being through enhanced benefits for its network of drivers including apprenticeship programs, first-day benefits, same-day return trips and financial and mental wellness offerings . . . read more