Newsletter 21 | Welcome Said Dahdah, new Head of GRSF 📢 Upcoming events, campaigns, research & more!
October 07, 2021
Said Dahdah: New Head of GRSF & Global Lead Road Safety, World Bank
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Said Dahdah as the new Head of the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) and Global Lead for Road Safety at the World Bank. Recognized as an international road safety expert, Said brings to this position more than 15 years of development experience, including policy dialogue, program development, and portfolio management in the transport sector.
Said joined the World Bank in 2006 as a Road Safety Specialist at GRSF. He has since held several positions in the transport sector, including two field assignments in Islamabad and Riyadh offices; his most recent assignment being Senior Urban Transport Specialist in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region. Throughout his career, Said has led key transport and road safety investment and advisory projects in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, and Morocco, and has provided cross-support to regional transport teams in China, Vietnam, Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Serbia, and Colombia. Additionally, he has coordinated significant infrastructure safety projects for GRSF, and has contributed to various training and capacity building initiatives.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS ⌵︎
Let's talk about Streets for Life! 📢
Imagine a city with safe roads, where people & traffic mix make for streets that are healthy, green, and liveable. Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) can play a major role in achieving this vision.
“Let's talk about Streets for Life” is a new blog series that explores the essential link between TOD and Road Safety. The series has the objective of providing key resources to drive action while teaching us how to integrate road safety in planning, designing, implementing, and financing of TOD programs. The series also wants to promote the updated TOD Toolkit, developed with funding support from UK Aid through GRSF.
|
📑 BLOG 1 | Achieving sustainable cities: The link between Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) and road safety |
📒 New Publication in Vietnamese Illustrates the Real Cost of Speeding on People and the Environment ⌵︎
On September 8, 2021, GRSF launched the Vietnamese version of the Road Crash Trauma, Climate Change, Pollution and the Total Costs of Speed: Six graphs that tell the story note. The English version of the publication was launched in March 2021.
The publication sheds light on common misunderstanding of the impacts of speed on road safety, congestion, pollution, and the cost of travel. The note argues that rather than relying on enforcement alone, a combination of vehicle policies, road design, and engineering would allow for a stronger, more sustainable, and often more politically viable strategy for speed management.
“We understand that there is a strong need for evidence-based and targeted interventions to improve road safety in Vietnam,” said Rahul Kitchlu, the World Bank Acting Country Director for Vietnam. “We hope that policy makers can leverage this publication to develop measures that work, especially as the country is preparing an updated version of the National Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan.”
PARTNERSHIPS TO SAVE LIVES ⌵︎
 Enhanced Road Safety Data Systems to Save Lives in Cambodia ⌵︎Road safety is a major public health issue in Cambodia. Reducing the number of road crashes is a priority for the government. Accurate data are needed to design the most effective interventions. Improving the current crash data system will furnish a more comprehensive picture of critical road safety issues in Cambodia and provide the basis for developing policies to save more lives. In the framework of the development of the Asia Pacific Road Safety Observatory, the World Bank and the International Transport Forum (ITF), with the support of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport in Cambodian, initiated a technical assistance project to assess the crash data system in Cambodia and developing a road map for strengthening this system. This work started in 2019 and was carried out by the World Bank and the ITF, with support from GRSF and UK Aid. |
 Nepal Road Safety Campaign Launch ⌵︎Road crash deaths and injuries in Nepal have been on a sharp upward trajectory since the early 2000s, with two- or three-wheeler users as one of the leading road user group on fatalities. Road crashes are a leading cause of death among young adults, taking an enormous toll on the economic and human capital development of the country. The Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport of Nepal and the World Bank have joined hands to launch a road safety campaign to engage young people, policy makers and key stakeholders on Nepal’s road safety agenda. This important partnership was inaugurated with an high-level online event showcasing the global premiere of the animated video on safe helmet use. |
 2021 Innovation Workshop with Regional Road Safety Observatories ⌵︎Registrations are open for the 2021 iRAP Innovation Workshop co-hosted with the Regional Road Safety Observatories on 7 and 14 October, to shine a light on “Data Driven Innovation to Halve Global Road Deaths by 2030.” The Regional Road Safety Observatories in Africa (ARSO), Asia-Pacific (APRSO), Ibero-America (OISEVI), Europe (ERSO) and Western Balkans (WBRSO) supported by the World Bank, GRSF, iRAP and other intergovernmental organizations, aim to accelerate country-level improvements in data collection, analyses and decision making. The 2021 iRAP Innovation Workshop will be a 2-part online event bringing together global innovation, policy, technical and road safety leaders, along with investment experts, with the capacity to implement change and eliminate high-risk roads. |
GRSF IN ACTION ⌵︎
🔴 Recording Available | Seminar on What Works and What Does Not Work
On September 22, 2021, GRSF hosted the Seminar “Road Safety Interventions: Evidence of What Works and What Does Not Work.” The webinar focused on a recently developed guide by GRSF “What Works and What Does Not Work” in road safety in response to the critical need for effective evidence-based road safety interventions. Interventions covering each of the Safe System pillars (road safety management, safe roads, safe speeds, safe vehicles, safe road users, and post-crash care) were discussed with highlights on beneficial and non-beneficial interventions.
🔴 Recording Available | World Bank and iRAP helping save lives in Africa: BIGRS 2020-25 – key outcomes of the 4-part webinar series
The webinar series World Bank and iRAP helping save lives in Africa: BIGRS 2020-25 was designed to provide an introduction to iRAP to those in Africa who want to use the methodology to help eliminate high-risk roads, unlock the economic benefits of 3-star or better roads and meet Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and United Nations (UN) Targets. It covered practical examples of road safety experiences, lessons learned, and how to use iRAP methodology to do safety assessments across the region. This four-part webinar series was delivered to 672 attendees from 112 countries around the world. After the success of this series, we invite everyone to watch the recorded videos as a playlist on the iRAP YouTube Channel, alternatively you can click on the individual links below.
-
Session 1 – Introduction to BIGRS and iRAP in Africa
-
Session 2 – Introduction to ViDA (with demonstration)
-
Session 3 – The iRAP Model
-
Session 4 – Case studies and establishing a RAP
📄 CALL FOR PROPOSALS | Transforming Transportation 2022!
The World Bank and the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities will host the 19th annual Transforming Transportation conference on February 16-17, 2022. As one of the leading international forums exclusively dedicated to transport and development, Transforming Transportation has become a key part of the global conversation on sustainable mobility. This year’s theme is Climate-Centered Mobility For A Sustainable Recovery.
The World Bank is pleased to launch a call for proposals for Session Hosts at Transforming Transportation 2022, carrying on the successful initiative of the past few years which already resulted in many partnerships with global transport agencies. The call for proposals gives outside organizations a unique opportunity to design and deliver parallel sessions during the conference. Proposals must be aligned with the overall theme of the conference and the topics of the plenary sessions, and cannot promote specific products or services.
🔴 Recording Available | Road Safety at Roadworks: High Speed Roads - Traffic Management
On July 8, 2021, GRSF organized the online training “Road Safety at Roadworks: High Speed Roads - Traffic Management,” in collaboration with the Reform Support Team at the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, under the BIGRS Program 2020-2025. The four sessions How to Create Safe System Work Zones and Manage Risk; Essential Design Principles; Implementation of a Traffic Management Plan; and Night Works and Unattended Worksites, provided the participants with the necessary knowledge to implement traffic management at roadworks.
» Watch the recording here & download presentations here
🔴 Recording Available | IRF Young Professionals Summit 2021
On September 29, 2021, the International Road Federation (IRF) hosted the IRF Young Professionals Summit 2021. With the theme of “Towards a Greener and Safer Mobility” the summit focused on the challenges in the road and mobility sectors and served as a venue for knowledge sharing of young professionals all over the world on four key areas namely, sustainable mobility, safe road systems, and resilient mobility. GRSF’s Marisela Ponce de Leon Valdes was one of the speakers at this event.
NEW FAQs IN THE GRSF SPEED MANAGEMENT HUB! ⌵︎
Read more! To stay up to date with GRSF's latest news and events, please subscribe to our newsletters clicking the link below.
