TRL: ‘To ensure future road safety - don’t repeat the past’

The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) says that future road safety will require innovation rather than repeating past measures. Speaking at the UK Department for Transport (DfT)’s International Road Safety Conference, TRL’s academy director Richard Cuerden discussed why a paradigm shift is needed in the transport sector’s approach to road safety interventions to ensure road casualties are reduced significantly by 2030. The number of deaths on the world’s roads remains unacceptably high, with an e
September 6, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (491 TRL) says that future road safety will require innovation rather than repeating past measures.

Speaking at the UK 1837 Department for Transport (DfT)’s International Road Safety Conference, TRL’s academy director Richard Cuerden discussed why a paradigm shift is needed in the transport sector’s approach to road safety interventions to ensure road casualties are reduced significantly by 2030. The number of deaths on the world’s roads remains unacceptably high, with an estimated 1.35 million people dying each year.

Cuerden discussed the digital revolution in transport and how the challenges and opportunities of new innovations must be tackled to ensure road safety.

He said that the design of smart liveable cities with zero emissions and zero casualties demands more walking, cycling and the use of public transport, rather than the use of private vehicles.

Urbanisation presents challenges and opportunities, Cuerden added. Good design, removing the need for motor vehicles wherever practicable, could be the most suitable solution. TRL envisages a world in which C/AVs, public transport and bike hire schemes will give users multiple transport options between residential, industrial and commercial districts.

TRL is building the UK’s flagship testbed for C/AVs – London’s Smart Mobility Living Lab - and working in partnership with TfL to accelerate the real world delivery of new mobility products and services.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Magway plots retail delivery revolution
    May 8, 2020

    While most of the debate around hyperloop focuses on the potential for passenger traffic, technology firms are also exercised about how to respond to the fast-changing nature of the retail sector.

    One such company is the UK-based start-up Magway, co-founded in 2017 by former South African mining engineer Rupert Cruise and retail and technology consultant Phill Davies.

    In short, Magway moves goods from warehouses to distribution centres – or to new residential or commercial hubs - through small, high-density polyethylene pipes in pods driven by linear synchronous motors.

    Read More
  • Walk | Don’t Walk – actually, just Don’t Walk
    March 17, 2025
    In 1925 a traffic ordinance was introduced in Los Angeles. The 100-year anniversary is significant because, transportation historian Peter Norton suggests, the law in effect set the blueprint for car-dependency across the US. Adam Hill asks him how…
    Read More
  • Siemens Mobility is clearing the air
    October 2, 2020
    Tens of thousands of premature deaths in the UK alone are linked to air quality - but it doesn’t have to be that way. Siemens Mobility’s Wilke Reints explains why
    Read More
  • Cut freight deliveries – improve Southampton’s air quality
    November 23, 2018
    Taking the pressure off cities’ road networks can have a beneficial effect on the environment. David Crawford looks at a new economic model which seeks to quantify the societal effect of freight traffic in Southampton, one of the UK’s five most polluted cities Cuts of 60% or more in volumes of freight deliveries are being predicted - along with badly-needed improvements in air quality - from a load consolidation scheme currently being introduced in the UK port city of Southampton. The forecasts are based o
    Read More

Highlighted Content