IRU Academy Seminar on Road Safety & Professional Training held in Istanbul, Turkey, concludes that focusing on human behaviour through improved professional training of all road users is the key to effectively and significantly improving road safety worldwide.

Istanbul – Committed to contributing to the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, the training arm of the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the IRU Academy, in cooperation with Beykoz Vocational School of Logistics in Istanbul and the International Transporters Association (UND), today organised an international seminar on “Road Safety and Road Transport Professional Training”, which brought together some 250 delegates representing public authorities, road transport, road safety research experts as well as training industries from 30 countries in Europe, The Balkans, the CIS, the Middle East and Region, and concluded that improving the behaviour of all road users through training is instrumental in effectively improving road safety.

Seminar speakers highlighted that the involvement of commercial vehicles in accidents does not automatically imply their responsibility, as demonstrated by scientific investigations, such as the IRU-EU study[i] showing that out of 85% of all accidents caused by human error, 75% were caused by other road users.

Seminar delegates recommended that, to effectively improve road safety, it is necessary to implement a three-step approach as follows:

1.    analysing the main causes of accidents involving heavy commercial vehicles to make informed policy and business decisions;

2.    focusing on the human element by supporting and promoting the training of professional drivers as provided by the IRU Academy and training other road users; and

3.    cooperating with the business community to achieve tangible results.

IRU Secretary General, Martin Marmy, concluded, “For true road transport professionals, every road accident is one too many and the road transport industry is committed to effectively improve road safety by targeting the main cause of accidents involving commercial vehicles. High awareness levels, coupled with the highest levels of training standards such as those provided by the IRU Academy Accredited Training Institutes (ATIs) are key to improve road safety in our profession. However, as other road users share the infrastructure with commercial vehicles, it is the task of public authorities to ensure that their training is also enhanced.”

Head of the IRU Academy, Patrick Philipp, further explained that “the IRU Academy offers to all its Accredited Training Institutes a vast array of specific road transport training modules to ensure that commercial drivers and managers are aware of the best professional practices they must implement to improve road safety while performing their duty. The IRU Academy, which constantly broadens its offer, has just launched an interactive Safe Loading and Cargo Securing Programme, which provides an unrivalled platform for improved training of road transport professionals, and has just released two new checklists on First Aid and Vehicle Checks.”

President of the Beykoz Vocational School of Logistics, Turkey & Chairman of UND board, Ruhi Engin Özmen, concluded that, “UND is successfully implementing all the road safety tools and high standard IRU Academy training programmes, in order to continuously improve our road safety records in Turkey and abroad by increasing professionalism within the road transport sector, thus raising the profile of our industry.”

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See the Seminar presentation and speeches

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Press contact: Juliette Ebélé, +41 22 918 27 07, press@iru.org