CARSP Conference Highlights as Experienced by a few Editorial Committee Members
By: Amr Shalkamy, Ph.D., P.Eng., RSP1, Project Manager, Arcadis
Emily McCullogh, Ph.D., York University, Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Science
Navoda Rillagodage, Ph.D., E.I.T., Transportation Engineering Associate, MORR Transportation Consulting Ltd.; Postdoctoral fellow, Price Faculty of Engineering, University of Manitoba.
The 2024 CARSP Conference, themed “Safe Mobility: Achieving Vision Zero in Urban and Rural Environments” was hosted at the Delta Hotel Ottawa City Centre from June 16-19, 2024.
This year's conference served as a pivotal gathering for road safety professionals, offering extensive learning opportunities and networking prospects. Organized in collaboration with Parachute, the event brought together experts and enthusiasts from across Canada and internationally to discuss and explore the latest in road safety best practices and research.
Throughout the conference, attendees engaged in dynamic sessions that addressed critical topics in road safety. The opening plenary featured distinguished speakers, including Valerie Smith, CARSP President; Kelley Teahen, Vice President, Communications and Marketing, Parachute; Melanie Vanstone, Director General, Multimodal and Road Safety Programs, Transport Canada; and Alison Collard de Beaufort, North American Global Youth Ambassador for Road Safety United Nations Foundation, New York, USA, who delivered a Keynote Address on equitable access to transport systems, followed by panel discussions exploring the intersection of road safety with climate change, equity, and public health.
The Tuesday plenary similarly delivered a distinguished lineup of speakers, including: Brenda Suggett, Executive Director, CARSP; Ric Bresee, Parliamentary Assistant to the Ontario Minister of Transportation at MTO; Councillor Tim Tierney, Transportation Chair, City of Ottawa; and Stefan Jonsson, Head of the Road Safety Unit, from the Swedish Transport Administration, who delivered a Keynote Address entitled “An International Status Update on Implementing Vision Zero and the Safe System Approach”. This was followed by a panel discussion exploring Canada’s progress on Vision Zero and the Safe System Approach in different provinces and municipalities across Canada.
The 2024 CARSP Conference also offered a diverse and comprehensive range of activities aimed at enriching participants' understanding and collaboration in road safety. Thematic sessions covered equity in transportation planning, cyclist safety, safe speeds, pedestrian safety, public health approaches, and the integration of safe systems into traffic engineering methods. Discussions also explored autonomous vehicle applications, child and school road safety initiatives, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), cannabis-impaired driving impacts, effective traffic safety enforcement, and epidemiological trends in road safety outcomes.
Poster exhibitions showcased research on themes such as driver behaviours, the impact of COVID-19 on collision trends, and innovations in truck driver health. Attendees also benefited from networking, career panels, and an interactive Vision Zero Walkshop, providing insights into urban road environments from a pedestrian's perspective.
Personal takeaways
By Amr Shalkamy
All of us left the 2024 CARSP Conference with valuable insights derived from cutting-edge research, practical strategies, and collaborative dialogues aimed at advancing Vision Zero objectives. The conference highlighted the importance of embedding equity considerations in transportation planning and emphasized the interconnectedness of road safety with climate resilience and public health. Attendees gained actionable knowledge to implement inclusive road safety measures tailored to diverse community needs and demographic profiles.
Reflecting on the success of the 2024 CARSP Conference, future efforts in road safety are poised to leverage strengthened partnerships and innovative approaches showcased at the event. The conference has set a precedent through its pioneering use of emerging technologies, robust community engagement strategies, and data-driven methodologies aimed at improving road safety across Canada. Continued collaboration among stakeholders will be crucial in achieving sustained progress towards Vision Zero goals and ensuring safe mobility for all road users.
My presentation about Conducting an Equity-Informed In-service Road Safety Review for Jane Street presentation was also a highlight for me: my presentation highlighted a significant study focusing on an equity-informed safety review of Jane Street, one of the busiest roads in the Greater Toronto Area, featuring over 20 signalized intersections. The traditional in-service road safety review (ISSR) process typically involves understanding the study area, analyzing collision history, identifying safety issues through data analysis and field investigations, and proposing treatments for implementation. Arcadis was commissioned by the City of Toronto to conduct an Equity-Informed In-service Road Safety Review for Jane Street. Central to this approach was the concept of transportation equity, assessing the fairness of safety distribution across communities and road users along Jane Street. Equity considerations were integrated into the study through comprehensive community engagement, which played a crucial role in shaping study findings and recommendations.
By Navoda Rillagodage
Similar to all other past CARSP events I have attended, the 2024 CARSP conference made a long-lasting impression on me. Among all the impressive “research and evaluation” and “policy and practice” presentations I attended at the conference, a few presentations caused me to seriously rethink the current practices in some road safety research areas.
One such session was the “Enhancing Neighbourhood Safety for Children: Innovative Strategies Workshop” which was offered as a post-conference workshop by CARSP and Mobycon. The workshop, facilitated by Anna Luten and Matt Pinder, discussed the practical approaches to improving road safety for children, which was personally a new realm of road safety for me. More specifically, Anna and Matt compared road safety strategies, implemented to specifically improve the safety of children, between the Netherlands and Canada. One of the significant takeaways for me was the implementation of the “safe streets” concept in the Netherlands. The concept of “safe streets” ensures children have safe routes to travel to and from school and includes such measures as well-maintained bicycle lanes, pedestrian crossings, and traffic calming zones around schools.
Among all the insightful discussions at the workshop, one enduring highlight for me is the “Popsicle Test” design concept. The "Popsicle Test" design concept is a principle used in urban design and planning to create family-friendly, walkable neighborhoods. The idea is that a child should be able to safely walk to a store to buy a popsicle and return home before it melts. This concept emphasizes the importance of creating safe, accessible, and well-connected neighborhoods, which, as road safety professionals, we should all strive to achieve.
In addition to the workshop, I enjoyed all the presentations I attended at the conference. In my opinion, the presentations stressed the importance of continuing our efforts to improve road safety. I would like to thank the members of the CARSP conference 2024 Organizing Committee, and I look forward to attending the CARSP conference 2025 in Quebec City.
By Emily McCullogh
Much like past years, the 2024 CARSP conference was full of inspiring speakers and meaningful events that engaged delegates in relevant road safety topics. A key theme woven throughout this year’s conference was the importance of collaboration between different groups who have a vested interest in road safety. Collaboration facilitates opportunities to share resources, expertise, and ideas. Most importantly, collaboration enables our exposure to the lived experiences of others and the wisdom that can be gleaned from those points of view that would normally be more difficult to access.
Of particular note was the Keynote address given by Alison Collard de Beaufort, founder of the Vision Zero Youth Council in New York. Alison discussed the importance of including the voices of youth in road safety planning and policymaking. Not only are youth “the most interconnected generation,” says Beaufort, due to their social media skills and intergenerational knowledge, they also possess the energy and strength required to tackle complex and multisectoral road safety challenges. Further, youth are a highly represented population in road-related serious injury and death statistics and want to be a part of the important conversations and actions to make our roads safer for all.
Beaufort’s inspiring talk was well received. Further, Director of Road Safety Programs at Parachute and current CARSP president Valerie Smith also discussed the important work being conducted at Parachute that engages youth in road safety. It is clear that the involvement of youth in road safety is an integral step going forward, which was demonstrated clearly at this year’s CARSP conference. For those who attended and for those who were absent, we offer a thought for post-conference inspiration: how are youth involved in your safety work?