CARSP President New Year’s Message

Hello CARSP friends.

As we embark on 2024, I’m proud to look back at CARSP’s remarkable achievements and initiatives in 2023.

The highlight, for me, was the ITE Canada/CARSP Conference. Hosted in Winnipeg, Man., this conference brought together more than 470 delegates from Canada and around the globe. The theme, “Road Safety: Creating Impact Through Diversity,” underscored our collective efforts to build safer roads while embracing the rich tapestry of perspectives that make our nation unique.

While planning this conference, our two associations became more aware of the synergies between our two associations, including our many areas of mutual interest.  This, plus a growing interest in transportation safety issues, presented an opportunity for our two organizations to work more closely together and we created a partnership agreement. Read the announcement at this link.

CARSP also partnered with INTERACT and LevelUp Planning to deliver a post-conference workshop on equity and transportation planning. The workshop, “From rhetoric to reality: Promising practices for advancing transportation equity in Canadian cities,” engaged more than 50 participants with presentations, case studies and an interactive breakout session, with the goal of developing skills needed to maximize the equity lens in our transportation plans.

CARSP also launched a new Advanced Vehicle Safety Systems section of our website. It aims “to create a scientific initiative for dissemination and monitoring of active and passive road safety technologies that are in levels 1 and 2 of the spectrum proposed by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).”

Looking forward, the 2024 CARSP Conference promises to be another milestone in our ongoing commitment to safer mobility. We are teaming up with Parachute, Canada’s national charity dedicated to injury prevention and a leader in Vision Zero in Canada. The conference, being held June 16 to 19 in Ottawa, has as its theme “Safe Mobility: Achieving Vision Zero in Urban and Rural Environments.” The diverse range of topics, from city-wide road safety plans to innovative approaches in decreasing road safety injuries and deaths, reflects the comprehensive approach we are taking to make our roads safer for everyone. In February, we’ll unveil the registration details and release the preliminary program, including technical tours, post-conference workshops, and more.

I would also like to commend CARSP staff and participating CARSP members for their dedication to knowledge-sharing through initiatives such as the CARSP webinar series. These free monthly webinars, covering a variety of road safety topics, are a valuable resource for professionals and enthusiasts alike.

Wishing you a Happy New Year filled with joy, prosperity and, above all, safety on the roads. Looking forward to seeing many of you in Ottawa at our conference in 2024.

Valerie Smith, CARSP President