CARSP President’s Year End Message
Another year has gone by and it has been a busy one for CARSP with a bright outlook for 2017!
As with most years, our major event was the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals Conference which was held in Halifax from June 5-8. We had about 150 delegates from around the world with a conference theme of Working for Road Safety. Next year’s conference will be in Toronto, June 18-21 and we hope you can pencil it in your calendar and be there to share and learn about Technology and Road Safety. We are proud to announce that one of our keynote speakers will be Fred Wegman, a global expert on road safety, currently at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. Registration is open and I invite you to explore the conference webpages for more information: https://carsp.ca/carsp-conference/carsp-conference-2017.
CARSP continues to co-chair the Canadian Global Road Safety Committee (CGRSC) along with Parachute. This committee welcomes agencies from a broad range of road safety experience; holding monthly teleconferences to share what they are doing and to look for opportunities to coordinate and collaborate. The CGRSC also provides advice and support related to events such as the National Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims.
As part of the ongoing exploration of a North American Road Safety Professional (RSP) certification, CARSP will be part of an organizing committee of recognized and committed road safety professionals. The committee will be having its kick off meeting on January 9, 2017, at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
We have also been busy developing our partnerships, supporting events and organizations that focus on road safety. Board members and our Executive Director participated in Parachute’s “Vision Zero” event on November 29th in Toronto. CARSP also had a presence at the “Not by Accident” conference in London, Ontario, sponsored by the Southwest Injury Prevention Network, as well as arrive alive Drive Sober’s annual conference in Toronto.
As part of our educational stream of services, we hope you have continued to enjoy the quarterly Safety Network Newsletter – thank you to our dedicated Editorial Committee, and to their Chair and the Editor, Rebecca Peterniak! And thank you to Brenda Suggett, our Executive Director, for compiling our monthly Canadian Road Safety News Digest; providing members with the latest news articles on road safety from across the country. Brenda is the glue that holds the Board together especially as it branches off into new adventures!
We continue to explore new ways of knowledge sharing. Our Marketing and Membership committee has been busy developing a plan with more creative ways of learning and networking including webinars and a workshop as part of the CARSP annual conference.
I am really excited about our efforts to build on CARSP’s past successes and create new opportunities to enhance the road safety message across Canadian borders and beyond. On behalf of the CARSP Board of Directors, I would like to wish you all a safe and merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2017.
Jennifer Kroeker-Hall
President, CARSP