Alumni Spotlight: Gela Kvashilava, Georgia

Alumni Spotlight

A leading voice on Georgia’s road safety outlook

Gela Kvashilava is a DRSC Alumnus from 2013. After founding the NGO Partnership for Road Safety (PfRS) in Georgia in 2006, he was keen to develop the capacity of the organisation and succeed in his campaign to bring road safety onto the national agenda.

With foundational knowledge and insights from DRSC, Gela has been central to the development and implementation of Georgia’s road safety and transport strategies and action plans. In 2016, he was a crucial advocate for the adoption of the country’s first National Road Safety Strategy, which was based firmly around the Safe System Approach. In 2024, he was again a member of the Government working group developing the new road safety action plan, which has seen important links developed between road safety and sustainable urban development.

“At the time Georgia did not have a national road safety strategy or action plan. For me, it was important to understand how such a policy document could be developed and adopted. The course taught me how to design an effective national road safety strategy and action plan... It developed my understanding of strategies that have succeeded in other countries, and how they can be adapted to the local context.”

Key aspects of the strategy include reduced speed limits around schools, widening and improving walkways and cycle lanes, developing more riverside parks and attractions, and reducing adjacent highway speeds and volumes. In Gela’s words, these developments “are inviting people onto the streets again.”

This approach, based partly on the experiences of PfRS and the Netherlands-based smart mobility company, MOVE Mobility, who collaborated to implement pilot cycling networks in the city of Batumi and the Adjara Region in 2017, has been replicated in many of the countries’ city development plans. Gela has played a key role in these developments, demonstrating the impact of linking the safe system approach and active mobility in practice.