DRSC News
Delft Road Safety Course for Low and Middle Income Countries - 2025
In April, we welcomed 17 new scholars from across 14 countries to TU Delft for our 11th Annual Delft Road Safety Course. Led by Dr Mark King (CARRS-Q) and Govert Schermers (SWOV), participants joined world-leading road safety experts and practitioners to explore core issues of the Safe System Approach and learn how to develop road safety strategies and action plans for improving road safety in their countries.
With the Fourth Global Ministerial Conference taking place in Morocco in February, this year’s course is timely in supporting country stakeholders and national governments follow up on commitments and enact changes that are needed to embed the Safe System Approach and reduce road casualties. The important role of capacity building was highlighted throughout the Ministerial Conference, and DRSC is proud to be fulfilling this role for practitioners and decision makers from low and middle income countries.
This year, the five-day course in Delft focused on the importance of road design, Road safety audit, Safe system road infrastructure, enforcement, and education with a strong technical element on data collection and analysis to inform policy. Course participants visited the Traffic and Transportation Safety Lab at TU Delft to learn about how transport systems are measured and assessed for safety from an interdisciplinary perspective, and how this research informs policy decisions in the Netherlands.
As usual, the in-person course provided an excellent opportunity for scholars to see at first hand the Netherlands’ active travel infrastructure and exploring strategies with their peers on how these examples might be adapted for their countries. Many students enjoyed walking or cycling to and from classes, and exploring Delft by bike and on foot.
There is a direct link between the Safe System approach to road safety and sustainable, active mobility. Poor road safety (whether perceived or actual) is one of the main barriers that prevents people from using active modes of transport, such as walking or cycling, on a regular basis. While at the same time, safer roads are those where more people are choosing to walk and cycle. We were pleased to link this year’s course with a complimentary programme by ACTIVE, an international alliance bringing together key stakeholders in the field of active mobility, walking, and cycling, with the aim of training 10,000 active mobility experts worldwide, in the next 10 years.
The final days of the course focused on regional group work where participants put together a hypothetical road safety action plan for a chosen country in their region. This hands-on practical approach helps participants to apply their learning: identifying creative, locally relevant solutions to common challenges and issues, and embed skills that can be applied back home.
All participants offered high praise of the course and committed to implementing the Safe System Approach more in their day to day work back home.
with thanks to our COURSE SPONSORS
