As the clock struck midnight last month on December 31^st, many of us were thinking of resolutions for the coming year to improve our lives and make ourselves better, adamant that we would finally this year achieve our goals: eat healthier, exercise more, lose weight, save more and spend less, learn a new skill or hobby. While admirable, those goals don’t often stay in focus for very long. According to one recent study, most people give up on those goals on average just 17.8 days into the new year!

For those of us in the traffic safety world we have goals too, and with lives at stake we can’t give up on them so easily. We have seen some rather sobering traffic safety statistics (particularly in the United States) the last couple of years during this on-going COVID-19 pandemic. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States increased 18.4% the first half of 2021 compared to 2020, the largest increase we’ve seen in that time period since 2006. Global traffic statistics have fared slightly better, thanks in part to lockdowns during the pandemic.

Many organizations have set goals and implemented initiatives toward improving these numbers including the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, Vision Zero, Road to Zero Coalition and the recently released U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy.

NETS’ mission is to advance road safety among all drivers, employees and their families, and the communities where employees live and work. In line with our mission, we will be focusing on the following goals this year:

Happy New Year and Safe Driving!

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eDriving, a Solera company, helps organizations around the world to reduce incidents, collisions, injuries, license violations, carbon emissions, and total cost of fleet ownership through its patented digital driver risk management programs.

At its heart is the Mentor by eDrivingSM smartphone app that identifies risky driving behaviors for intervention and safe driving habits for recognition. In-app features include micro-training and coaching, gamification, collision reporting, vehicle inspections, and an individual FICO® Safe Driving Score validated to predict the likelihood of being involved in a collision. Mentor’s integrated automatic crash detection and Personal SOS features powered by Sfara and Bosch trigger a voice call and emergency support, as needed, from one of Bosch’s Global Call Centers supporting >50 countries. Through its five-stage, patented Crash-Free Culture® risk reduction methodology, eDriving helps organizations embrace safety and reduce risk for Sales, Service, Delivery and Warehouse drivers, all within a privacy-first, data-secure environment.

eDriving is the digital driver risk management partner of choice for many of the world’s largest organizations, supporting over 1.2 million drivers in 125 countries. Over the past 25 years, eDriving’s research-validated programs have been recognized with over 100 awards around the world.

Mobile device distractions put employees in danger and companies at risk. So why would anyone settle for safety measures that simply report what went wrong, or only work when people remember to turn them on? TRUCE Software automatically suspends distracting mobile apps and functions depending on what your employee is doing, where they are working or even the workgroup they are part of. You define the policy and TRUCE ensures compliance when and where it’s needed. Supporting more than 100,000 subscribers and some of the largest brands worldwide, our patented technology is making workplaces everywhere safer.

Learn about all of NETS Fleet Safety Sponsors

The UN Road Safety Fund is based around partnerships between organizations worldwide that care about making roads safer for people in lower- and middle-income countries. Unsafe traffic and road conditions are a major cause of preventable deaths.

The Fund has helped elevate critical aspects of national road safety systems in 30 countries across 5 regions. This is a good start, but it is not enough when we consider that there are 125 low- and middle-income countries in need of road safety expertise. Mobilizing additional funding could ensure support to 60 new countries, bringing the total of UNRSF supported countries to 90 by the end of 2025.

Donors may include:

To learn more about the Call for Replenishment for the United Nations Road Safety Fund 2022-2025, please visit: https://roadsafetyfund.un.org

The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is a registered charity dedicated to saving lives by eliminating high risk roads throughout the world. iRAP works in partnership with governments, road authorities, mobility clubs, development banks, NGOs and research organisations.

The following road safety resources are available at no charge and can be used by private sector organisations for optimal route management; safe school journeys; and reducing road injuries and fatalities.

irap.org

Do you have a particularly successful road safety example to share? NETS Members are encouraged to share best practices, ask questions or contribute their expertise to the NETS Road Safety Leaders Forum, an online discussion forum exclusively for NETS Members and Sponsors. Not yet a member? Check out the benefits at https://trafficsafety.org/membership-info/.