Promoting Safer Roadways

The driving environment includes physical infrastructure (roads, signs, traffic lights, etc.) and the condition and maintenance of that infrastructure. Increasingly, information technologies play a role in the driving environment – for example, by controlling the timing of traffic lights. All of these factors have a significant influence on traffic safety.

Safety challenges related to the driving environment vary between countries and between developed and developing economies. Around the world, we work with government agencies and private-sector partners to promote road safety.

In 2009, Volvo and the Swedish Road Administration began a strategic partnership to understand how their respective visions (Volvo's Vision 2020 and Sweden's Vision Zero) could work together. Through information exchange and data sharing, the two entities will seek to develop a common view of safer infrastructure and vehicles in the future.

In late 2004, working in partnership with General Motors, Honda, Michelin, Renault, Shell and Toyota, Ford helped to found the Global Road Safety Initiative (GRSI). The purpose of the GRSI has been to transfer best practices, with the objective of reducing accidents and building capacity in developing countries to manage road safety. Projects have included educational outreach to increase safety-belt and helmet usage rates, and training aimed at improving roadway design.

Ford and other participating companies pledged a total of $10 million to the GRSI over five years to fund important road safety projects in China, Brazil and countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The projects were implemented through the Global Road Safety Partnership, an existing organization founded by the World Bank and national governmental aid organizations. Ford served on the Partnership's Executive Committee and has been actively involved in project execution. The projects relied on delivery through local organizations, so those organizations could build capacity and continue their work long after the projects were completed.

Also in China, Ford is cooperating with the China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC) and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security to launch a new project that aims to provide accurate and scientific data for research into road safety in China.