MOBILIZING DEVELOPMENT

59 Mobilizing Sustainable Transport for Development
Jose Viegas
Secretary-General
International Transport
Forum, OECD
Paris, France
José Viegas has been Secretary-General of the
International Transport Forum at the OECD since August
2012. He has implemented new initiatives to increase
value for member countries. He has created a work
stream for rapid-delivery policy analysis for countries,
strengthened ITF’s links with the private sector through
the ITF Corporate Partnership Board and advanced the
harmonisation of pan-European road freight transport
by helping to secure approval for the Quality Charter
developed by ITF’s European Road Transport Group.
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT SHOWCASE:
Legal name
Sector
Headquarter location
International Transport Forum
Transport
Paris, France
Founding year
2006 (previously European
Conference of Ministers of
Transport founded in 1953)
Number of employees 57
Number of members 57
Website
http://www.itf-oecd.org
The International Transport Forum at the OECD is
an intergovernmental organization with 57 member
countries. It acts as a think tank for transport policy and
organises the Annual Summit of transport ministers.
ITF’s mission is to foster a deeper understanding of the
role of transport in economic growth, environmental
sustainability and social inclusion and to raise the
public profile of transport policy. It acts as a platform for
discussion and pre-negotiation of policy issues across all
transport modes. ITF analyses trends, shares knowledge
and promotes exchange among transport decision
makers and civil society.
Zero Road Deaths and Serious Injuries: Leading a
Paradigm Shift to a Safe System.
In 2008, ITF published Towards Zero: ambitious road
safety targets and the safe system approach. This was the
first international effort in defining a Safe System and
promoting its adoption. A Safe System is at the core
of the Plan of Action of the UN Decade of Action for
Road Safety, it is based on the ethical imperative that
no human being should be killed or seriously injured
in a road crash. A Safe System moves beyond reactive
approaches based on analysis of past crashes, and
takes a proactive approach to guide safe behaviour
and prevent serious trauma when crashes occur. In
2016, ITF published a follow up report, Zero Deaths and
Serious Injuries: Leading a Paradigm Shift to A Safe System.
The report focuses on implementation challenges and
opportunities.
It recommends in particular to:
• Think safe roads, not safer roads
• Provide strong, sustained leadership for the
paradigm shift to a Safe System
• Foster a sense of urgency to drive change
• Underpin aspirational targets with concrete
operational targets
• Establish shared responsibility for road safety