Road safety professionals, speakers and service providers from Ireland, other EU countries and the UK will come together for the two-day ‘Safer Roads’ conference at Killarney’s Gleneagle INEC Arena. These will include transportation experts, government and local authority officials, roads policing and vehicle inspection agencies, road safety advocates, educators and promoters, collision responders, cycling bodies and community safety networks.
The inter-agency conference will focus on improving road safety, reducing traffic-related incidents, and sharing knowledge and best practices for safer road use. It encompasses various strategies and efforts across multiple domains, including road design, engineering, enforcement, forensic collision investigation, technology, education, collision trends, occupational driving, e-mobility, active and sustainable travel, and on-road events.
In addition, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Driver Simulation will also play a significant role at the conference, in improving safety by predicting and preventing accidents, optimising traffic, and aiding the development of autonomous vehicles.
Kerry County Council officials (l-r): Executive Engineer Vincent Foley, Assistant Staff Officer Deirdre Moynihan, Director Frank Hartnett, Staff Officer Margaret O’Sullivan and Senior Executive Engineer Brian O’Connor.
According to Frank Hartnett, Director of Services for Roads & Transport at Kerry County Council, this milestone event will be “an opportunity for a world class community that shares a passion, dedication and desire to excel in road safety to learn and share”.
He said that the safety of our roads is not the responsibility of one organisation, but that of all stakeholders and road users. “Through working together, sharing our knowledge, expertise, and experience, we aim to develop a safer environment for all road users,” he added.
Declan Keogh, Kerry County Council’s Road Safety Officer, pointed out that road safety has evolved over the years to a much broader scope, in terms of e-mobility, sustainability, technology and engineering for instance.
“It’s not just about the road or the vehicle anymore, but also about how technology, human behaviour, enforcement, and education intersect to reduce risks and prevent collisions. The ‘Safer Roads’ conference will involve and include every branch of the road safety tree, right across the board, and in doing so, we aim to increase road safety awareness, improve road user behaviour and decrease the collisions and carnage we see on our roads every day,” Keogh noted.
