Skip to main content

IRF appoints new global road safety champion

The International Road Federation has a new spearhead for its global road safety programme. Michael Dreznes will serve as the Federation's (IRF) executive vice president with worldwide leadership on training, policy and capacity-building activities.
March 2, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The 713 International Road Federation has a new spearhead for its global road safety programme. Michael Dreznes will serve as the Federation’s (IRF) executive vice president with worldwide leadership on training, policy and capacity-building activities.

"Mike has spent the last twenty-six years working to make roads safer around the world," said Patrick Sankey, president and chief executive of IRF in Washington DC, the United States, where Dreznes will be based. "He is recognised as one of the world's leading experts on roadside safety, pioneering the concept of Forgiving Highways, and we are thrilled to have him lead the road safety initiatives of IRF."

Sankey said one of Dreznes’s key areas of responsibility will be to work with road authorities around the world to use IRF's Safer Roads by Design executive road safety training.

Speaking about his new role Dreznes said: "IRF is where I can truly make a difference. Too many countries around the world are using obsolete roadside safety measures and technologies that should have been replaced twenty years ago.

"I will collaborate with road authorities, concessionaires, design consulting engineers, academia and other safety stakeholders to encourage the replacement of outdated technology and to introduce state-of-the-art practices in countries around the world, thereby assisting governments with their commitment to the 3262 United Nations Decade of Action to reduce fatalities by 50% by 2020," Dreznes said.

The co-chairman of the 2774 Transportation Research Board Roadside Safety Design Subcommittee on International Research Activities, Dreznes is also a member of the TRB AFB20 Committee on Roadside Safety Design.

Founded in 1948, the IRF is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization with members from both the public and private sectors in 90 countries worldwide.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • TRL acquires Transport & Travel Research
    April 15, 2014
    TRL has announced the acquisition of Transport & Travel Research (TTR) making it a wholly owned subsidiary of TRL. A minority shareholder in TTR since 2010, TRL has stated that TTR will continue to operate as an independent organisation. TTR’s chairman, David Blackledge, has stepped down from the Board to take on a role as Special Advisor, while TRL's chief executive, Rob Wallis, is appointed chairman of TTR (in addition to his other group company responsibilities) with immediate effect. All other operat
  • FIDIC signs key agreements for China and Africa
    January 30, 2020
    FIDIC has signed two important agreements for key international markets.
  • AAPA endorses fatigue endurance limits AUSTROADS guidelines
    May 18, 2015
    The Australian Asphalt Pavement Association (AAPA) has endorsed the new concept of a fatigue endurance limit to determine the full depth asphalt pavement thickness in a freeway environment. The endorsement came from the first meeting of the AAPA’s recently appointed National Leadership and Technology Committee (NTLC) made up of senior managers in the pavement and surface technology sector. The NTLC endorsed the industry-prepared draft design guide addendum for Perpetual Pavements from AUSTROADS. AUSTR
  • Astec Industries appoints new president and CEO
    July 23, 2019
    Astec Industries has appointed Barry Ruffalo as its president and chief executive officer, effective on August 12th, 2019. Ruffalo has also been elected to the board of directors. He will join the board of directors as a Class I director and will stand for re-election at the Company’s 2020 annual meeting. On the effective date of Ruffalo’s appointment, Richard Dorris, interim chief executive officer, will resume his role as chief operating officer. Prior to his appointment, Ruffalo was employed by Valmont