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concessionaires, design consulting engineers, academia and other safety stakeholders to encourage the replacement of outdated technology and to introduce state-of-the-art practices in countries around the world, thereby assisting governments with their commitment to the 3262 United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

  • Global Road Achievement Awards
    July 10, 2012
    IRF now accepting submissions for 2009 edition of Global Road Achievement Awards (GRAA). IRF has officially opened the 2009 GRAA Competition. Started in 2000, this worldwide programme honours and recognises road projects throughout the world that demonstrate excellence and innovation. Since IRF began this annual competition, more than 70 projects from two dozen countries have been recognised for their contributions to the advancement of road development worldwide.
  • ERF calls for better safety in Europe´s Work Zones
    May 14, 2015
    The European Road Federation will soon go on the road to promote greater work zone safety “As previous European projects (e.g. ARROWS) have already made proposals for the design of work zones at EU level, it was essential to avoid duplication and find an angle that would provide true added value” The European Commission has just unveiled the road safety statistics for 2014, which point to an overall slowdown in the momentum for casualty reduction achieved over the past few years. While the annual red
  • Tolling innovation
    January 4, 2013
    Leading European tolling solution companies are involved in a number of innovative tolling projects across the continent and further afield. Guy Woodford looks at some of the latest Siemens Mobility & Logistics (SML) has received orders from Eurotoll and Total, two of France’s largest electronic toll on-board unit issuers, to supply technology for the new French toll collection system. The equipment comprises on-board units for the vehicles as well as the electronic detection system. The SML orders’, worth
  • New approach needed in Europe to help improve motorcycle safety
    August 22, 2012
    The European Commission is proposing that part of its controversial new Anti-Tampering regulations for motorcycles should be re-written to prevent custom motorcycle builders from using long-forks. This is the latest in a series of requirements in the regulations to attracted criticisms from motorcycle manufacturers, dealers, safety campaigners and enthusiasts groups.