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concessionaires, design consulting engineers, academia and other safety stakeholders to encourage the replacement of outdated technology and to introduce state-of-the-art practices in countries around the world, thereby assisting governments with their commitment to the 3262 United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

  • Mississippi road rebuild contract for Michael Baker
    March 6, 2018
    Michael Baker International has established a partnership with the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) to rebuilt a 13km stretch of US Route 49 in the Jackson area. The firm won the US$19.3 million Construction Engineering and Inspection (CE&I) contract in late 2017. Under the terms of the deal, the firm will prioritise safety, communication and efficiency to complete the project.
  • CEA-backed report’s blueprint for UK construction equipment sector growth
    June 11, 2014
    Investment in advanced machine electronics capability; further investment in training and apprenticeship programs; and support for the UK as a continued centre for R&D are all key to securing growth within the British construction equipment industry, according to a comprehensive new Construction Equipment Association (CEA) commissioned report. Further recommendations for the industry in The UK Construction Equipment Sector Report are the need to ensure the cross fertilisation of advanced design, manufactu
  • American parking sector to aid growth of electric vehicle charging in workplace
    February 1, 2013
    The American parking industry has teamed up with U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) to back a government initiative to expand electric vehicle charging stations in the workplace. The International Parking Institute (IPI) has been named a founding ambassador in the US DoE’s Workplace Charging Challenge, a new initiative of the EV Everywhere Grand Challenge, announced by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu at the recent Washington Auto Show’s Public Policy Day. The Workplace Charging Challenge will support the expans
  • Kuwait's road safety route ahead
    March 5, 2012
    The Transport Ministry in Kuwait is looking to improve road safety and is at present evaluating different strategies to reduce the vehicle accident rate in the country.