New York, USA - UNITAR in collaboration with international NGO Together for Safer Roads (TSR) and with the support of AB InBev, launched the "Fleet Safety Global Training Programme" aimed at delivering joint training designed to empower small to mid-size fleets to improve their safety systems.
This Training Programme is based on the premise that companies, organizations, and governments own and manage vehicles and ensuring the safety of drivers of those vehicles and all other drivers they encounter on the road requires training and awareness.
In some cases, City governments manage the largest fleets in a country. Such is the case of the City of New York managing the nation's largest municipal fleet, with over 30,000 vehicles including trucks and school buses, and over 79,000 drivers. Similarly, companies operate large fleets to deliver products and goods across the globe. Similarly, organizations like the United Nations (UN) operate vehicles in the field. The effectiveness of any UN operation in the field is related to its mobility, which in turn is related to the vehicle fleet.
Developing and implementing a fleet safety programme that effectively addresses the risks that drivers face on the road, while ensuring that vehicles are safe is essential for improving road safety globally.
The Global Training Programme aims to facilitate the exchange of best practices from the largest public and private sector fleets, as well as leading road safety technology companies with the UN, with companies, and governments in different countries around the world. The Together for Safer Roads foundational FOCUS on fleet safety program will be a core component of the Global Programme.
The Inaugural Training Workshop was hosted in collaboration with the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (NYC DCAS) at the Manhattan Municipal Building on 24 September 2024, bringing together government officials and private sector executives from Brazil, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, South Korea, and the United States.
Discussions were led by leading experts who addressed the importance of safety culture, leadership, and technology including:
- Mr. Keith Kerman, Deputy Commissioner Fleet Management and Chief Fleet Officer, New York City Department of Administrative Services
- Mr. Dontai Smalls, Senior Vice President International Legislative Affairs & Global Aviation Policy, UPS
- Mr. Sal Mastriani, Vice President of Risk, Interstate Waste Services
- Mr. Michael Fowles, Vice President of Supply Chain, City Harvest, New York City's largest food rescue operation. With trucks on the road seven days a week rescuing more than one billion pounds of nutritious food that would have otherwise gone to waste and delivering it for free to New Yorkers in need.
"This inaugural workshop aims to serve as a launch pad for promoting collaboration and knowledge exchange that leads to meaningful changes in road safety culture within public and private institutions that manage fleets. Through dedicated training, tools and methodologies, it seeks to empower them to move beyond compliance towards achieving Vision Zero - highlighted Ms. Estrella Merlos, UNITAR's Global Head for Road Safety.
"We look forward to this unique opportunity to join forces with UNITAR and the larger international community, learning from their deep expertise and broad networks and ultimately helping to improve fleet safety in scalable, measurable, and effective ways - said Mr. Peter Goldwasser, Executive Director of Together for Safer Roads (TSR).
