Stocchi Highlights Tolling and Safety During European Day Without a Road Death

On September 21, 2017, IBTTA President Emanuela Stocchi delivered a speech to a European Commission event to mark European Day Without A Road Death (EDWARD). These excerpts below reflect the overarching commitment to highway safety that is the top priority for every toll operator.

I would like to thank you for inviting me and IBTTA to participate in the launch of European Day Without a Road Death. Our theme today goes to the heart of what every transportation professional is committed to achieve, every single day that we’re on our business as representatives of the road transportation industry…

Enhanced roadway safety and security is also the single most important value proposition that toll operators and concessionaires can put forward to the many millions of customers who use our roads.

The theme I chose for my year as IBTTA President is International Mobility Connections. And I have to tell you that, when it comes right down to it, every part of that theme comes back to road safety.

International…because safety is the most deeply-held, shared commitment that draws our industry together all around the world.

Mobility…because an efficient and reliable highway transportation system can only work if users have confidence that the roads will be maintained and improved, so that they can safely reach their destination. And at a more basic level…because even a single collision translates into congestion and delays for hundreds or thousands of other vehicles, quite apart from the peril it represents for those who are directly involved.

Connections…because the essence of the IBTTA community is the opportunity to learn from our professional peers, share best practices, and find together reliable transportation solutions aimed at delivering deliver a safer, more reliable mobility experience to our customers.

Our shared mission today—a Day Without A Road Death—is always at the forefront of transportation practice. It’s even more important at present, at a time when the face and functions of our highways are changing so quickly, with new technologies opening up pathways to safer, smarter, more efficient operations.

But this is also a time when highway agencies around the world are scrambling to maintain existing highway infrastructure, in spite of an often-overwhelming shortfall in funding.

IBTTA members know and firmly believe that tolling, road usage charging, and other forms of user financing are an essential tool in the toolbox available to highway operators, helping them to deliver safe, reliable mobility. Our front-line experience points to a global truth: If you aren’t prepared to pay for safety, it isn’t enough to just talk about it, or advocate for it.

In that sense, I know that everyone in my association, everyone in my industry would see our work in transportation funding and finance as an essential cornerstone for your work on front-line safety…

Safety is the single most deeply-held, shared commitment across the global industry I represent in IBTTA. It’s actually at the core of our service promise to the drivers who choose to use our roads: those who enter the toll highways’ network pay a premium to enter a tolled road, bridge, or tunnel, and they expect a facility that is better maintained…with quick, efficient roadway assistance and emergency response.

With each passing day, IBTTA members produce powerful new examples that show how adequate, consistent highway funding delivers the roadway safety that every driver needs and expects.

Learn more about leading highway safety practices across the global tolling industry. Register today for IBTTA’s International Summit of Rome, October 15-17, 2017 in Rome, Italy.