Jointly with the Department of Highways of the Ministry of Transport of Thailand, the Road Association of Thailand, with the support of REAAA and the participation of the World Bank, the World Road Association organizes an International seminar on "Building Road Safety Management Capacity". This international event is scheduled September 3-5 in Bangkok.

The tentative program and practical information to attend can be found on the dedicated web-site: http://thairoadsafety2014.com/

Abu Dhabi Municipality, member of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration, has invited the World Road Association (PIARC) to be part of the International Advisory Committee of the Global Road Safety Forum, which second edition will take place May 10-12, 2014 in Abu Dhabi.

The 2nd Abu Dhabi Global Road Safety Forum is a prominent event in the region for road safety professionals interested in identifying how to achieve ambitious "vision zero" objectives through road safety policies and programs targeting fast-motorizing economies.

The Secretary General of PIARC, Jean-François Corté, will appear as a panellist in the Opening Plenary, featuring a Progress Report on the U.N. Decade of Action and Pierre Schmitz, Past-Chair of the Technical Committee on Road Tunnel Operations, will chair and develop Partner Session 4 on Road Safety in Tunnels.

The preliminary program placed under the topic of "Building capacity for safer roads" and information regarding registration can be found fro: http://www.abudhabiroadsafetyforum.com/

The World Road Association (PIARC) is pursuing the development of the Road Safety Manual (RSM). This manual is designed to be a comprehensive, state-of-the-art international reference manual. The focus is on guiding the management of the safe planning, design, operation and use of the road network in low, middle and high-income countries. The manual highlights effective management and policy frameworks, technical references and provides overall guidance on the management of interventions to achieve results.

This project is led by a Task Force, chaired by Mike Griffith from the Federal Highways Administration (USA), which comprises specialists from PIARC Technical Committees on Road Safety and General Secretariat as well as experts from WHO, the World Bank, OECD/ITF and the African Development Bank.

A group of external consultants led by ARRB (Australia) has been commissioned by PIARC to deliver a draft of the RSM which will be converted into a web resource by PIARC.

Completion of drafting of the different chapters is scheduled this summer with the deployment of the web-site in the fourth quarter. A French and Spanish version will follow the original version produced in English.

This Manual will represent a major contribution of the World Road Association to the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.