Roads to Respect (Europe)

Toyota Motor Europe

Make a significant difference in road infrastructure

Together with the European Transport Safety council (ETSC), TME (Toyota Motor Europe) and affiliates support the activities of R2R, which provides opportunities for students and young professionals to work on road infrastructure safety.

Research on road safety shows that safer road design and layout are instrumental in reducing the rate of death and injury related accidents. Launched in 2007, Toyota affiliates in Europe have been working together with the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) to provide young people the opportunity to work on road infrastructure safety all the way from the project's planning phase to the project implementation.

There are 4 key activities that map out the process of the R2R program. First, the ETSC staff tours universities to hold a lecture on infrastructure safety engineering and high-risk site management at civil, traffic and transport engineering faculties. Then, students submit concrete proposals for improvements to high-risk sites identified by the students. The authors of the best and most viable proposals are invited to attend a week long camp in Brussels in order to broaden their knowledge on the identification and treatment of high-risk sites and road safety campaigning. After these students return to their home countries, they try to apply their newly acquired skills and knowledge to convince their local politicians or administration to fix the high-risk sites they have identified with the support of ETSC and the sponsors. Finally, the most successful students are invited to the award ceremony held in Brussels where they will receive the R2R prizes presented to those who succeed in helping to make high-risk sites safer.

Since its start in 2007, the program has organized 63 lectures in collaboration with universities with over 2,300 participants.　The total number of countries participating in the program, which is now in its third cycle, has risen in 2009 to 14.

Find out more

• Neighbors vol. 7, p. 16
• Toyota Fund for Europe website
• Program website