Reed in Partnership joins global road safety leadership body

In this article, Director of Reed Assessment Simon Mitchell looks at international efforts to reduce road accidents and how we are working to support the Vision Zero agenda.

Reed in Partnership is pleased to announce that we are now an associated member of CIECA, the international commission for driver testing. In delivering more than 2.5 million driving theory tests per year through our Test Centres on behalf of the DVSA, doing everything we can to promote road safety is at the top of our agenda.

Road safety is an area where international learning and cooperation is paramount. While the UK should be proud of what it has achieved to deliver reductions in road collisions over the years - Great Britain was ranked third out of 33 European countries for the lowest number of road fatalities per million population in 2023[1] – there are numerous opportunities to learn from good practice and improve.

CIECA - formally the Commission Internationale des Examens de Conduite Automobile - is the leading body for driver testing authorities, experts and delivery organisations. It is a non-political, non-profit association with the purpose of improving driving standards and contributing to safety on the roads more widely. By joining, this means that Reed in Partnership can cooperate with other expert providers in the road safety arena and play our part in global campaigns and initiatives to help make all our roads safer.

There is much to learn from international practice. At CIECA’s annual Congress in May, we heard about the tailored adaptations made for drivers struggling with fear of failure in the practical test, a Czech exploration of how a hazard perception test could be integrated into its testing process and work to promote accessibility for disabled drivers in France, among many other topics. We also enjoyed spending time with our partners Abtran, exploring what more we can do collectively to support the Vision Zero agenda through our collective work.

I was delighted to present to the Congress the findings of our pilot of an innovative VR approach to road safety training for pre- and novice drivers alongside Professor David Crundall, whose company Esitu designed and delivered the training in partnership with Bedfordshire Road Safety Partnership. We look forward to getting involved in working together with CIECA’s members towards our common vision of eliminating fatalities and serious accidents on our roads around the world.

You can learn more about Esitu’s VR pilot here: Supporting young drivers' road safety | Reed in Partnership

You can find out more about CIECA here: CIECA

[1] Department for Transport, Reported road casualties Great Britain, September 2024.