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Together for Safer Roads, Anheuser-Busch First to Join NYC Connected Vehicle Pilot

New Public-Private Partnership Supports City’s Vision Zero Goals


NEW YORK – WEBWIRE

During the launch of the United Nations’ Fifth Global Road Safety Week, international leaders held a briefing to recognize New York City’s leadership in Vision Zero and pledge their support for it. Together for Safer Roads and its members, including Anheuser-Busch, will support the City of New York’s Connected Vehicle Pilot: Anheuser-Busch is equipping its local fleet with connected vehicle technology to test driver alerts and other safety measures.

The City of New York’s Vision Zero program is unique in the U.S. in its commitment to fleet safety and in business support for it. The Department of Citywide Administrative Services’ Safe Fleet Transition Plan is the City’s strategy to make the municipal fleet consistent with Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries in the city by 2024. The NYC Connected Vehicle Pilot provides a well-defined opportunity for private fleets to support this goal. Few, if any, Vision Zero cities have similar ways for businesses to proactively partner in this work.

While civic leadership is absolutely essential to achieving Vision Zero, ultimately it will not happen without robust participation from all sectors, especially businesses. Knowledge sharing and public-private partnerships like this one have long been hallmarks of the United Nations. In addition to bringing connected vehicle technology to new use cases, private sector participation in the pilot will help chart the way to bringing proven safety interventions to scale.

“New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) is proud to partner with NYC DOT and represent New York City—one of only three test sites in the nation—as part of the U.S. DOT’s Connected Vehicle Pilot Program. Through Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero Program, we are reducing traffic deaths and making the city’s streets safer for everyone. We believe the Connected Vehicle program will take us even further and make our fleets and streets even safer,” said DCAS Commissioner Lisette Camilo.

“As part of the Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries, the New York City Department of Transportation has several initiatives to make the vehicles in our fleet and from the MTA and the Taxi & Limousine Commission more intelligent when it comes to being alert about nearby traffic conflicts,“ said Mohamad Talas, Director of System Engineering at NYC DOT. ”These initiatives include the Connected Vehicle pilot in cooperation with the US Department of Transportation, which uses wireless communications technology in vehicles and on infrastructure to alert drivers to roadway hazards and help them avoid collisions. We thank the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and Together for Safer Roads for their leadership on fleet safety.”

“Our coalition of socially-minded businesses salutes the leadership of Mayor de Blasio and his administration in eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries,” said Dave Braunstein, President of Together for Safer Roads. “By fostering this public-private partnership, TSR’s members can learn from the City’s best practices and share our networks with New York and cities around the world.”

“Anheuser-Busch is a leading member of the New York City business community, and it’s our responsibility to invest in programs that make the roads safer for all,” said Cesar Vargas, Vice President of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Anheuser-Busch. “We are proud to be the first private sector company taking part in the NYC Connected Vehicle Pilot, and we look forward to sharing data and learnings with the City and researchers.”

“Working towards the goal of zero fatalities and injuries from road traffic crashes requires concerted efforts and partnerships from all sectors. We applaud the City of New York’s Connected Vehicle Pilot that brings together public private partnerships and innovative measures in meeting the shared goal of vision zero,” said Alex Mejia, Director, Division for People, UNITAR.

“Along with smart transportation policy and safe street designs, connected vehicle technology is an important tool in the effort to eliminate traffic deaths,” said Transportation Alternatives Interim Executive Director Ellen McDermott. “We’re pleased to partner with Together for Safer Roads, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and the Department of Transportation to make sure that the vehicles using New York City streets are as safe as they possibly can be.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio launched New York City’s Vision Zero Program in 2014, and it is becoming a national model. Since 2013, traffic fatalities have dropped 34-percent to the lowest level since record-keeping began in 1910. Like many cities in the United States and around the world, traffic is a leading cause of injury death in New York City, it is an especially likely way for school-aged children and seniors to die, and vulnerable road users make up more than 50-percent traffic fatalities. New York is demonstrating that traffic deaths are preventable.

The Connected Vehicle Pilot Program, managed by the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO), is a national effort to deploy, test and activate mobile and roadside technologies and enable multiple connected vehicle applications. The pilot is focused on developing and deploying more than 15 safety applications to provide in-vehicle warnings to motorists behind the wheel. New York City is one of three connected vehicle pilot sites. The others are Tampa and Wyoming.

** Pictured in photo above from left to right: David Braunstein, President, Together for Safer Roads; Cesar Vargas, Vice President of Legal & Corporate Affairs, Anheuser-Busch; Keith Kerman, Chief Fleet Officer and Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Citywide and Administrative Services; Mohamed Talas, Director of System Engineering, NYC Department of Transportation; Ellen McDermott, Co-Interim Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives

ABOUT TOGETHER FOR SAFER ROADS

Together for Safer Roads is a global NGO that works with government, businesses and community stakeholders on local projects, fleet safety management and technology initiatives to prevent traffic crashes, injuries and deaths. TSR was started in conjunction with the UN’s Decade of Road Safety and has partners around the world. TSR’s members include AB InBev, AIG, AT&T, CalAmp, Republic Services, Lyft, Ericsson, GM, iHeartMedia, Octo Telematics, Geotab, PepsiCo, UPS, Walmart and others. Learn more at www.togetherforsaferroads.org.

ABOUT ANHEUSER-BUSCH

For more than 165 years, Anheuser-Busch has been woven into the cultural fabric of the United States, carrying on a legacy of brewing great-tasting, high-quality beers that have satisfied beer drinkers for generations. Today, we own and operate 23 breweries, 29 distributorships and 23 agricultural and packaging facilities, and have more than 18,000 colleagues across the United States. We are home to several of America’s most recognizable beer brands, including Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob ULTRA and Stella Artois, as well as a number of regional brands that provide beer drinkers with a choice of the best-tasting craft beers in the industry.

From responsible drinking programs and emergency drinking water donations to industry-leading sustainability efforts, we are guided by our unwavering commitment to supporting the communities we call home.

For more information, visit www.anheuserbusch.com 

WATCH: AB InBev CEO Carlos Brito on the company’s global commitment to road safety 


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