Abertis joins European Mobility Week

Through its subsidiaries and the Abertis Foundation, the Abertis Group joined European Mobility Week by organising different activities to promote sustainable, safe and innovative mobility.

In Spain, the Abertis Foundation launched “El Apagón” (The blackout), an awareness campaign to prevent the use of alcohol and drugs and other bad behaviour when driving at night. Several nightclubs in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia turned off the music right in the swing of things to show a testimonial video in which a young man in prison tells of his experience of drunk driving and the tragic consequences of the accident: his friend died and he was seriously wounded. The initiative was accompanied by a social media campaign in which the hashtag #SumaTuLuz was the common denominator. The initiative received the support of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Directorate General for Traffic, as well as the Catalan Department of Internal Affairs and the Catalan Department of Traffic. 

Alongside this, the subsidiary Autopistas issued messages to reinforce the ideas of European Mobility Week on the variable messaging panels installed on its toll road network. 

In Italy, the subsidiary A4 Holding launched “Safe Island”, a road safety education project aimed at school-age children, as part of the international festival of street games Tocatì (It’s your turn) in the city of Verona. “Safe Island” replicates the street with signs, lanes, pedestrian crossings and roundabouts, where the little drivers can ride a bike or a scooter, accompanied by tutors who use games to teach them the basic concepts of road safety:  using a seat belt, the consequences of using a mobile phone while driving and the dangers of exceeding the speed limits. At the end of the route, the more applied children receive a Responsible Driver’s licence.

On the other side of the Atlantic too

In the US, Abertis and UNICEF presented the #RightsOfWay project in New York, coinciding with the UN General Assembly. Abertis took part in the launch of the Young People’s Agenda, an initiative by the United Nations to improve the lives of adolescents. It also gave a conference at the Cervantes Institute in New York to an audience that included senior representatives from UNICEF, the Spanish Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the #RightsOfWay project, specialist medical teams from the Guttmann Institute travel to Jamaica and the Brazil to train and advise local physicians on the best practices applied to the prevention and treatment of injuries sustained in road traffic accidents. 

Although Mobility Week is a European project, it coincides with the road safety month that the subsidiary Arteris in Brazil has launched for the past five years. The Arteris Forum, held in Sao Paulo, revolved around smart toll roads and their role in sustainable mobility. More than 20 international experts took part in the meeting, including representatives from the public and private sectors. Along these lines, Lucas di Grassi, the Formula E driver and former Formula 1 driver, offered an innovative vision of electric cars. The event also involved young traffic ambassadors, participants of the third Youth Forum, an initiative promoted by Arteris to prepare young people to promote change in the mobility of the future. This activity joins similar forums organised in 2018 by Abertis in Spain, France, Argentina, Chile and Puerto Rico.