The one-year partnership will see Wolt and ETSC work together on how urban road infrastructure affects the safety of people walking, cycling and motorcycling, including the growing number who deliver as cycle couriers, followed by a Europe-wide webinar and an in-person seminar.
Wolt announced a one-year partnership with the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), Europe’s leading independent road safety organisation, to work together on the safety of people walking, cycling and motorcycling in European cities. The announcement was made during European Mobility Week.
Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists account for the large majority of road deaths in EU cities, and progress in reducing those deaths has been slow. Over the coming months, ETSC will publish a policy report examining what the evidence shows about protecting them, including junction design, separated cycling infrastructure and speed management.
The report will pay particular attention to people who cycle in cities regularly, including those who deliver as cycle couriers. Couriers are on urban roads more often, and in a wider range of weather and traffic conditions, than most other cyclists, which makes their experience a useful reference point for how cities design and manage their streets.
The report will be followed by a Europe-wide webinar and an in-person seminar, bringing together policymakers, city authorities and road safety experts to discuss the findings and what cities can do with them. Over the course of the partnership, ETSC and Wolt also intend to explore how the experience of couriers themselves could add to the evidence base. That strand of work is at an early stage and will develop as the partnership progresses.
“Couriers are on city streets every day, and the quality of the infrastructure around them affects their daily experience directly. We want the case for safer street design to be made properly and based on the evidence. That is why we are partnering with ETSC on this work, and why we hope to find ways of contributing what our couriers see and experience as the project develops,” said Samuel Laurinkari, Vice President and Head of International Public Policy at Wolt.
“Most of the road deaths in European cities involve people walking, cycling or motorcycling, and the design of the street is of critical importance. People who deliver as cycle couriers are on city streets more often than almost anyone else, so they have a particular stake in getting it right. We are glad to be partnering with Wolt on this work, and over the year we hope to find good ways of bringing couriers’ own experience into it,” said Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director at ETSC.
ETSC retains full editorial independence over the report. ETSC’s most recent Road Safety Performance Index shows that Europe is on track for only half the road-death reduction needed to meet the EU’s 2030 target. Wolt already provides couriers with free accident and third-party liability insurance while they are delivering. This partnership is a different kind of contribution: making the evidence-based case for changing the streets themselves.
More details on the policy report, webinar and seminar will follow in the coming months.
The ETSC partnership sits alongside a wider set of road safety initiatives Wolt is running across Europe.
In Luxembourg, Wolt partnered with Automobile Club du Luxembourg (ACL) last year on a road safety campaign. In Germany, Wolt has partnered with DEKRA to launch an e-learning road safety course for couriers, and is holding a courier safety activation day in Cologne during European Mobility Week, handing out safety jackets, helmets, and safety booklets. In Czechia, Wolt has been running a road safety campaign, including a Safety Day, with long-term partner Dám respekt. In Hungary, Wolt co-signed the Budapest Safety Charter with the municipality, setting a framework for joint road safety activities. In Romania, Wolt is partnering with cycling NGO HaiCuBicla on a Bucharest courier safety day, aiming to feed courier input into the city’s infrastructure planning. In Greece, Wolt launched Moving the City, Responsibly, a long-term responsible mobility initiative under the auspices of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, combining research, dedicated sessions for more than 18,000 courier partners, public awareness, school workshops and new incident-reporting mechanisms. And in several other markets, Wolt is running a dedicated road safety campaign for couriers and the public.
