The success of the ITE Canada/CARSP 2023 Joint Conference, coupled with the growing interest in transportation safety issues, presented an opportunity for our two organizations to work more closely together into the future, on matters of mutual interest. The backdrop to a potential partnership is that both the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals (CARSP) and ITE Canada strive to maximize the quality and value of their member services, in a variety of forms consistent with their stated mandates. From this line of thinking, a partnership agreement between CARSP and ITE Canada was developed. This agreement was announced on the last day of the conference, June 7, 2023, and will be in effect until December 31, 2025, a period of approximately two-and-a-half years.
The benefits that members of both organizations can expect include:
- Collaboration in delivery of two national technical webinar sessions. The first could be led by CARSP, with a focus on Road Safety. The second could be led by ITE Canada, with a focus on Diversity in Transportation Planning.
- Potential to do future collaboration on training related to the “Creating Impact Through Diversity” 2023 Conference theme, for example webinars or workshops.
- Promote a Student Leadership Summit and a Mentorship Program, and other student/young member initiatives across Student Chapters and other young member segments, including the CARSP Young Professionals’ Committee
- Reciprocal promotion of each other’s events and conferences, with a focus on areas of common interest and consisting of simply informing, not active promotion (and excluding magazine advertising).
- Exchanging information that is not limited to members but may be beneficial or timely for members of the other organization.
- Periodic consultation on issues of current importance. For example:
- CARSP may consult with ITE Canada on matters related to engineering, planning and active transportation; and
- ITE Canada may consult with CARSP on matters related to road safety.
Other areas of mutual interest were also identified for future consideration, and will be communicated to the membership in due course. Anyone wishing to learn more about this agreement are asked to contact either Brenda Suggett, CARSP Executive Director, at brenda.suggett@carsp.ca or James Kennedy Johnstone, ITE Canada Business Manager, at jkjohnstone@itecanada.org.
