The Squeaky Wheel Podcast Valuable, Not Vulnerable: Reframing Road Safety for Active Travel with Hafez Alavi
In this episode we’re talking with leading safety expert, Dr Havez Alavi. Hafez has a passion for making our lives safer when we travel.
Havez was born and raised in Iran.
We start by asking him about key events during the first half of his life that helped to inspire his passion for road safety.
Having already completed a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering in Iran, followed by a masters in transport engineering and planning, Hafez then migrated to Australia and did a PhD in road safety and injury prevention at Monash University.
Based in Melbourne, Monash’s Accident Research Centre is the largest and most respected of its type in Australia.
After a distinguished career spanning state, federal and international government funded authorities, Hafez created his own consulting firm in 2020 which he continues to run today.
You might think that road safety research is a dry and dull topic for conversation, but as you’ll soon hear, Hafez has an irrepressible enthusiasm for life and his passion about this topic is contagious!
Here are some links to a range of presentations Hafez has previously posted on LinkedIn:
10 Common Myths About Speed & Speeding.
Hafez collaborated with colleagues to produce this humorous 10 point article and an excellent four minute video explaining the dangers of speeding.
How a Local Council in the US Eradicated Road deaths? Hoboken, New Jersey
Seven strategy tips after Hafez, who is a prolific traveller, visited Hoboken.
A LinkedIn post and video produced by Hafez based upon the Kinetic Energy Management Model developed at Monash University Accident Research Centre.
How to Organise Our Roads and Streets with Safety of Everyone in Mind
A graphic explainer from Hafez about how street hierarchy should be organised and designed.
Community’s Reaction to 30km/h Zones in Melbourne, Australia
Spelling out the proven benefits of 30 kph zones for all local streets.
How to Provide a Safe System for E-Scooter Riders
A five point plan, written by Hafez, for achieving safer e-scooter riding.
A two minute video produced by Hafez that explains the key design features needed to make a roundabout safer, not just for people driving, but also cycling and walking.
Hafez also briefly refers to CASA, this is the Centre for Automotive Safety Research, which is based in the University of Adelaide, South Australia.
What’s Up
Both Irene and Phil refer to the 2025 Velo-city conference in Gdansk, Poland which will have finished just before this podcast goes live, at which See.sense will be presenting and Phil will be attending and recording Vox Pop’s for next month’s podcast.
Irene also gave a sneak preview of a new project they’ll be doing with Tier Dott in Helsinki Finland. You can see ongoing See.sense news announcements here.
Irene will also be speaking at the AITPM Conference in September in Adelaide.
Phil mentioned that in addition to Velo-city he’ll be attending Micromobility Europe in Brussels and Eurobike in Frankfurt.
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