Luca Persia, Director of the Sapienza Transports and Logistics Research Centre (CTL) and Coordinator of the SaferAfrica Project), has received the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award from His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent, first-degree cousin of Queen Elizabeth for the innovative characteristics introduced in the project funded by the European Commission as part of Programme H2020.

The prestigious international award is presented annually, in London, by His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent to organisations that contribute to the improvement of road safety through scientific innovation.

The Project SaferAfrica Consortium is formed by 17 European and African partners, coordinated by the Sapienza Transports and Logistics Research Centre (CTL) and has created a platform for dialogue between Europe and Africa on issues related to road safety due to the high number of accidents that occur throughout Africa. The project involves the most important international organisations that are active in the field of road safety and an active community of 192 experts from 42 African countries. The accident rate on the African continent is 26.6% against a European rate of 9.3%. The idea behind the project is to allow Europe to play a fundamental role in identifying the critical weaknesses in the African system and transfer its technical and scientific experience to improve road safety.