Phil Charles

How agile a professional are you?

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A previous article referred to the four traits of a ‘super’ professional: resilience, autonomy, agility and clarity. In the previous two articles I described the characteristics of resilience and autonomy. In this article, three of four in the series, let us explore agility. This is the ability to move quickly and easily and changing direction if … Read more

A time of unprecedented change in the transport system

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The UK Government Foresight report, published in January 2019, reviews emerging trends, challenges and opportunities for the UK transport system out to 2040. Similar challenges and opportunities can be extrapolated for other jurisdictions, including Australia. The report considers four plausible future scenarios to help decision–makers think about the future of transport. Transport users are experiencing … Read more

As a professional do you have autonomy?

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In the previous article on resilience I referred to the four traits of a ‘super’ professional: resilience, autonomy, agility and clarity. This article explores what autonomy means for professionals — you want more autonomy and control of your professional practice, your work and your career. Autonomy means being able to make decisions independently, without having to refer to someone else, to … Read more

Are you a resilient professional?

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There are four traits of a ‘super’ professional: resilience, autonomy, agility and clarity. So let us start with resilience, which means the capacity to recover quickly from difficulty, or adversity or setbacks – or in one word ‘toughness’. Dean Becker from Adaptiv Learning Systems found that the level of resilience a person exhibits determines their success, far more … Read more

Why doesn’t smart growth emphasise freight?

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While freight transport is vital to regional economies and our everyday lives, smart growth approaches tend to neglect it, or only consider significant negative controls over freight activities. What is smart growth? Smart growth aims to improve the quality of life in communities, with a strong sustainability emphasis, aiming to conserve energy and protect environmental quality. A … Read more

Can Vision Zero improve road safety?

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In 2018 an estimated 1,143 people died on Australian roads — the lowest road toll since 1929 (when the population was only one quarter of 2018). What can be done to reduce the road toll even further?

Sweden legislated Vision Zero way back in 1997 – a philosophy of road safety that aims to achive no one will be killed or seriously injured within the road transport system.

Vision Zero provides a vision of a safe road transport system which can be used to guide the selection of strategies and then the setting of goals and targets. Zero deaths are intended as long term target. It is a change from an emphasis on current problems, to being guided by what the optimum state of the road transport system should be.

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Are we there yet?

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Looking back ten years or so, and reflecting on what has transpired over the intervening years, amazing changes have taken place – many we could not have imagined, in terms of changes in society, developments in technology and economic growth … including the growth in duration and extent of traffic congestion. However, much of what … Read more