The Automobile Club of Moldova (ACM) has launched a safe cycling infrastructure programme in the capital, Chișinău, supported by the FIA and the FIA Foundation. 

The project, ‘VeloSafe Chisinau: data-driven infrastructure for vulnerable users in Moldova’, is the country’s first systematic, evidence-based assessment of the safety of urban cycling infrastructure. This project is supported by the FIA and the FIA Foundation under the FIA Safe and Sustainable Mobility Grants Programme, with the support of the General Department of Urban Mobility (DGMU Chișinău) and the National Inspectorate for Public Safety (INSP). The initiative brings together international expertise and key municipal partners, with the ACM project partner Lane Patrol implementing the iRAP CycleRAP methodology, to transform the way cycling infrastructure is planned and built in the Moldovan capital. 

Project partners convened for the first stage of the project, a two-day technical mission in Chișinău. Technical tools included georeferenced cameras and digital mapping tools for patrol rides along the city’s major mobility corridors. Surveys included assessments of current road conditions, physical hazards, missing signage, pavement defects, and conflict points among cyclists, pedestrians, and motorised traffic. 

Over the year-long project, this CycleRAP methodology will be used to audit up to 80 kilometres of cycling network across the capital - existing routes and planned infrastructure - including high-priority developments along Albișoara and Gheorghe Asachi streets. 

The project partners also joined a strategic working meeting at the DGMU Traffic Monitoring Centre. The session brought the project team together to discuss how field data collected via the Lane Patrol platform can support the implementation and monitoring of Chișinău's Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). 

ACM CEO Tatiana Mihailova said: “In Moldova, cyclists and vulnerable road users remain disproportionately represented in crash statistics. By replacing reactive, crash-driven interventions with proactive, data-led safety planning, VeloSafe Chisinau aims to create protected, connected corridors that encourage more citizens to choose active, low-carbon transport”. 

Matteo Ferrari of Lane Patrol said: “By utilising the internationally recognised CycleRAP methodology, the team will translate raw field data into visual, easy-to-read risk maps and safety scores. These insights will enable municipal engineers and city planners to simulate infrastructure improvements, with the explicit target of reducing high- and extreme-risk road segments by at least 50%.” 

This collaborative approach mirrors successful mobility projects carried out across Europe, such as those by the Slovenian Automobile Club (AMZS), reinforcing the role of FIA mobility clubs as vital bridges between technical innovation and municipal policy. 

Alongside technical assessments, the project will host capacity-building workshops for municipal staff and conclude with a public roundtable to present policy recommendations and share lessons learned across the wider region.