This Commission was established in 2006 with the primary objective of advocating for greater international attention, commitment and support for road injury prevention. Road traffic injuries represent nothing less than a public health crisis for developing countries, a global epidemic which is forecast to worsen significantly over the next decade, unless preventative action is taken.
Global road safety has barely featured on the international political agenda, yet it is a vital missing piece of the sustainable development jigsaw. Dangerous roads have an impact on every other development objective, be it improving health and education, or growing economies and trade, not least through the immense economic and social costs of road crashes.
The Commission for Global Road Safety has made some significant progress: proposing and securing the UN’s support for the first ever global ministerial conference on road safety, which was held in Moscow in November 2009; proposing and securing the ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020’, which was proclaimed by the United Nations in March 2010 and is officially launched on 11 May 2011; holding the Multilateral Development Banks and other donor institutions to account and encouraging them to make road safety a policy priority in their transport lending programmes.
As we enter this Decade of Action, the Commission for Global Road Safety will continue to make the case for political and financial investment in road safety. And the case is compelling. Road crashes are the leading global cause of death for young people, and the impact is felt hardest by low income working families often struggling to stay above the poverty line in developing countries. By 2015 – the target year for the Millennium Development Goals – road crashes are predicted to be the leading burden of disease for children aged 5 and over in developing countries.
The international community can help to prevent this terrible epidemic. And, as we begin the Decade of Action, now is the time.
Rt. Hon. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen KT. GCMG