UN Secretary General Backs Road Safety Ministerial

Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, has endorsed the Make Roads Safe campaign’s call for a UN Ministerial Conference on road safety.

Photo courtesy of United Nations

In a report to the UN General Assembly published this week, Ban Ki-Moon encourages UN Member States to “support efforts to hold a ministerial conference on road safety, under the auspices of the United Nations, which would review progress in international road safety, including the implementation of the recommendations contained in the World Report on road traffic injury prevention… ”

In his report, Ban noted that Make Roads Safe had received support from high profile figures such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. He accepted the campaign’s key message - that the international community must now act on road safety. “Despite increased awareness of the issue, there is a pressing need for greater effort and resources to be directed towards the problem,” Ban said in the report.

The Secretary General’s report is intended to provide an update and guidance on global road safety for the current session of the UN General Assembly. In March 2008 the General Assembly is expected to debate a resolution on the ‘global road safety crisis’ calling for a UN Ministerial, jointly proposed by the Russian Federation and the Sultanate of Oman. The Make Roads Safe campaign is organising a global petition to the UN urging support for a first ever global governmental conference on road safety, which has so far attracted support from more than 400,000 people.

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