More than 200 people representing 20 countries gathered in Singapore for the Global Road Safety Partnership's 7th Annual Asia Road Safety Seminar, a three-day event that brought government officials, road safety experts and international businesses together to respond to the growing road safety crisis in low- and middle-income countries.
Entitled "Toward a Decade of Action," the seminar examined how Asia could contribute to the proposed Decade of Action for Road Safety. With its large population, growing economy, and rapid increase in motorization, Asia has the highest proportion of road deaths in the world.
Hosted by the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) - along with the Singapore's Land Transport Authority, National Safety Council and Traffic Police - the seminar encouraged participants to engage governments, NGOs and businesses in the proposed Decade of Action and to bring support for road safety to a higher level.
"The theme of seminar, 'Toward a Decade of Action' is both appropriate and timely as it highlights the importance of sustained action as well as the value of continuous, collective action from various sectors to reduce death and injuries," said Choi Shing Kwok, permanent secretary of Singapore's Ministry of Transport during his keynote address.
“If we are to reach Decade of Action goals of dramatically reducing road crashes in low- and middle-income countries, all sectors of society must do much more”, GRSP Asia Regional Director Rob Klein told the gathering. We have a disaster of huge proportions in developing countries around the world - and in this part of the world, it's greater than in any other," he said. "So we're going to have to increase our efforts in terms of the number of people involved, investment and funding, as well as the depth, scope and effectiveness of the programmes."
"Road safety is such an important issue but unfortunately it has been ignored for such a long time," said Datuk Suret Singh, director general of the Road Safety Department of Malaysia. "Three percent of the world's gross domestic project is being lost due to accident fatalities and injuries but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Road crashes cause an unquantifiable amount of pain and suffering. An accident happens in a mere three seconds. But it leaves lifetime of permanent scars and permanent damage - and most of that loss can never be quantified."
Saul Billingsley, deputy director of the FIA Foundation, outlined the progress of the Make Roads Safe campaign’s Call for a Decade of Action for Road Safety and urged seminar participants to support the Decade of Action by attending or ensuring their government’s participation in the first ever global ministerial meeting on road safety in Moscow, November 19-20. At that meeting, health and transport ministers will be asked to support a global decade of action on road safety, as the first step to securing UN approval.