Shakireh Ispahani, regional coordinator of the Make Roads Safe campaign
Many leading road safety and development organisations have united to call for a Decade of Action for Road Safety to mark Bangladesh's National Road Safety Day.
A colourful procession through the Bangladeshi capital Dhakar called for the United Nations to declare 2010-20 a Decade of Action for Road Safety. Carrying banners and placards, hundreds of road safety activists joined the march, which started in Kakrail and ended at Muktangan.
Nirapad Sarak Chai (We demand safe roads), a road safety advocacy group, organised the procession in association with the Make Roads Safe campaign. BRAC, the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Safety Assistance For Emergencies (SAFE), and CIPRB also joined the procession.
Inaugurating the procession, Bangladesh's Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain stressed the need for a holistic approach towards road safety. Sustained efforts from everyone are needed to prevent road accidents, he said.
Road traffic injury, the leading killer of young people worldwide, causes thousands of deaths in Bangladesh every year while the economic cost amounts to 2 percent of GDP, speakers at the rally said.
The discussion was held at Natyamancha in the afternoon, with actor Ilyas Kanchan, chief of Nirapad Sarak Chai, in the chair. Dr Syed Mudasser Ali, health adviser to the prime minister, was present as the chief guest.
Shakireh Ispahani, regional coordinator of the Make Roads Safe campaign, told the meeting that road crashes kill 1.3 million people globally -- a figure set to increase to more than 1.9 million by 2020 if no preventive actions are taken.
The participants also signed placards that called for the coming decade to be declared as the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.