UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has encouraged member governments to “support efforts to establish a decade of action” in a report on global road safety to the UN General Assembly.
In his official report to the forthcoming 66th Session of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon warns that road traffic injuries “continue to threaten health and development gains around the world, with devastating impacts on individuals, families, communities and society.” He points out that in some world regions, road crashes are already the leading cause of death for the most economically productive age group between 15 and 44 years of age, yet “levels of funding for road safety are still not commensurate with the scale of the problem”.
The UN Secretary General notes the high level support for the proposed Decade of Action, including Heads of State on three continents, as well as public figures such as Bill Clinton and Desmond Tutu. His report also notes that the road safety documentary ‘Turning Point’, made by Make Roads Safe campaign ambassador Michelle Yeoh, was broadcast worldwide by the BBC. Michelle Yeoh, and campaign chairman Lord Robertson, met with Ban Ki Moon in March 2008 to brief him on global road safety and to deliver a campaign petition of a million names then calling for a first ministerial conference on road safety.
Urging that “an ambitious road safety vision is needed globally, regionally and within countries”, the Secretary General goes on to make several recommendations to the UN General Assembly, including;
- member states should participate in the global ministerial conference on road safety, to be held in Moscow on 19 and 20 November 2009, and support efforts to establish a decade of action for road safety for the 10 years leading to 2020, with a commitment to halt and begin to reverse the current trend towards an increase in the number of road traffic deaths;
- the international development and road safety communities should support road safety projects, particularly in low and middle income countries;
- development banks and funding agencies should include road safety components in their funding for road infrastructure projects and require compulsory road safety audits, inspections and safety ratings to be undertaken at key stages in the planning and design of all aid-funded road projects;
In his report, Ban Ki Moon also encourages member states to pay attention to building lead agency capacity and to addressing risk factors such as inappropriate and excessive speed, drink and driving, the non-use of seat belts and child restraints and the non use of helmets, and to improve vehicle safety standards and infrastructure safety. He also acknowledges “the importance of the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility as a means to increase the resources needed to address road safety in low and middle income countries”.
The UN Secretary General concludes that “road traffic injuries threaten to hinder achievements in human and economic development”.
Read the UN Secretary General's report on the Global Road Safety Crisis 2009 >