World Transport Ministers to Tackle Road Safety at First U.N. Conference on Road Safety


NEWS RELEASE

 
World Transport Ministers to Tackle Road Safety at
First U.N. Conference on Road Safety
 
18 November 2009, Brussels – Today Transport Ministers, the European Transport Safety Council and other NGO representatives from over 40 countries will meet at the 1st U.N.
Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Moscow, Russia. The U.N. Conference will be a
historical landmark for countries to join forces in tackling the problems of road safety globally. The WHO predicts that road traffic injuries will rise to become the fifth leading
cause of death by 2030.
Every year 1.2 million people are killed and 20 to 50 million injured in road crashes around the world. In the WHO European Region alone, 120,000 people are killed and 2.4 million injured in road collisions each year. Yet the European Region is home to three countries with the safest roads in the world (Sweden, UK and the Netherlands).
The EU-27 has a lower road mortality (road deaths per population) than the US, but this is not as low as in Australia or Canada.
 
Ministers from across the world including EU Transport Ministers will adopt a Resolution which will call upon Member States to develop action plans and strategies in road safety including ambitious and measurable targets. National crash data systems are also in need of improvement. Countries are encouraged to build capacity of the lead agency for road safety and focus measures on addressing main risk factors including excessive speed, drink driving, non use of seat belts and helmets. Funding is also a top priority and Member States should develop sustainable mechanisms for financing the implementation of national road safety programmes.
 
NGOs launched their own declaration supported by 70 road safety NGOs from across
the world. They proposed policies and measures which should be universally adopted by governments across the globe. They supported the measures of the Ministerial Resolution. They proposed that governments should address road traffic issues as a public health and also a human rights issue. Deaths and serious injuries should be reduced as close to zero as possible by managing the main risks and investing in prevention work. Resources should be allocated for strict enforcement of road traffic law also by adopting global standards for traffic police. Vehicle and Road Assessment Programmes should be adopted universally. Emergency services and the immediate post-crash response should be improved and a global emergency telephone number should be established.
 
ETSC Executive Director in his presentation stressed the need to make rapid progress in adopting safety technologies. These should be prioritised according to their effectiveness in reducing casualties caused by the major risk factors. He welcomed this first ever meeting of Transport Ministers as a sign of renewed political will to act on improving road safety. “The high level of road traffic deaths represents a global health problem. This is clearly recognised today by this first meeting of Transport Ministers from around the world” said Antonio Avenoso, ETSC Executive Director. “The EU has one of the best records on road safety. With this comes a responsibility to ensure that the outcome of this first U.N. meeting strikes a right balance between safety and mobility. Every life lost on a road are a life too many.”
 
For more information please contact ETSC Policy Director Ellen Townsend,
ellen.townsend@etsc.eu, or Communication Manager Evgueni Pogorelov
evgueni.pogorelov@etsc.eu , tel. +32 (0)2 230.41.06
 
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