At Stockholm road safety summit, UN officials join global call to end ‘scourge’ of preventable deaths
Mikael Ullén
Representatives
and participants from more than 80 countries at the 3rd Global
Ministerial Conference on Road Safety taking place in Stockholm, Sweden.
Road
traffic accidents take some 1.35 million lives every year and cost most
countries three per cent of their gross domestic product, the top UN
health official said on Wednesday as the Third Global Ministerial
Conference On Road Safety kicked off in Stockholm, Sweden.
According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years.
The millions of lives lost every year due to road traffic collisions
is “an outrage”, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“It is an unacceptable price to pay for mobility”.
Moreover, 93 per cent of the world's road fatalities occur in low-
and middle-income countries, even though these nations have
approximately 60 per cent of the world’s vehicles.
“Most road traffic deaths and injuries can be prevented, using tried and tested strategies,” stated the WHO chief.
“This conference is an opportunity for the world to embrace a new
agenda to radically reduce the number of lives lost on our roads and
re-think how we can provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and
sustainable transport systems for all.”
In his opening statement, the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, said
the conference “represents an opportunity to link the road safety
challenge to other sustainability challenges, such as climate change,
health, equality, poverty and human rights”.
Headway on road safety
Many countries have made progress through road safety management and
better legislation around risks – such as speeding, drinking and failing
to use seatbelts, and infrastructure – including safer sidewalks and
dedicated bicycle lanes.
Positive changes depend on strong leadership and political will at
the highest level of government and in close collaboration with civil
society and the private sector.
In collaboration with WHO, Sweden hosted the more than 1,700
participants from some 140 countries at the Conference on Road Safety
where delegates shared successes and lessons learned, while charting
strategic directions for global road safety, and defining ways to
fast-track progress around proven strategies to save lives.
World Bank
Seven-thousand four-hundred shoes, each pair representing one of the road crash victims who die every day.
The Chairman’s conclusions, called the Stockholm Declaration, were
presented by Swedish Infrastructure Minister Tomas Eneroth, and called
for strong political will and international cooperation, along with
partnerships across society.
It also connects road safety to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, laying out recommendations to accelerate action towards halving global road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030.
Previously, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres had said that
saving lives by improving road safety was “one of the many objectives of
the 2030 Agenda”.
UN Road Safety Fund
The Conference also saw the UN Road Safety Fund unveil 10 new
projects that will target key gaps in the road safety systems of 12
countries. With a total budget of nearly $4 million, these projects will
scale the Fund’s geographical and programmatic footprint in the coming
months.
Maring the occasion, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for
Road Safety, Jean Todt said: “When the Fund launched the 2019 Call for
Proposals, the Advisory Board, of which I am a member, had one clear
priority – projects must demonstrate a chain of results leading to
tangible impact on the number of fatalities and injuries on the road. I
am convinced that these selected projects will accelerate progress in
this direction.”
Getting serious about road safety
Meanwhile, Etienne Krug, Director at WHO’s Department of Social
Determinants of Health, in a commentary, painted a haunting picture of a
new mode of transport that while offering speed and comfort, would kill
1.3 million people per year and injure 50 million more. The UN official
explained that half of those killed voluntarily used the system, while
the others just happen to be in the vicinity, at “the wrong place at the
wrong time”.
“No sane government would permit it!”, he stressed.
Noting that the declaration from ministers and stakeholders in
Stockholm would “pave the way for the necessary political will and
additional innovative approaches to drive progress towards halving
global road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030”, he said, “Let’s hope
the right decision is taken now, so that we can move quickly towards a
safe, healthy, and clean transport system for everyone”.
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Saving lives by improving road safety is “one of the many objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, the United Nations chief said in his message for the global day set aside for remembering the victims of traffic accidents.
With some 1.3 million drivers, passengers and
pedestrians dying each year on the world’s roads, the United Nations
took a major step to address this tragedy by launching on Thursday a
trust fund to spur action that could save lives and prevent the loss of
opportunity associated with road accidents.
The Chairman’s conclusions, called the Stockholm Declaration, were
presented by Swedish Infrastructure Minister Tomas Eneroth, and called
for strong political will and international cooperation, along with
partnerships across society.
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