Call for a Decade of Action for Road Safety
2010-2020
Presentation by David Ward
Director General of the FIA Foundation
UN Road Safety Collaboration, Geneva, November 17th 2008
World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention
Published by the WHO & World Bank in 2004 the
report warns that 1.2 million deaths and 50 million
injuries occur annually on the road, and will more
than double by 2020. The report also...
• Shows that low and middle income countries account for
more than 80% of global deaths from road traffic crashes.
• Identifies key injury risk factors (non use of seat belts, helmets,
excessive speed, drink driving, and poor road infrastructure);
• Calls for greater international effort to reverse trend of rising RTIs;
• Recommends national prevention strategies based on a ‘lead agency’
responsible for developing a multi-sectoral ‘safe systems’ approach.
The ‘Safety Systems’ Approach
Three components in a dynamic
system:
• The road user
• The motor vehicle
• The road infrastructure
Rather than ‘blaming the victim’ for causing crashes, the risk of human error
is anticipated and ‘tolerated’ by a ‘forgiving’ system that has been designed to
ensure that the consequences of human error are non fatal as far as possible.
The design challenge is to manage loss of control of kinetic energy within
tolerances survivable by the human body.
Twelve Leading Causes of Mortality, 2002
Rank Deaths
Cause
Proportion of total (%)
1
Ischaemic heart disease
12.6
2
Cerebrovascular disease
9.7
3
Lower respiratory infections
6.9
4
HIV/AIDS
4.8
5
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
4.8
6
Perinatal conditions
4.3
7
Diarrhoeal diseases
3.3
8
Tuberculosis
2.7
9
Trachea, bronchus, lung cancers
2.2
10
Road traffic injuries
2.1
11
Diabetes mellitus
1.7
12
Malaria
1.6
International Action on Malaria
• Abuja Action Plan 2000
• UN Decade to Roll Back Malaria 2001-2010
• Global Fund launched by G8 and
US $2.8 billion funding approved to date.
• UN Special Envoy for Malaria
DALYS in Developing Countries (Children Age 5-14)
Make Roads Safe Report
Key Recommendations:
• A $300 million, 10 year Action Plan to
promote multi-sector national road safety
capacity building in low and middle income
countries should be funded by donor governments and private sources
and managed by the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility;
• At a minimum 10% of all road infrastructure projects should be committed
to road safety design, rating and assessment and community wide initiatives;
• A Ministerial Conference on Global Road Safety should be held in 2008 to
review implementation of the World Report recommendations;
Global Advocacy Effort
Copies of the Make Roads Safe report and follow up
dialogue and meetings have targeted the following:
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Leaders of the G8 major industrialised nations
Multilateral Lending Banks
Bilateral donors
Regional intergovernmental bodies (APEC, EU etc)
UN agencies and regional commissions
Transport Ministers
Road Safety and development NGOs etc.
To support these efforts the Commission has prepared
summary reports, presentations and film materials.
Russian Federation Offers to Host UN
Ministerial
In 2006 Lord Robertson visited Moscow to attend the
AGM of the Global Road Safety Partnership and meet
with Vice Premier Alexander Zhukov.
Following further discussions with General Viktor
Kyrianov and HE Ambassador Yuri Fedotov in
September 2007 the Russian Federation offers to
host the proposed UN Ministerial in Moscow in
November 2009.
Launch of Global Petition
The Make Roads Safe campaign is launched to obtain
over 1 million signatures to be presented to the
UN Secretary General in 2008. The petition campaign is
launched by Michael Schumacher during the first UN
Global Road Safety Week in April 2007.
Campaign events are held in London, Geneva, Berlin, Cape
Town, Paris, St Petersburg, Kampala, and New York.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu is joined by President Oscar Arias,
and former President Jimmy Carter as three Nobel prize
winners backing the campaign. Other supporters include the
former Irish President Mary Robinson, Tony Blair, musicians,
Sports stars and the film actress Michelle Yeoh.
Petition Target Reached
The target to reach one million signatures
is reached with major contributions from
Clubs especially Austria, Costa Rica, Croatia,
Egypt, Italy, India, Japan, Serbia, Jamaica
and the Philippines.
More than 140 organisations worldwide
have supported the campaign.
In March Lord Robertson presents the UN
Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, with
the petition.
General Assembly Approves UN Ministerial
In March the UN General Assembly debates road
safety and Lord Robertson, Ambassador Al Hinai,
Karla Gonzalez, and General Kyrianov all contribute.
Resolution 62/244 drafted by the Sultanate of Oman
is unanimously approved which welcomes the offer
by the Russian Federation to host the “first high level
(ministerial) conference on road safety”.
An open letter from Archbishop Tutu, President Oscar
Arias, Jimmy Carter and others is published and a post
debate briefing held including the campaign’s global
Ambassador Michelle Yeoh.
London Road Infrastructure Safety
Conference at the EBRD
In July the Commission co-hosted with the EBRD a
major conference on road infrastructure safety. The
meeting brought together the major lending banks,
UN regional commissions etc. to discuss the potential
of road design to contribute to injury prevention.
The World Bank Global Road Safety Facility also hosted
a meeting of the development banks to explore the
scope of harmonizing their approach to the design and
safety assessment of road projects that they finance.
IRAP also launched their ‘Vaccines for Roads’ report.
iRAP – Vaccines for Roads
iRAP pilot projects in four countries
show positive cost benefit ratios from
Implementation of proposed counter
measures.
OECD – International Transport Forum
‘Towards Zero – Ambitious Road Safety
Targets & the Safe System Approach
Key Recommendations:
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Adopt a highly ambitious vision for road safety
Set interim targets to move systematically towards the vision
Develop a safe system approach
Exploit proven interventions for early gains
Conduct data collection and analysis
Strengthen the road safety management system
Accelerate knowledge transfer
Invest in road safety
Foster commitment at highest levels of government
St Petersburg September 2008
Meeting of the Commission for Global
Road Safety
Key Objectives:
• Review the Commission’s original recommendations
• Prepare an update to the original Make Roads Safe report
• Provide a renewed set of recommendations for consideration by the
forthcoming UN Ministerial in Moscow in November 2009
First Report - Impact Assessment
Recommendation One – Action Plan
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Rating: 20%
Recommendation Two – 10% Road Safety
Investment in Road Projects
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Rating: 60%
Recommendation Three – UN Ministerial
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Rating 100%
Agenda for Moscow
Make 2010-2020 A Decade of
Action for Road Safety
• Support an action plan of $300 million to invest in capacity building in
road injury prevention...
• Invest in safer roads by committing at least 10% of project finance to safe
road assessment and design.
• Agree a global target to reduce road fatalities by 50% from their forecast
level for 2020.
Next Steps
• Launch of follow up Make Roads Safe report at a major Conference in
Rome on 5th May 2009 linked to the Italian Presidency of the G8
• Launch also in Rome the Make Roads Safe documentary film with
Michelle Yeoh which features visits to Asia, Africa and Latin America
and will highlight the key messages of the Commission’s reports.
• Focus the Make Roads Safe campaign on the theme of a decade of
action to achieve a 50% reduction in forecast fatalities by 2020.
Thank You !