The United Nations should set ambitious targets for reducing global road deaths if an immense human disaster is to be avoided, warns the Commission for Global Road Safety.
Road fatalities are set to double over the next twenty years, overtaking Malaria and Tuberculosis as a leading cause of death, unless urgent action is taken now to improve road safety in rapidly motorizing countries. Already 1.3 million people are killed on the world’s roads each year, a toll set to increase to 2.1 million by 2030 according to World Health Organization predictions.
The international community must commit to a ten year action plan with tough regional targets for injury reduction to prevent these terrible forecasts from being realised, the Commission warns today.
Members of the Commission for Global Road Safety, led by former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson, today reviewed progress in tackling the global road death epidemic at a meeting in St Petersburg.
Hosted by the Russian Government, the Commission’s meeting also planned the next phase of its global ‘Make Roads Safe’ campaign in advance of the first UN Ministerial Conference on Global Road Safety, to be held in Moscow in November 2009.
The Commission for Global Road Safety agreed to urge UN member governments to set and achieve tough targets for reducing road fatalities and injuries by 2020 when they meet at the 2009 Ministerial.
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the Commission’s chairman, said:
“Road deaths are a growing epidemic, requiring a rapidly escalated response. The United Nations has decided that this problem is serious enough to warrant a UN Conference bringing together governments from across the world. Today the Commission for Global Road Safety is calling on ministers, when they meet in Moscow next year, to agree an ambitious ten year vision for road safety, with the political and financial commitment to deliver action and save lives.”
Michael Schumacher, member of the Commission for Global Road Safety, said:
“Every thirty seconds someone is killed on the world’s roads. We can act now to prevent this or we can wait a few years until someone is being killed every fifteen seconds. This is the choice.”
General Victor Kiryanov, Head of the Road Safety Inspectorate of the Russian Federation said:
“Next year in Moscow, the UN Ministerial Conference will have the chance to make important progress on road safety. This is a global problem and we will be taking the next big steps forward to find the solution.”
Michelle Yeoh, Global Ambassador for the Make Roads Safe campaign, said:
“Children and young people are most affected by this epidemic. I have met mothers trying to protect their children who would love for their voices to be heard by policymakers. They are fighting for basic human rights, the right to be safe on the roads.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
- Led by Rt. Hon. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the Commission for Global Road Safety was established to examine the framework for, and level of, international cooperation on road safety, and to make policy recommendations. The Commission published its first report in 2006 and its Make Roads Safe campaign has been active in dozens of countries. One of the Commission’s key recommendations, for a UN Conference on global road safety, was approved by the UN General Assembly in March this year. The members of the Commission have been chosen for their particular knowledge and expertise in road safety and related issues. One Commissioner serves from each of the G8 countries and one from each of the world regions.
For more information contact the Make Roads Safe media team:
Avi Silverman, FIA Foundation on 00 44 7967 229374 or 0044 207 747 5181
Saul Billingsley, FIA Foundation on 00 44 207 747 5180 or 00 44 780 398 7250