Agrees San Jose Declaration and launches region wide road safety initiative
Leaders from 21 Latin American and Caribbean countries met in Costa Rica, September 12-14 to agree a regional initiative to tackle road traffic injuries that claim the lives of over 122,000 lives each year. Key participants at the Forum in San Jose, sponsored by the FIA Foundation, were the President of Costa Rica and Nobel-prize winner Oscar Arias, the Minister of Transport, Karla Gonzalez, and His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent.
The Latin American and Caribbean Road Safety Stakeholder’s Forum, attended by 185 delegates adopted the Declaration of San Jose which calls on all nations in the region to implement the recommendations of the WHO/World Bank ‘World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention’ and agreed to establish a regional organization that will help to promote good practice and collaborative efforts in support of national road safety action plans. (See Background Paper attached). Key regional actors including the UN Economic Commission for Central and Latin America, the Pan American Health Organisation, the Inter-American Development Bank and civil society groups such as member motoring clubs of the FIA pledged to support the aims of the Declaration.
President Arias, in an article published in the Washington Post timed to coincide with the San Jose meeting, pledged his support for the main recommendations of the Commission for Global Road Safety’s Make Roads Safe report. (See article attached). “We the people of this region have the same right to safety as those in other parts of the world. I am committed to promoting road safety because I know it will benefit Costa Rica and every other country in our region”, explained President Arias.
In a special message to the San Jose Forum, Luis Moreno, President of the Inter-American Development Bank, also offered his support. “We must not miss this chance to develop a plan of common actions and priorities and to set concrete targets for reducing the number of people killed and injured in traffic crashes. We must act promptly to have a quick and visible impact in both the short- and long-term.”
During the Forum in San Jose HRH Prince Michael of Kent personally presented the prestigious Prince Michael International Roads Safety Award to Costa Rica’s Minister of Transport, Karla Gonzalez and the President of the Automobile Club of Costa Rica, Mr Carlos Macaya. The award recognises the successful ‘Por Amore’ (For Love, Wear Your Seatbelt) campaign that took place in Costa Rica between 2003 and 2004. The campaign, supported by the FIA Foundation, was combined with a new seatbelt law and strong police enforcement and increased usage from 24 percent to 82 percent, causing fatality rates to drop. Prince Michael told the delegates that the campaign “is one which should be replicated all over the world”.
The San Jose Forum coincided also with the FIA American Congress bringing together motoring organizations from across South, Central and North America. At the Congress, the FIA Foundation Director General David Ward made a presentation of the report of the Commission for Global Road Safety and delegates pledged their support to the Make Roads Safe campaign.
Click here to download HRH Prince Michael of Kent's speech from the forum >