The IDB has announced it is joining The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative (GHVI) to promote motorcycle helmet use across the Region
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has launched an action plan to improve road safety in Latin America and the Caribbean with the aim of supporting countries’ efforts to reduce the number of serious road injuries by half during the Decade of Action.
FIA Foundation Chairman Carlos Macaya and Director General David Ward joined IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno at the action plan launch, held during the Bank’s annual meeting in Cancun, Mexico.
Road fatalities in Latin America and the Caribbean are almost double the world average, at 17 deaths per 100,000 population. If current trends continue, fatalities could rise to 31 per 100,000 by 2020. Road crashes are the leading cause of death among 15- to 29-year-olds in the region, and the second leading cause of death for those aged 5 to 14. Pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcycle riders account for more than half of road fatalities. Latin American countries may lose between 1 percent and 2 percent of their annual gross domestic product because of the injuries and deaths caused by road crashes.
Under its action plan, the IDB aims to assist countries develop and upgrade plans to improve road safety conditions and reduce mortality rates and work with governments and other public and private partners to mobilize resources for road safety initiatives. The plan also calls for the inclusion of road safety features in Bank-financed infrastructure and transportation projects as well other projects that are not financed by the IDB.
The FIA Foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the IDB to promote road safety in Latin America and the Caribbean. In their first project together, the IDB and FIA Foundation will develop a crash test programme to provide a realistic and independent assessment of the safety performance of some of the most popular cars sold in the region, similar to Euro NCAP in Europe. The IDB has also signed an agreement with the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) to foster road safety evaluations of the main roads in the Region. In addition, the IDB has announced it is joining The Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative (GHVI) to promote motorcycle helmet use across the Region. IDB will work jointly with GHVI on a pilot project to encourage policy changes and investment decisions that can lead to increased and sustainable motorcycle helmet use in several countries in Latin America.
With the action plan, the IDB is following up on commitments made during the first Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, held last November in Moscow, and during the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting. The Bank has committed to work with other multilateral organizations to improve road safety conditions around the world, and a senior IDB representative recently attended a road safety working group meeting of multilateral development banks held at the FIA Foundation in London.
IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno said:
“This is a preventable human tragedy that takes a huge economic toll on Latin America. What we need today are coordinated policies and programs that involve all the key stakeholders: governments, investors, regulators, educators and citizens who want safer streets.”
FIA Foundation Chairman Carlos Macaya said:
“Vehicle use is growing rapidly across Latin America and the Caribbean, and road deaths and injuries are also rising. So the next decade will be critical: can we put in place the safe systems – the management capacity, the improvements in road design, the changes in road user behaviour and the safe vehicles - that will mitigate the impact of this motorisation? I am an optimist, and believe that we can. I am also a realist, and know that we can’t achieve this without the wholehearted engagement of the IDB. I hope that over the coming Decade of Action we will see road safety becoming a central and sustained element of the IDB’s project management processes and investment strategies”.