On 11th May 2011 the United Nations officially launches the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. The 24-hour event gives politicians, celebrities and road safety specialists around the world the opportunity to highlight their plans to tackle the global road safety crisis where 1.3 million people are killed on the world's roads each year and a further 50 million are injured.
The United Nations General Assembly stated that the campaign aimed to "stabilize and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing activities conducted at the national, regional and global levels."
Make Roads Safe Campaign
The idea behind the Decade of Action for Road Safety was first proposed by the Make Roads Safe campaign led by motoring body the FIA Foundation, which lobbied the UN for support.
It is estimated that by 2020 annual worldwide road deaths will rise to 1.9 million and that 90 per cent of casualties occur in developing countries. The campaign argues that beyond the human and economic costs, road crashes can be prevented. Leading road safety experts reckon that sustained, coordinated road safety programmes could reduce the death toll by 50 per cent within the decade.
The call for the Decade of Action was announced by the UN General Assembly in March 2010 and in November 2010 at the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, said: "I call on Member States, international agencies, civil society organisations, businesses and community leaders to ensure that the Decade leads to real improvements." The UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 is endorsed by 100 countries around the world and public institutions like the World Bank and the World Health Organisation.
The UN hopes that safety measures such as enhancing the behaviour of road users, building and maintaining better roads, and car manufacturers' commitment to the safety of vehicles will be taken up and used by governments, international agencies and road safety organisations.
"Our campaign will work to hold governments and institutions to their commitments, to ensure that the Decade is Action," said Lord Robertson, Chairman of Make Roads Safe campaign.
Wear the Tag
A yellow road safety tag has been adopted as the official symbol of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 campaign: "Wear the Tag believe in our collective ability to tackle these appalling road deaths and together let us act to save millions of lives in the Decade of Action," said Lord Robertson. His comments were endorsed by Etienne Krug, Director, Injury Prevention of the World Health Organisation who added: "The Decade of Action will allow many actors to join forces to put into practice the prevention programmes and trauma car services needed to avoid this unnecessary loss."
Sources:
Make Roads Safe, Time For Action, Commission for Global Road Safety, April 2011
Ensuring the Decade is Action, UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, Make Roads Safe, April 2010
Eddie Dyja - I have been working as a freelance editor/writer since 2006. My specialist subject is British film and television having worked at the ...
