DECADE OF ACTION FOR ROAD SAFETY 2011-2020
Recognizing the tremendous global burden of fatalities resulting from road crashes, as well as the 20 million people sustaining non—fatal traffic-related injuries each year, on 2nd March, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the period 2011-2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with the goal of stabilizing and eventually reducing the number of deaths and injuries around the world.
By terms of a draft resolution on improving global road safety (A/64/L.44/Rev.1), the Assembly called on Member States to commit to actions in areas such as developing and enforcing legislation on key risk factors: limiting speed, reducing drink-driving, and increasing the use of seatbelts, child restraints and motorcycle helmets. Efforts are also needed to improve emergency trauma care, upgrade road and vehicle safety standards, promote road safety education and enhance road safety management generally.
Also by the text, the Assembly requested the World Health Organization and the United Nations regional commissions, in cooperation with other stakeholders, to prepare a plan of action for the Decade. It invited Member States to set their own national road traffic casualty-reduction targets, to be achieved by the end of the Decade. The Assembly would call for the inclusion of activities that pay attention to the needs of all road users within the plan of action, in particular the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users in low- and middle-income countries.
This initiative comes on the heels of the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, hosted by the Government of the Russian Federation in November 2009, which led to the "Moscow Declaration" issued by ministers and senior officials from 150 countries and where the European Center for Injury Prevention (ECIP) represented the Spanish Ministry of Health.
ECIP welcomes this proclamation and tries to contribute with its work to reduce the burden imposed by traffic-related deaths and injuries to societies world-wide. The Center also joined the global launch of this initiative on 11 May by hosting several activities.
update of events and activities related to the Decade.