May 11, Launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020
Pamplona, 9th May, 2011. -
May 11 2011 is the official launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. Different activities have been organized worldwide
The calendar of activities on the official global web site for the Decade reflects an impressive number of events - several hundred in more than 70 countries. From New Zealand to Mexico and the Russian Federation to South Africa, governments are committing to take new steps to save lives on their roads. In countries such as Australia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Niger, Nigeria, the Philippines, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan and Viet Nam, governments will host high-profile events and release national plans to improve road safety and services for victims. A number of landmark national monuments will be illuminated with the road safety "tag", the new symbol for the Decade. These include Times Square in New York City; Christ the Redeemer statue and the Castillo de Fiocruz in Rio de Janeiro; Trafalgar Square in London; the Jet d'Eau in Geneva; the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw; the World Trade Centre in Colombo, among others.
The World Health Organization encourages governments, international agencies, civil society organizations and private companies to release their plans for the Decade on this day and to register those events by completing this online form http://www.who.int/roadsafety/decade_of_action/launch/planned_events/en/index.html
Recognising the tremendous global burden of fatalities resulting from road crashes, the European Center for Injury Prevention is a proud partner of the Decade of Action for Road Safety. To celebrate the launch of this initiative, we have planned an open-day session at the University of Navarra on May 11th with the following activities:
a) Poster Exhibition - A poster exhibition with information on the Decade and on ECIP´s activities, located at the Science Library building lobby
b) Open Offices - Our offices will be open for anybody interested in our research or in getting more information on this serious problem
c) Tour - A tour of ECIP´s biomechanics laboratory at 10:00
d) Film - Viewing of “Time for Action” video by the World Bank at 12:00