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Governments reach consensus on a comprehensive set of global road safety targets to measure performance
November 29, 2017 | Categories: CARSP News, News
Last Updated on November 29, 2017
21 November 2017, Geneva - In an historic move, Member States have concluded work on a comprehensive set of global road safety targets to measure progress on addressing key risk factors and service delivery mechanisms. At the meeting Member States were represented by senior government officials from capital cities and Geneva-based diplomatic missions, from a broad range of sectors, including health, transport, interior and police, among others. The meeting was chaired by Dr Viroj Tangcharoensathien of Thailand.
Road traffic injuries are the tenth leading cause of death globally, responsible for around 1.3 million deaths each year and as many as 50 million injuries. To accelerate action to reduce this burden, the UN General Assembly declared a Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. Recognizing the obstacle that road traffic injuries present to development efforts, Member States also included two specific targets on road safety (SDG 3.6 and SDG 11.2) in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. SDG target 3.6 seeks to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2020 and SDG target 11.2 aims to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport by 2030. The performance targets they reached consensus on align with the five pillars of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020: road safety management, safer roads and mobility, safer vehicles, safer road users, and post-crash response. The performance targets are:
In his statement to the meeting, WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted "By making roads and vehicles safer, and by improving the behaviour of road users, we can prevent road traffic crashes from happening in the first place. By pursuing universal health coverage, we can ensure that victims receive good quality care, when and where they need it. This applies not only for trauma care, but also for mental health and rehabilitation services. Together these measures don't just save lives; they also make economic sense." Countries that have managed to improve road safety have shown that doing so is aided by setting targets and reporting on progress towards those targets based on agreed indicators. Targets and associated indicators provide a means to monitor the extent of progress, and provide an opportunity to adjust the focus and scale of national road safety activities as needed in order to ensure that targets are met. In the coming months, WHO will work with Member States and other UN agencies to develop a set of indicators to facilitate measurement of the new targets. Member States requested WHO to facilitate this process through the "Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety" and through resolutions of the UN General Assembly and World Health Assembly. |
RELATED LINKS
Developing global targets for road safety risk factors and service delivery mechanisms Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety May 2016 UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/70/260 May 2016 World Health Assembly resolution WHA69.7
Decade Secretariat |