“Governments in all countries must combat the world’s fastest growing public health emergency by committing to a road safety ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety’’ which would save 5 million lives and prevent 50 million serious injuries,” says a report by the Commission for Global Road Safety.
“Governments in all countries must combat the world’s fastest growing public health emergency by committing to a road safety ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety’’ which would save 5 million lives and prevent 50 million serious injuries,” says a report by the Commission for Global Road Safety.
A coordinated UN action plan for road safety is urgently needed with road crashes set to become the leading cause of disability and premature death for children aged 5 to 14 in developing countries by 2015.
Actor Michelle Yeoh, who is also a Make Roads Safe campaign ambassador, joined ministers from developing countries, senior UN and World Bank figures, and celebrities including Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa, at the launch in Rome to highlight the hidden epidemic of road traffic injuries and to urge UN action on road safety.
The Make Roads Safe report, endorsed by the world’s leading road safety experts, urges UN governments attending the first ever global governmental conference on road safety in Moscow in November, to support the campaign between 2010-2020.
In so doing, the international community should invest in a $300 million action plan to catalyse traffic injury prevention and re-focus national road safety policies and budgets.
Road crashes already kill more people in the developing world than malaria, at an economic cost of up to $100 billion a year, equivalent to all overseas aid from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.
More than one million people are killed on the roads of developing countries every year, and tens of millions are injured, a toll set to double by 2030.
Massa said: “We must do more to tackle road traffic injuries, the biggest killer of young people around the world. By promoting seat belt and helmet use, enforcing drink driving and speeding, and improving road and vehicle design we can really make a difference.”
Following the report launch, Michelle Yeoh introduced a special screening of her documentary film Turning Point which is the result of a year spent travelling around the world discovering the extent of the road safety epidemic. The film was also broadcast by the BBC.
