Safe Roads for All: a post-2015 agenda for health and development
St. Petersburg, Russia- 7 May 2013
The Commission for Global Road Safety marked the start of United Nations Global Road Safety Week by launching the Make Roads Safe Report at the High Level Policy Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Russian Federation has been playing a leading role in advancing global action on road safety and was instrumental in the adoption of United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.
The Make Roads Safe Report “Safe Roads for All: a post-2015 agenda for health and development” calls for road traffic injury prevention to be included in the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, the mainstream of international efforts to improve global health, combat climate change and tackle inequality and poverty. The report also recommends road safety to be recognised and included in the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals framework. This should include a specific global fatality reduction goal of 50% by 2030, as measured from the 2007-2010 baseline data provided by World Health Organization’s Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013.
In addition to the report, ‘The Long Short Walk’, a new worldwide social media campaign, was launched by the Commision on May 7. Around the world, groups and members of the public are taking part in walk events, sharing their photos and videos calling for road safety to be included in the post-2015 agenda. The Long Short Walk is being led by the Make Roads Safe campaign together with the family of Nelson Mandela, whose great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela was killed in a road crash during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Globally road injury is number one cause of death for young people aged 15-29 and the second biggest killer of men aged 30-40 after HIV/AIDS.The global health and development burdens imposed by road traffic injury are now widely documented. The solutions are proven, measurable and readily available. Now, in the post-2015 debate, we have an unprecedented opportunity to build a wide and strong coalition committed to working together to make roads safe for all. As stated in Zenani’s mother Zoleka Mandela’s words, “The solutions are right in front of us, but our governments urgently need help and support from the international community in order to respond to this crisis. We must make sure we include road safety in the post-2015 agenda – for the sake of all our children, for our world and the future we want”.
Source: http://www.makeroadssafe.org/news/2013/Pages/MakeRoadsSafereportcombatroadtrafficinjury