Parliamentarians worldwide are being urged to support action to meet the United Nations’ (UN) target to halve road deaths by the end of the decade. With 3500 people killed every day in traffic crashes the Manifesto #4RoadSafety issued by the Global Network for Road Safety Legislators highlights the measures that can help prevent this tragic waste of human life on the world’s roads.
Released today in London as part of the 2017 UN Global Road Safety Week, the Manifesto #4RoadSafety has been adopted by a cross-party group of senior Members of Parliament from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, the United States and the United Kingdom – including three MPs from the EASST region. The MPs warn that on present trends it is unlikely that the UN’s aim to halve road deaths by 2020 will be reached.
The Manifesto #4RoadSafety includes ten key recommendations to encourage parliamentarians to support the current United Nation’s Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-2020). Two of these recommendations highlight EASST’s work. Recommendation 5, Road Safety at Work, nods to our EASST Academy Road Safety at Work Online course as an example of how to build and implement effective occupational road safety strategies. While recommendation six, Good Governance and Road Safety, cites our police reform work in Moldova with the Automobile Club of Moldova as an example of good practice.
The Manifesto also endorses the new ‘SAVE LIVES’ package of road injury prevention measures issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The SAVE LIVES package recommends adoption by all UN Member States of laws to tackle speeding, drink driving, non-use of motorcycle helmets, seat belts and child restraints, and the application of acceptable vehicle and road safety construction standards. The Manifesto #4RoadSafety also includes recommendations on speed management and the Safe System approach, occupational road safety, good governance and funding for road injury prevention, the role of the multilateral development banks, and proposes a new UN target for road safety in 2030.
Commenting on the manifesto the Chairman of the Global Network for Road Safety Legislators, Barry Sheerman said: “With a UN target to halve road deaths by 2020 there has never been a stronger mandate for all countries to take action to stop the appalling daily carnage on our roads. Despite rising motorisation, better national road safety policies have helped to slow the rise in global road fatalities. To meet the UN target much more needs to be done and parliamentarians worldwide can play a decisive role by supporting our manifesto and the adoption and enforcement of laws that will make roads safe”.
