Following tremendous work from the FIA Foundation and the global road safety community over the last 3 years, the UN has agreed to include road safety targets in its post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. The FIA Foundation reports that “A specific stand-alone target in the Health Goal to reduce road traffic fatalities by 50% by 2020 and a target on sustainable urban transport in the Cities Goal have been approved, in a landmark achievement for the global road safety community.”
The SDGs will guide all global development efforts over the next 15 years, designed to ‘stimulate action in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet’. The final wording of the targets, which will be formally adopted by world leaders at a special summit in New York in September 2015, is:
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages:
3.6. By 2020, halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents
In the Health Goal, the stand-alone road safety target is lined up alongside other major priorities including maternal and under-5 mortality, AIDS and universal health coverage. The 2020 SDG target is far more ambitious than the 2020 goal set for the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety to ‘stabilise and reduce’ road deaths.
Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable:
11.2. By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons
EASST congratulates the FIA Foundation and all involved on this vital achievement for road safety and looks forward to continued cooperation in working to reduce global road deaths.
More information on this success can be viewed here: FIA Foundation
