Decade of Action for Road Safety

A new publication from the World Road Association will help boost road safety worldwide. The PIARC/World Road Association Road Safety Manual is authored by ARRB and was unveiled at the recent World Road Congress held in South Korea. This second edition of the Road Safety Manual is the outcome of a project undertaken by the World Road Association (PIARC) as a contribution to the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety. It is intended to help all countries building capacity for managing road safety. A

The UN has set a global benchmark for reducing traffic fatalities on the world’s road network. Data shows that every year, almost 1.3 million people are killed in road crashes around the globe, according to information gathered by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In a bid to tackle this major problem, world leaders recently vowed to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents by 2020. This target was agreed at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York.

The latest information from IRTAD, the permanent working group on road safety at the International Transport Forum, shows that road deaths are falling in many countries worldwide. There were 42% fewer road deaths in IRTAD countries since 2000. However, strong disparities exist between countries, according to IRTAD’s latest data. In all 70 organisations from 39 countries are members of IRTAD. The 2014 provisional data show that 15 of the IRTAD member countries for which figures are available managed to red

Senior highway policymakers across Asia have been invited by Indonesian Minister of Public Works H.E. Djoko Kirmanto to send delegates to the “1st IRF Asia Regional Congress & Exhibition” which take place in Bali from November 17 to 19, 2014. Three plenary sessions will be reserved for contributions from country delegations, say the organisers. These are: The Asian Highway Network: an Agenda for Shared Regional Prosperity; The UN Decade of Action for Road Safety: and An Asia Progress Report. IRF will also

Plans are in hand for a road safety event to be held in the Mexican city of Cancun. The IV Ibero-American Congress of Traffic Safety (CISEV) meeting will be held from September 30th to October 2nd in Cancun (Mexico) under the theme Progress in the Decade of Action for Road Safety Decade. Together we can save lives. The CISEV was established in 2008 with the aim of becoming Latin America’s key event for providing effective solutions to improve traffic safety. The attendance figures and the technical contribu

The Latin America and Caribbean Region suffers from a high number of crashes on rural roads and also in the urban areas. Road crashes are now one of the leading causes of death in the region, especially for those aged 5-44. There are around 100,000 reported road fatalities/year in Latin America and the Caribbean while over 5 million/year are injured. Data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that the death and serious injury rates are 10-20 times higher than in other industrialised regions, highli

A three-year programme has been agreed intended to improve the collection and use of traffic crash data. This landmark agreement forms part of the joint effort for UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety. The partnership which will focus on the improvement of road safety data and its analysis was agreed between the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the International Transport Forum (ITF). FIA President Jean Todt signed the agreement together with the ITF Secretary-General José Viegas at an

At a time when road safety is posing a significant threat to both human health and economic development around the world, it is worth noting that in many developed nations the situation is improving. The United Nations has identified road safety as a major problem and established its Decade of Action for Road Safety for the 2010-2020 period, in a bid to cut the growing death toll. But while developing nations are seeing a vast growth in vehicle numbers and road fatalities, the improving road safety situ

A new partnership between Jamaica and the UK is intended to reduce road deaths in the Caribbean country. This novel agreement on improving road safety forms part of international twinning programme. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD are joining forces for this twinning initiative. Under the programme Jamaica and the UK will promote the implementation of best practices in road safety data collection. The goal of the twinning is to help Jamaica a

A new study is calling for a more standardised approach for estimating the benefits of road safety initiatives. The aim of this is to save lives through the use of better road safety indicators. There is a clear need too. Almost 1.3 million people die in road crashes every year, and between 20 and 50 million are injured. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people between 15 and 29 years of age. Road crashes cost countries around 1-3% of their GDP. In the face of these facts, the