The world is coming together to end the scourge of road crash deaths and injuries, and to embrace a new vision for mobility that promises a wealth of benefits for everyone, everywhere.
Right in front of us but so often overlooked, road crashes kill more than 1.3 million people every year – more than two every minute – with nine in ten deaths occurring in low and middle-income countries. Road traffic crashes remain the leading cause of death for children and youth aged 5-29 worldwide.
Yet with a renewed determination to end these preventable tragedies, in 2020 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to proclaim the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030, with a goal of halving road crash deaths and injuries globally by 2030.
WHO and partners then developed a Global Plan to meet this crucial target, calling for a fundamental shift in how we approach mobility that puts safety first, adopts a wholistic approach to our mobility systems and ensures that all stakeholders meet their responsibilities. Aimed at senior policy makers, it offers a blueprint to create national and local road safety plans and targets.
In a first-of-its-kind global summit in Sweden this week, Heads of National Road Safety Agencies from nearly 100 countries are coming together to advance their road safety strategies, and share knowledge and experience to aid each other in reducing road crash deaths and injuries.
It is crucial that we seize the moment of this landmark gathering and turn global momentum into real-life advances on the ground. In this respect, we must:
- Develop clear, measurable targets to reduce deaths and injuries, especially for the most vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
