The United Nations launched a “Decade of Action for Road Safety” on 11 May 2011, aiming to reduce the number of road deaths in the decade up to 2020.
The campaign has been endorsed by the G20 nations and public institutions such as the World Bank and the World Health Organization.
In Britain, The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) also warmly welcomed the Decade of Action.
They said “Over the next 10 years RoSPA will help educate road users, train motorcyclists and drivers, help organisations manage their road risk and work with partners to improve road safety in the UK and around the world.”
Every six seconds, someone is killed or seriously injured on the world’s roads. This equates to 1.3million deaths every year (3,000 each day) and 20-50million serious injuries.
As road deaths continue to increase globally, it is clear that there is a need for concerted efforts to stabilise and then reduce these figures.
The UK has shown this can be achieved. Road deaths in the UK have decreased in the last 20-30 years, something RoSPA attribute to support from local authorities, police, road user groups and charities.
We hope the UN’s Decade of Action can contribute to increased road safety generally and can provide an impetus for the UK to continue it’s improvements over recent years.
See www.decadeofaction.org for more information.
