First ‘Global Road Safety Summit’ Begins

Road accidents one of the biggest killers of teenagers in the developing world, according to the UN

This shocking statistic underlines the importance this week of the first Global Ministerial Summit on Road Safety, organised by the UN. The summit, held in Moscow, will be attended by Ministerial representatives from 70 governments around the world, as politicians across the globe seek new ways to reduce the estimated 1.3 million annual death toll from road accidents.

The vast majority (around 90 percent) of these deaths are in developing countries. These countries traditionally tend to lag behind when it comes to implementing improvements to the safety of their road networks and when it comes to promoting safer driving attitudes. From an economic standpoint, the cost of dealing with fatal road accidents hits developing nations particularly hard, with some African countries losing up to 5% of their GNP (Gross National Product) each year as a result of the impact of road accidents.

Young people in developing countries are at a particularly high risk of being killed and injured in a road accident, such as when they are walking to or from school. Among children and young people aged between 5 and 29 years, road traffic injuries are the second-leading cause of death worldwide. Only HIV/AIDS kills more young people in this age range each year.

Decade of action

Representatives attending the summit from the various governments are being asked to agree to plans for a “Decade of Action” to cut road deaths by 50% between 2010 and 2020. This 50% cut is based on a projection that if nothing is done to improve road safety around the world, road deaths could top 2 million by the end of next decade. The UN summit says that it is aiming to save 5 million lives and to prevent 50 million serious injuries caused by road accidents during this time.

Developed countries such as the UK are being asked to pledge sums of money to be spent on improving road safety in less developed countries, particularly in South Asia and Africa. As well as outside assistance, the summit will also call on individual countries to make changes to the way they spend their transport budgets, so that more is spent on safety projects and on enforcing motoring laws.