Stop Thousands of Road Deaths

Published by Matt Polaine | Filed under Bicycle, Cycling, Cycling infrastructure, Telematics, Uncategorized

credit: The Independent Newspaper, David Ward.

This month Vince Yearley argued that a UN ministerial meeting would do nothing to help promote road safety (”We don’t need talking shops to save kids’ lives”, Independent Motoring, 1 May). In fact there are powerful arguments in favour of UN action on road safety, and that’s why the Make Roads Safe campaign welcomes the support of Tony Blair, Michael Schumacher, Desmond Tutu and other world leaders for a ministerial conference on global road safety.

A UN conference could take practical action to cut the 3,OOO road deaths that happen every day, mostly in middle- and low-income countries. The UN already promotes best-practice road-safety standards on the use of seat belts, helmets and blood alcohol levels, and a conference could encourage developing nations to enforce such rules. It would be a major step forward if these countries also adopted international standards for road traffic injury data collection. Industrialised countries register a fatality as anyone dying within 30 days of a crash, but many developing countries only count deaths at the roadside. As a result these countries fail to develop effective safety strategies. The major donor countries of the G8 and the World Bank are spending about $4bn (£2bn) a year upgrading and building new roads in Africa, Asia and elsewhere, but there is no agreed system for road safety impact assessment.

Some new roads increase the number of deaths, at they tend to permit higher speeds and often do not follow best practice in safe design. Africa has the world’s most dangerous road network and the G8 has agreed to increase investment in road-building there over the next decade. It is urgent, therefore, to make sure they are safe.

Vince Yearley asked if a UN conference would help improve road safety in the UK. The answer is yes. All vehicles on Britain’s roads have to meet over 100 UN vehicle standards. These are developed by the Geneva-based UN World Forum For Harmonisation of Vehicles with the participation of the UK Department for Transport, the European Union and car-producing nations.

On the agenda now is a proposed global standard for Electronic Stability Control (ESC), the most important vehicle-safety device since the seat belt ESC helps stop skidding and, if fitted to all cars in Europe, could prevent 4,000 deaths a year. The US is making ESC mandatory for all new cars by 2012, but so far in Europe there is no similar initiative. The UN, however, could provide a fast track to a global standard for all countries to follow.

Last year the Commission for Global Road Safety published its report Make Roads Safe, which provides a clear agenda of action based on the positive experience of countries like the UK that have managed to reduce road fatalities [but not for children and cyclists per kilometre travelled - SDR].

“The UN pledged in 2000 to eradicate poverty and Aids, but not crashes, which kill a similar number.”

Vince Yearley is right that more needs to be done here, but that does not justify his claim that a UN meeting would be a waste of time. His article could also mislead readers into thinking that the IAM, a UK-based road safety organisation, did not value international work. In fact the IAM fully supports the UN initiative. Road crashes are already the number-one killer of young people aged between 10 and 25, and the WHO warns that this death toll will more than double by 2020. In 2000 the UN pledged to eradicate poverty, promote education and tackle diseases such as Aids, TB and malaria. But it overlooked road crashes, which kill on a similar scale. These are compelling reasons for a UN conference.

Of course, any UN meeting could fail to take practical action. That is why we have launched the Make Roads Safe campaign and an online petition that calls for practical action by the UN. To support the campaign, visit www.makeroadssafe.org

David Ward is coordinator of the Make Roads Safe campaign and director general of the FIA Foundation.