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For more on the resolution see
http://www.un.org/News/Press/
docs/2010/ga10920.doc.htm
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This article from The Lancet was
forwarded by Jo Mitchell. To put just one of the statistics into
context, the number killed every year, is equal to the combined
populations of Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Wolverhampton.
In 2004, the UN General Assembly discussed the global
burden of road-traffic accidents for the first time, mainly thanks to an effort by Oman to raise the profile
of the problem within the UN. Still, few member states, especially low-income and middle-income nations
where most deaths on the roads occur, were interested
in the issue. Now, 6 years on, the story is very different. Last week, the UN General Assembly unanimously
adopted a resolution to make 2011–20 the Decade of
Action for Road Safety. 98 countries, including Russia, France, and Brazil, co-sponsored the resolution.
Nearly 1·3 million people are killed in road-traffic accidents every year and 20–50 million more sustain
non-fatal injuries that are a major cause of disability
worldwide. The Decade of Action aims to increase political attention to this huge public health burden.
During the decade, countries will be encouraged to
develop and implement road-safety plans consisting of five pillars: road-safety management; road
infrastructure and design; vehicle safety design; road
users’ behaviour; and post-crash care. Early in 2011, nations will have a chance to announce their plans for
the decade. The success of these national initiatives and
the Decade of Action will be evaluated at the midway point and end date. The overall goal will be to halt or
reverse the increasing trend in road-traffic accidents and
fatalities globally by 2020.
Funding for the Decade of Action will be a major obstacle. The price tag for national activities has been
estimated at US$2 billion. New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg’s recent donation of $125 million to global road safety will aid the effort, but the decade will need a
lot more than individual philanthropic gestures to achieve
its goals.
Encouraging different government sectors to work together on road safety might also be a challenge.
The health sector must play its part, especially in data collection, promotion of behavioural change, and
improvement of trauma care. We should all welcome this Decade of Action as an opportunity to address
a major cause of death and disability worldwide.
www.thelancet.com Vol 375 March 13, 2010
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