Strengthening Road Safety in Cities
Road traffic injuries claim more than 1.2 million lives each year with a disproportionate impact on health and development. They are the ninth leading cause of death across all age groups globally and the leading cause among young people aged between 15 and 29 years, costing governments approximately 3% of GDP and 5% in low- and middle-income countries (World Health Organization, WHO. 2015). Reflecting the urgency to pay attention to road safety, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has set a goal of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2020.
The 2030 Agenda also calls for “Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and Sustainable” (SDG 11) and sets as a target to “provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons (Target 11.2)”.
Leveraging its position as the UN entity specialized in capacity-building, UNITAR and its global network of training centres called « CIFAL » provide a relevant platform for enhancing capacities of government officials in the area of Road Safety.
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) jointly with the Jeju Special Self Governing Province in collaboration with the CIFAL Jeju and with the support of DIAGEO are convening a two-day capacity building workshop in Jeju, ROK on 31 May-2 June 2017 with the objective of bringing together a group of government officials for an open-frank discussion on major risk factors that impact road safety and for an exchange of best practices and measures to effectively address such factors.
In addition to addressing risk factors, a safe road transport system is essential to improve road safety. Effective interventions such as including road safety features into urban planning, transport planning, road design, public transport and infrastructure will also be discussed during the workshop.
At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
- Identify risk factors that lead to traffic accidents
- Pintpoint strategies to improve road user behaviour though advocacy efforts and by increasing awareness of risk factors
- Develop road safety action plans based in partnerships
UNITAR’s workshop on Road Safety targets two key audiences:
- Government officials and policy makers– from related ministries (Transport, Public Works, Urban Planning, Education, etc.), legislators, as well as municipal authorities.
- Youth and other road users– University students. Road Traffic crashes are a leading cause of death among young people and the main cause of death among those aged 15-29 years.