I couldn’t let this week’s blog go without mentioning a major launch that took place last week: the Decade of Action. The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2011 to 2020 as the ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety’ with the aim of reducing the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world.
A host of activities will be taking place to support this and the organisers believe that with the right action, up to 5 million lives could be saved and 50 million injuries prevented over the next ten years.
The initiative has some serious backing with 100 governments co-sponsoring the UN resolution establishing the ‘Decade of Action’; all committing to raising helmet and seat belt use, promoting safer road infrastructure and protecting vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists.
As well as politicians, there are a range of high profile celebrities providing support. Those who will be best known in the UK include: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, Bob Geldof and Chelsea footballer Michael Essien.
There are also some compelling statistics to support the campaign, including the fact that every six seconds someone is killed or maimed on the world’s roads. This totals up to 1.3 million people killed internationally each year and road accidents remain the biggest cause of death for young people worldwide.
Now the UK performs much better than the average, with parts of the developing world making the figures dramatically worse. In fact, the UK’s roads are safer than ever before as the number of deaths continue to fall. The Department for Transport reported a reduction in fatalities of 21% at the end of September 2010 compared to the previous twelve months.
However, while we perform relatively well in the UK, there is no room to be smug. Although domestic road deaths continue to fall, there are still far too many fatalities, and I for one am fully supportive of this worldwide initiative, which if it gets anywhere near the predicted improvement will have a massive and positive impact.
For more information about the Decade of Action, click here
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