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9 hours ago
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If you had to guess the leading cause of death for children and young people around the world, what would you say? Malaria perhaps? Pneumonia? Suicide? They’re all high up there, but no, it’s road accidents.
Cars have been around for more than 120 years, and we know how to prevent these tragedies. Yet road crashes still claim more than two lives every minute – killing nearly 1.2 million people every year.
If these deaths were caused by a virus, it would be called a pandemic and the world would scramble to develop a vaccine to prevent them. And yet reducing road deaths has long been overlooked, misunderstood and underfunded.
People will always make mistakes on the roads but we have proven solutions that ensure our transport systems can absorb these errors in a way that significantly reduces the risk of death.
As part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, the world has set an ambitious target of halving deaths on the road worldwide by 2030.
Just 10 countries – including some hard-hit poorer countries – managed to reduce road deaths by more than 50% in the previous decade of action, and more than 30 countries are close behind. This shows that the target can be met but it is nowhere near enough. We need urgent action.
Key to meeting this goal is the decision to design and build our transport systems for people – not for motor vehicles – and to make safety paramount in all decisions.
This is especially important for the most vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorbike riders, who are often left dangerously exposed.
Advancing road safety is crucial in itself, but it is also key to sustainable development overall.
The world is going through an unprecedented wave of motorisation. More than a billion vehicles are on the roads. This is unsustainable, so we must focus on moving people, not cars, motorbikes and trucks.
Transport accounts for a quarter of global carbon emissions and fuels congestion in our cities. Yet when mobility is made safe and accessible, people choose the greener options of public transport, walking and cycling.
Designing cities around sustainable transport – with cycle lanes, pedestrian zones and fully accessible public transport – also strengthens communities by making urban spaces safer and more livable, while improving access to adequate housing and basic services for all.
Safe roads power economies. Deaths on the road can cost countries about 3% to 5% of GDP, and ensuring more people can travel safely to their work, schools and vital services helps drive development.
Safe, accessible and affordable transport also breaks down barriers to jobs, education and opportunities for disadvantaged groups. This helps ensure everyone can reach their potential.
The same holds true for gender equality. In some countries, up to 80% of women report suffering harassment on public transport, so we must make transport safe for female passengers.
Road safety is everyone’s business and to succeed we need a range of sectors to be involved. Urban planners and engineers must ensure safety is built into infrastructure. Academia and civil society can generate evidence. The media can dig deeper into what works, as well as what does not and why.
The private sector has tremendous influence. Businesses can contribute to safe and sustainable mobility by applying proven principles and practices throughout their activities and only selling vehicles that meet established safety standards.
Yet the role of government is paramount. Governments must provide strategic and well-coordinated approaches, strong policy and legal frameworks that enforce safety standards and safe behaviours, and sufficient funding. Law enforcement and education are also key.
This vision is right at the heart of the plan for the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-30, which offers a blueprint for governments.
This week, world leaders met for the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Morocco to assess progress, share knowledge and advance actions to halve road deaths by 2030.
They have adopted the new Marrakech Declaration, which recognises road safety as an urgent public health and development priority, and that our efforts must be guided by the principles of equity, accessibility and sustainability.
The declaration calls on leaders to step up efforts. We need a step-change in political will, a sense of urgency, evidence-based strategies that are costed and implemented, strong coordination and adequate financing.
Road safety is a crisis that has gone on far too long. No road deaths are necessary or acceptable. Yet it is also much more than that. Safe and sustainable mobility can power a better future for us all.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the director general of the World Health Organization, and Jean Todt is the UN secretary general’s special envoy for road safety
