The United Nations General Assembly calls for accelerated action to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries worldwide and adopts a resolution on improving road safety worldwide

On 24 June, the General Assembly called for accelerated action to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries worldwide by implementing the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030.

The 193-member body adopted without a vote the resolution “Improving global road safety” (document A/78/L.78), which called on Member States and relevant actors to accelerate and redouble efforts to implement the Global Plan, making road safety a political priority and ensuring its relevance in the broader sustainable development agenda.

Also in the text, the Assembly invited Member States that have not yet done so to “consider adopting comprehensive legislation on key risk factors,” such as failure to use seat belts, child restraints and helmets, and drunk driving. It also encouraged countries to establish inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms, especially between ministries of health, transport, education, infrastructure, interior and environment, in order to address cross-cutting issues.

The Assembly welcomed Morocco’s offer to host the Fourth Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, to be held in Marrakech from 18 to 20 February 2025. It also called on Member States to strengthen the collection, reporting and use of road safety-related data as a means of generating real-time information to inform the implementation of the Global Plan.

Introducing the “L.78”, the representative of Morocco noted that we are approaching the halfway point of the Decade of Action and much remains to be done to accelerate action.

She also stressed that approximately 1.2 million people die each year from road accidents. For its part, her country has launched a new strategy for 2016-2026 and, in 2018, created the National Safety Agency to reduce these deaths.

Noting that the upcoming conference in 2025 to be held in her country will be the first of its kind on the African continent, she said that special attention will be paid to Africa, where road accident deaths increased by 15% between 2010 and 2021.

The representative of Angola stated that road safety is a development issue and noted that such accidents affect the gross domestic product (GDP). Target 3.6 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) seeks to reduce the number of deaths and injuries worldwide from road accidents. He also stressed that it is essential to pay attention to the needs of people in vulnerable situations, in particular women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons.

He added that his country has taken several initiatives to reduce the mortality rate caused by road accidents and has adopted a national road safety plan for 2023-2027, in line with regional, continental and international recommendations.

The representative of the Russian Federation highlighted the role of the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety held in Moscow in 2009, which brought together delegates from 150 States. He noted that the Moscow Declaration, adopted at that time, led to the establishment of the first Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 and expressed support for the second Decade of Action.

He said that specific measures taken by the global community have yielded positive results: 10 countries (Belarus, Brunei Darussalam, Denmark, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, Russian Federation, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela) have achieved a 50% reduction between 2010 and 2021. In 35 other countries, a mortality reduction of between 30% and 50% has been achieved.