The Road Ahead
Issue 7
This is the new format of The Road Ahead. It is now entirely electronic and available by email. This format will enable more rapid translation and will also mean that the newsletter can be sent out more widely and more regularly. This newsletter number 7 covers the period July 2006 - December 2006, but in future will cover three-month periods.
FIRST UN GLOBAL ROAD SAFETY WEEK (23-29 April 2007)
On the occasion of the First UN Global Road Safety Week, requested by the UN General Assembly, events will take place in countries all over the world. The key global event marking the Week will be a World Youth Assembly for Road Safety. The Assembly will be held on 23-24 April 2007 in Geneva, and will involve delegations of young people from all countries of the world. A number of youth delegates are working to prepare the draft of a "Youth Declaration for Road Safety" which will be adopted during the Assembly. For further information, contact Laura Sminkey at
sminkeyl@who.int
or visit
http://www.who.int/roadsafety/week/en/index.html
Resources
Several resources are currently available for those planning events to mark the First UN Global Road Safety Week. These include the logo and slogan and the toolkit for organizers of events. The English versions of these may be accessed on the Week's official global web site. Versions in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish will be posted on the web site as they are released. For further information, visit
http://www.who.int/roadsafety/week/en/index.html
PAST EVENTS
August 2006
Helmet manual finalized and launched
In August 2006 WHO released the first in a series of good practice manuals developed under the auspices of the UN Road Safety Collaboration. The manual is the result of collaboration between WHO, the Global Road Safety Partnership, the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society and the World Bank. The manual, Helmets: a road safety manual for decision makers and practitioners, follows on from the World report on road traffic injury prevention, which showed the evidence that setting and enforcing mandatory helmet use is an effective intervention for reducing injuries and fatalities among motorcycle users. About 20 countries have plans to hold a workshop and implement the document with UN Road Safety Collaboration partner support. For further information, contact Tami Toroyan at
toroyant@who.int
or visit
http://www.who.int/roadsafety/projects/manuals/en/index.html
GRSP holds workshop in Thailand to develop action plan on helmet use
In recognition of the high motorcycle fatality rates in many South-East Asian countries, the Global Road Safety Partnership held a three-day workshop in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, to develop an action plan to increase helmet use. With assistance from the Partnership, there are plans to hold workshops in a number of other South-East Asian countries over the next six months. For further information, contact Robert Klein at
robert.klein@ifrc.org
or visit
http://www.grsproadsafety.org/?pageid=16&newsid=114
September 2006
Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean
Representatives of the Road Safety Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean met in Costa Rica in September to discuss road safety action for the Americas. The President of Costa Rica opened the meeting and an opinion piece on the topic was published by him in the Washington Post. In addition, a road safety declaration was adopted at the meeting. For further information, contact Mark Rosenberg at
mrosenberg@taskforce.org
or visit
http://www.fiafoundation.com/policy/road_safety/news/road_safety_forum_la_caribbean_launched.html
World Bank Facility
The World Bank's Global Road Safety Facility was set up to support global, regional and country efforts that would lead to reductions in road deaths and injuries in low- and middle-income countries. The Facility has now launched its website:
http://www.worldbank.org/grsf
The site details the recent news and activities revolving around the Facility. It also has contact details for those wishing to apply for funding support. For further information, contact Marc Shotten at
mshotten@worldbank.org
Consultation on mass casualty management
WHO's Departments of Injuries and Violence Prevention (VIP) and Health Action in Crises (HAC) hosted a consultation on mass casualty management at the WHO headquarters from 26-28 September 2006. The consultation's overarching goal was to improve care for victims of mass casualty events. Moreover, a major focus was on the development of WHO guidelines for mass casualty management systems. In addition to VIP and HAC staff, approximately 20 external participants with backgrounds in trauma care, emergency preparedness and mass casualty systems planning, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, attended the consultation. For further information, contact David Meddings at
meddingsd@who.int
Trauma care and prehospital care meeting
The WHO Department of Injuries and Violence Prevention (VIP) hosted an essential trauma care and prehospital care meeting on 28-29 September 2006. The objectives were to review the activities and functions of the Trauma and Emergency Care Services (TESC) steering committee and advisory group. This also included reviewing progress on action items from the steering committee meeting in January 2006 and exploring ways to broaden TESC networks and activities within countries. As a result of the meeting, future directions will include securing higher level political support for trauma care, continued expansion of trauma care services and uptake of WHO guidelines, capacity building through development of a trauma system planners course, and quality improvement programmes for trauma care services. For further information, contact David Meddings at
meddingsd@who.int
October 2006
5th UN Road Safety Collaboration Meeting
The 5th Meeting of the UN Road Safety Collaboration was held at WHO headquarters in Geneva from 30-31 October 2006. The meeting was attended by Ambassador Al-Hinai, the Permanent Representative of Oman to the UN, who spearheaded the series of UN General Assembly resolutions on road safety, as well as 68 collaborators from governments, UN agencies, NGOs, foundations and private sector companies. Most of the deliberation of the meeting revolved around preparations for the First UN Global Road Safety Week planned for 23-29 April 2007. The proceedings of the meeting and further information can be found at
http://www.who.int/roadsafety/news/31_10_2006/en/index.html
November 2006
UNESCAP's ministerial meeting on transport tackles road deaths in Asia
Asian transport ministers vowed to drastically cut road deaths in the region, which the UN holds responsible for half of the world's traffic fatalities. The commitment came at the end of a two-day ministerial meeting on transport, organized by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in the southern part of Busan, South Korea. The ministers from 41 Asia-Pacific nations adopted a declaration on improving road safety aimed at reducing the number of deaths by 600,000 over the next nine years.
For further information, visit
http://www.unescap.org/unis/mct2006/press%20releases/G_55_MCT_25_06.pdf
2nd International Dubai Road Safety Conference
In collaboration with many governmental and private agencies the 2nd International Dubai Road Safety Conference was hosted by Dubai Road Transport Authority on 6-8 November 2006. More than sixty experts from around the world participated in the conference and delivered technical papers as well as shared best practices with the participants. Moreover, several under-secretaries of Ministries of Health, Interior, Transport, Education, Social Development and Foreign Affairs attended the conference and contributed to a set of recommendations focusing on road safety issues.
For further details, contact Dr Jaffar Hussain at
hussains@emro.who.int
or visit
http://www.roadsafety2006dubai.com/
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
On 19 November organizations around the world gathered across many countries to remember victims of road traffic crashes and draw attention to the devastating consequences of these deaths on families and communities. Called for by a UN General Assembly Resolution, this Day, which was first celebrated in the United Kingdom, has extended to many countries around the world. For further information, contact Brigitte Chaudhry at
brigitte.chaudhry@roadpeace.org
or visit
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2006/np34/en/index.html
December 2006
International course on transportation planning and safety
This international course, conducted by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, and in collaboration with the Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Sécurite (INRETS), WHO and St. Stephens Hospital, was held on 4-10 December 2006 in New Delhi. At this course the newly developed WHO/TRIPP road traffic injury prevention training manual was launched (see detailed information under "Publications and Websites"). For further information, contact Dinesh Mohan at
dmohan@cbme.iitd.ernet.in
or Melecki Khayesi at
khayesim@who.int
or visit
http://www.iitd.ac.in/tripp/index.html
RTIRN gathers partners to conduct a multi-country helmet survey
The Road Traffic Injuries Research Network is a global partnership for the promotion, conducting and utilization of research for the prevention and control of road traffic injuries in low- and middle-income countries. The Network has initiated a study which invited researchers in such countries to participate in a multi-centre collaborative research study on facilitating reductions in non-standard motorcycle helmet use. The first workshop to develop a standard methodology to conduct a multicountry study in 10 countries was held in Malaysia on 12-13 December 2006. For further information, visit
http://www.rtirn.net
UPCOMING EVENTS
January 2007
International workshop on road safety education for developing countries
The Institute of Road Traffic Education will host the above mentioned international workshop on 11-13 January 2007 in New Delhi which will focus on vulnerable road users. For more information contact Rohit Baluja at
president@irte.com
or visit
http://www.irte.com
February 2007
African Road Safety Conference
This joint WHO / United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) conference will be held on 5-7 February 2007 in Accra, Ghana. The objectives are to review programmes in road safety, advance the development of national plans of action, plan implementation of the recommendations of the World report on road traffic injury prevention, address how to mobilize resources, and finally organize national efforts in the region for the First UN Global Road Safety Week. For further information, contact Joseph Atta-Mensah at
jattamensa@uneca.org
or Olive Kobusingye at
kobusingye@whoafr.org
or visit
http://www.who.int/roadsafety/events/4arsc/en/index.html
6th UN Road Safety Collaboration meeting
The 6th UN Road Safety Collaboration meeting will be held on 27-28 February in Oman. For further information, contact Tami Toroyan at
toroyant@who.int
April 2007
Global Road Safety Film Competition
The Global Road Safety Film Awards, organized by Laser Europe, will be presented at the UN Palais des Nations in Geneva during the World Youth Assembly for Road Safety on 23-24 April 2007. The awards will be given for the best short films prepared in the categories of communication and campaigns; education for road safety; and drivers training. Participants are young producers, directors, actors and students in communications and multimedia. For further information, contact Robert Trottein at
robert.trottein@lasereurope.org
or visit
http://www.who.int/roadsafety/week/activities/global/film_awards/en/index.html
PUBLICATIONS AND WEBSITES
The European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy and Transport put out a consultation paper on "Saving Lives with Daytime Running Lights". The closing date for comments on this paper was 17 November 2006, but another paper on "Respecting the Rule of the Road" is still out for consultation until 19 January 2007. For further information or to make comments, visit
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/roadsafety/index_en.htm
With support from the European Commission, the European Road Safety Observatory web site has been launched. The web site provides high quality but accessible information on important road safety subjects. For further information, visit
http://www.erso.eu/
OECD / ECMT Joint Transport Research Centre's launched a report Young Drivers: The Road to Safety. This report reflects experience relating to young drivers in the countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT), and focuses on the high levels of risk associated with young and novice drivers of passenger vehicles. For further information, visit
http://www.cemt.org/JTRC/WorkingGroups/YoungDrivers/index.htm
An OECD / ECMT report Speed Management was released in October 2006. Speeding is the number one road safety problem in a large number of OECD / ECMT countries. Reducing average speeds on the roads by only 5% will save around 20% of current fatalities. For further information, visit
http://www.cemt.org/JTRC/WorkingGroups/SpeedManagement/index.htm
UNICEF / TASC (The Alliance for Safe Children) surveys uncover the magnitude of injury as a large contributor to morbidity and mortality among children in Asia. The surveys point out that more action needs to be taken to reduce this burden in the future. From TASC's perspective, Asia could be the regional leader in child injury prevention if policy and decision makers are given the tools needed to initiate comprehensive prevention programmes. For more information, visit
http://www.tasc-gcipf.org/
A 2006 report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that there are fewer deaths to humanitarian workers in road crashes due to increased road safety consciousness among UN organizations. For further information, visit
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/publ/opendoc.htm?tbl=PUBL&page=home&id=4444d3c52f
WHO and the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi jointly launched the Road traffic injury prevention training manual. The manual is to provide guidance to professionals working on road traffic injury prevention, and is designed for a multidisciplinary audience. It shall contribute towards strengthening capacity to implement measures to prevent road traffic injuries in different settings around the world.
To download a copy of the manual, visit
http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/road_traffic/en/index.html