The FIA is calling on governments from around the world, meeting in Moscow today at the first ever Global Ministerial Summit on Road Safety today to agree a Decade of Action aimed at saving five million lives on the world’s roads.
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It said that road crashes remain a growing epidemic and are set to become the number one killer of children aged 5-14 by 2015. The FIA and its member clubs around the world are actively supporting the Make Roads Safe campaign and its call for a Decade of Action on road safety.
The goal of the Decade of Action is for governments to collectively commit to reducing the forecast 2020 level of road deaths by 50%, from 1.9m to below 1m a year. This involves a ten point plan combining political commitment, international donor support for infrastructure development, and sustained national prioritisation of road injury prevention.
The FIA said these measures, taken together, could avoid 5m deaths and 50m serious injuries over the decade.
FIA President Jean Todt said: “Five million lives are at stake in the coming decade. We know what needs to be done to save these lives. The international community must demonstrate their political will to succeed, and make this ministerial meeting a turning point for global road safety.”
Road crashes already kill on a scale of Malaria or Tuberculosis and they are forecast to increase dramatically unless action is taken:
- By 2030, the projected number of deaths on the world’s roads will be roughly double the current level.
- Around 1.3 million people will be killed on the world’s roads this year. Over 90 per cent of these fatalities occur in the world’s poorest countries;
- Road traffic fatalities are the single biggest source of death among 15-19 year olds in developing countries and the second leading cause among 5-14 year olds.
