On 9 September, the International Road Federation and iRAP hosted a United Nations Road Safety Collaboration (UNRSC) webinar on the Ten Step Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure.
The Ten Step Plan was produced by the UNRSC Safer Roads and Mobility Group partners to provide a clear process for establishing systems, building capacity and creating partnerships to support implementation of the UN Convention on Road Traffic and Road Signs and Signals and achievement of the UN Member States Agreed Global Targets 3 and 4 for safer new and existing roads.
The Ten Step Plan is a key resource to support the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-2030) which aims to halve deaths and injuries by 2030. Currently, more than 1.35 million people are killed and as many as 50 million people are injured a year, with 90 per cent of those casualties occurring in developing countries. Road crashes are the leading cause of death around the world for children and young people between 15 and 29 years of age.
The webinar, which had 1252 registrations from 121 countries, brought together a range of international speakers:
- Etienne Krug from the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the UN Road Safety Collaboration (UNRSC) and its work.
- Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, shared a video message putting the Ten Step plan into global context.
- Susanna Zammataro from the International Road Federation (IRF) shared an overview of the the Safer Roads and Mobility Group within the UNRSC, emphasising the Group’s focus on initiatives that improve safety for all road users: pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and vehicle occupants.
- Rob McInerney of the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) explained how the Ten Step Plan provides a blueprint for how countries can put in place the systems and build capacity to achieve Global Road Safety Performance Targets 3 and 4.
- Romain Hubert of the United National Road Safety Fund (UNSRF) described the Fund’s program of support for safety initiatives around the world, including the first practical implementation of the Ten Step Plan in Tanzania.
- Robert Lisenge from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) shared further details about how Tanzania will be the first country to implement the Ten Step Plan.
- Veronica Raffo from the World Bank shared examples of successful World Bank and Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) safety projects and introduced a GRSF / UNRSF partnership project that will help evaluate the Ten Step Plan in Tanzania.
The following resources are available:
- Click here to access the full recording of the webinar
- Click here to watch the video message by Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety
- Download the full PowerPoint Presentation slide pack for this webinar here
- The Ten-Step Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure is available for download at: Ten Step Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure.
- The UN Global Road Safety Performance Targets 3 and 4 are available at: https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_traffic/12GlobalRoadSafetyTargets.pdf?ua=1.
- The UN General Assembly declaration on Improving Global Road Safety and the the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-2030) is available at: https://www.un.org/pga/74/wp-content/uploads/sites/99/2020/08/Draft-Resolution-Road-Safety.pdf.
- Click here to watch the video shared by the World Bank on a successful road safety initiative in Nepal
- Background on the UNRSF and GRSF Partnership to Improve Road Safety Delivery in World Bank Funded Projects in Tanzania: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/08/11/the-united-nations-road-safety-fund-and-the-global-road-safety-facility-announce-partnership-to-improve-road-safety-delivery-in-world-bank-funded-projects-in-tanzania