Secretary-General, in Message to Road Safety Conference, Urges Governments to Tighten Laws on Speeding, Drinking, Driving, Seat-Belt Use

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, to the second Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety, held in Brasilia, 18-19 November:

I am delighted to greet the second Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety.  I thank the Government of Brazil for hosting and the World Health Organization for its support.

I wish you great success as you discuss and agree the urgent next steps needed to halve road traffic deaths and injuries by 2020.  This is the important target set forth in the new Sustainable Development Goals agreed by Member States in September in New York.  It has the transformative potential to save up to 5 million lives.

Despite improvements in road safety, we still face some shocking injury and fatality figures.  We simply cannot afford a business-as-usual approach to hinder our response.

This Conference demonstrates the vital importance of multi-sectoral collaboration.  I call on Governments to tighten enforcement of laws on speeding and drinking and driving, and to mandate and enforce the use of seat belts, motorcycle helmets and child restraints — all of which have been shown to save lives.  We also need to re‑think mobility and prioritise walking, cycling and improved public transport as safer methods of transportation.  Civil society and the private sector have crucial roles to play in working with Governments to achieve these aims.

Thank you for your commitment to this endeavour.  Please accept my best wishes for the success of your efforts to make the world’s roads safe for all.