Road safety issue urgent, not enough being done for pandemic on roads: UN

Road Safety issue is as urgent as COVID-19 considering how crashes destroy lives and economies on a daily basis, UN's Special Envoy for Global Road Safety Jean Todt has said, emphasising that not enough is being done for the "pandemic on our roads."

Speaking at the "Vision Zero Conference for Road Safety for All" that commenced here on Monday, Todt said that the issue of road safety doesn't garner the same kind of financial and social support yet as other subjects.

"The COVID-19 experience provided an example of how humanity can bond together to discover and apply solutions when the emergency appears urgent enough to everyone. That example alone should show us that we are not doing enough for the pandemic on our roads --- we need to better persuade people that it is just as urgent as COVID-19 in how it destroys lives and economies," he said.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), road crashes kill more than 1.3 million people each year - more than two every minute - with 9 in 10 of these preventable deaths occurring in low-and middle-income countries.

India witnesses five lakh road accidents in the country (every year), which includes two lakh deaths, according to Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

According to statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCBR), in 2021, around 46 severe road accidents occurred per hour in the country.

Every year, approximately 1.5 lakh people die on India's roads, which translates, on average, into 1,130 accidents and 422 deaths every day or 47 accidents and 18 deaths every hour.

Todt said that while several negative attitudes of the people have got altered due to COVID-19, yet much more has to be done.

"The COVID pandemic also drastically altered some of our attitudes and habits towards mobility. Some of these changes the increase in working from home instead of in an office have had positive effects on reducing congestion and lowering our carbon footprint. But the explosion of micro-mobility since the pandemic has still not been adequately incorporated into road safety systems in most parts of the world," he said.

Todt asserted that quick adaptation in this area is urgent.

"Just before COVID-19, McKinsey & Company predicted that micro-mobility would become a USD 300 billion to USD 500 billion market by 2030. The lockdowns slowed this trend briefly before it took off with added momentum. I am encouraged to see that Sweden has started to address this topic -- with a new law passed just last year to restrict electric scooters from pavements," he said.

WHO also reported that road crashes are the leading global killer of children and youth aged 5-29.

"One year ago, at the General Assembly in New York City, the first-ever High-Level Meeting on Improving Global Road Safety again confirmed the United Nations' growing commitment to road safety," said the UN'S special envoy.

By including road safety within the Sustainable Development Goals, and thereby 'theoretically putting it on the same level as global warming, equal rights, and safe workplaces, it has ensured its acceleration as a worldwide cause. However, in practice, we are not seeing the same level of financial and social support to this topic compared to the others," Todt said.

Heads of National Road Safety Agencies from around 100 countries are brainstorming at the global road safety summit here to tackle the scourge of road crash deaths and injuries worldwide.

The first in-person meeting of the new, WHO-facilitated Global Network of Heads of Road Safety Agencies, will spur, aid and assess actions to meet the global goal of halving road crash deaths and injuries by 2030 that is set out in the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030.