By Tina George, reporting from Sweden
Representatives and delegates from 140 countries who attended the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, have called for a high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Road Safety at the level of Heads of State and government.
This, according to the delegates, would mobilize adequate national leadership and advance international and multisectoral collaboration in all countries, to deliver a 50 percent reduction in deaths and injuries, over the next decades.
The Stockholm Declaration, read and endorsed at the end of the conference by the Sweden Minister for Infrastructure, Tomas Eneroth, noted that the high-level meeting would go a long way towards planning of vision 2050.
Reading the declaration, Eneroth said the delegates and representatives, have also committed themselves to reduce road crashes by 50 percent by the year 2030.
The countries whose representatives were present at that the conference, reaffirmed their commitments to the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda and to set targets to reduce fatalities and serious injuries to all groups of road users, across the world.
Eneroth added that there has been a resolve by all representatives, to ensure the inclusion of road and safe systems approach, as internal element of land use, street design, transport system planning and governance, especially for vulnerable road users and in urban areas.
The Stockholm declaration further cited the focus on speed management, which would include strengthening of law enforcement to prevent speeding and manage maximum road travel speed of 30 kilometers per hour, in areas where vulnerable road users and vehicles mix in a frequent and planned manner.
“Reiterating our string commitment to achieving global goals by 2030 and emphasizing our sharer responsibility, we call upon member states and the international community to address the unacceptable burden of road traffic injury in children and young people as a priority and increasing political commitment.
“We call for a first High-Level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Road Safety at the level of grads of State and government.
“This would mobilize adequate national leadership and advance international and multi-sectoral collaboration in all the areas covered by this Declaration to deliver a 50 percent reduction in deaths and injuries over the next decade on our way to vision Zero by 2050,” part of the declaration read.
