Road Safety GB & TRL talk a safer walk

The UK Transport Research Laboratory and Road Safety GB combined a seminar on pedestrian safety with a fundraiser for the Road Safety Fund at their event to mark UN Global Road Safety Week. Bringing together road safety officers, police and other transport professionals, the fully subscribed seminar was a practical session on pedestrian death and injury and how to prevent it. The event raised more than £2000 for the Road Safety Fund.

Russian Federation wins Decade Award

The Russian Federation has recieved the 2013 Decade of Action Award from HRH Prince Michael of Kent. The award was presented by the Prince at the Decade of Action Policy Forum in St Petersburg, and was accepted on behalf of the Russian Federation by Anna Popova, Vice President of Sperbank, Russia's largest commercial - and State-owned - bank, which has played an important role in financing road safety reforms and supporting the 2009 Moscow Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety. In his speech, Prince Michael said:

"Russia had the vision and courage to put her authority and prestige behind an issue that was on the margins of international policy. The Russian Federation’s offer to host the first Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, and her sponsorship of successive UN General Assembly Resolutions in 2008, 2010 and 2012, have provide much-needed leadership. And last year, at the ‘Rio plus twenty’ summit, Russia ensured that road safety was recognized and included in the summit communique.

At home, the Russian Federation has had the perception – which many countries still lack – to recognize the scale of road traffic deaths and injuries, and to take action. With support at every level, from the President down, you have worked to implement a road safety strategy to protect your citizens. The results are impressive. Between 2006 – 2011 the total number of road fatalities fell by 14.5 percent. The number of Russian children killed on the roads fell by a quarter. This statistic alone is deserving of an award.

According to the World Health organization’s recent Status Report, between 2007 and 2010 Russia record the biggest improvement in road safety performance of any of the Group of Twenty countries, so international leadership on global road safety is firmly reinforced by a strong domestic record."

Retrospective Award

Michelle Yeoh presents Grand Prix certificate
to AIP Foundation CEO Mirjam Sidik

'In Retrospect', a film about the impact of child death and injury, won the Grand Prix at the Global Road Safety Film Festival hosted by UNESCO in Paris. The film, produced by the AIP Foundation with support from the FIA Foundation, is currently being broadcast nationwide in Vietnam - in its original Vietnamese - as part of the 'Children also need a helmet' campaign to increase the use of motorcycle helmets by children who ride as passengers on the family motorbike. The Grand Prix certificate was presented to the AIP Foundation by Michelle Yeoh, Global Road Safety Ambassador and international movie actor during the recent Decade of Action Policy Forum in St Petersburg. The film festival was organised by Laser International with support from donors including Fondation Vinci, a supporter of the Decade of Action for Road Safety.

FedEx & Safe Kids on the streets!

Pedestrian safety advocacy and awareness has been the theme of this UN Global Road Safety Week, and Safe Kids Worldwide have been at the forefront of marches and activities in many countries. With donor support from FedEx, via the Road Safety Fund, Safe Kids' NGOs partners have been out on the streets engaging with the public, teaching children, urging media attention for pedestrian safety, and supporting the call of the Long Short Walk campaign for 'Safe Roads for All'. Check out these photos showing just a few of the activities, see more at Safe Kids' Facebook page, and see how their Model School Zones, with FedEx support, are helping to make the concept of the 'Safe School' a reality.


Safe Kids Vietnam (a 1000-strong march through Ho Chi Minh City)

Safe Kids Jordan

Safe Kids Mexico (plus Super Heroes)
 

Safe Kids Uganda

Safe Kids South Africa

Safe Kids Philippines


 

Our Decade Supporters take a Walk

Many of our Global Supporters of the Decade of Action - donor companies contributing to the Road Safety Fund to support catalytic and innovative road traffic injury prevention programmes - are also taking part in the advocacy activities around the Long Short Walk and UN Global Road Safety Week. Check out the photos below to see how some of our Supporters are getting involved. We're delighted to have their active involvement and partnership. More to follow...

Johnson & Johnson 'Safe Fleet' team support the Long Short Walk
at their annual meeting in Budapest

Catalina Luna, Johnson & Johnson's Safe Fleet coordinator in Latin America

Dr Joe Van Houten, J&J Senior Director for Health & Safety and Environment
& Sandra Lee, Worldwide Fleet Safety Director

Malathy Ramakrishnan, Allianz4Good, Malaysia

David Fulker, UK Head of Marketing at Robert Bosch,
speaking at our pedestrian safety forum

 

Safety stars for school in Mexico pilot

Launch of the school star rating pilot in Mexico City

A pilot project to provide safety star ratings of routes to school is underway in Mexico City, led by the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP).

iRAP estimates that, each day, 6 children die on their journey to or from school in Mexico. The pilot project, in partnership with Safe Kids Mexico, will test the methodology of a new tool developed by iRAP and the University of North Carolina. The star rating tool will eventually enable communities around the world to Star Rate roads around their schools and generate safety countermeasure plans that will equip parents, teachers and children with the evidence to demand action from local authorities. For example, the Mexico City pilot is being implemented at a school which has experienced a number of serious road crashes in its neighbouring streets.

The pilot is being supported by the Road Safety Fund through a generous donation from FedEx, a Global Supporter of the Decade of Action.

 

 

 

 

 

GBD country data published

New data for the Global Burden of Disease 2010 has been published by the Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation at an event hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. New online tools enable interrogation of country-level data, allowing for a detailed picture of health issues - including road traffic injuries. Speaking at the launch alongside Bill Gates, IHME Director Prof. Christopher Murray described road injury as a 'major contributor' to the global burden of disease. His data finds that road crashes are now the leading cause of death for boys and young men aged 10-29 and the second leading cause, after HIV/AIDS, for men aged 30-40. Responding for the World Bank, Nicole Klingen, Acting Director of Health, highlighted the road injury data and said the GBD study "will require a multi-sectoral lense, and we will look at reassessing policy and funding discussions across the development spectrum". Watch the webcast here . The Road Safety Fund was represented at the launch by our US Director, Dr Bella Dinh Zarr, who said: "It is clear that for young men of school and working age, road injury is now the leading burden of disease. Policymakers and donors need to follow the evidence and take urgent action to stem this avoidable epidemic on the world's roads".


Bella Dinh Zarr, US Director of the Road Safety Fund, (right) with David Sleet of the US Centers for Disease Control - one of the contributors to the GBD study - at the launch at the Gates Foundation