Improving Global Road Safety

Requests the World Health Organization and the United Nations regional commissions, in cooperation with other partners in the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration and other stakeholders, to prepare a plan of action of the Second Decade as a guiding document to support the implementation of its objectives;

Encourages Member States to ensure political commitment and responsibility at the highest possible level for improving road safety, and to develop and/or implement road safety strategies and plans with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders, including all sectors and levels of government, as appropriate;

Invites Member States that have not already done so to consider adopting comprehensive legislation on key risk factors, including the non-use of seat belts, child restraints and helmets, the drinking of alcohol and driving, and speeding, and to consider implementing appropriate, effective and evidence- and/or science-based legislation on other risk factors related to distracted or impaired driving;

Encourages Member States that have not yet done so to consider becoming contracting parties to the United Nations legal instruments on road safety and, beyond accession, applying, implementing and promoting their provisions or safety regulations;

Encourages Member States to make efforts to ensure the safety and protection of all road users through safer road infrastructure by taking into account the needs of motorized and non-motorized transport, and other vulnerable road users, especially on the highest-risk roads with high rates of crashes, through a combination of proper planning and safety assessment, including through identification of crash-prone areas, design, building and maintenance of roads, signal systems and other infrastructure, taking into consideration the geography of the country;

Invites Member States that have not already done so to consider adopting policies and measures to implement United Nations vehicle safety regulations or equivalent national standards to ensure that all new motor vehicles meet applicable minimum regulations for the protection of occupants and other road users, with seat belts, airbags and active safety systems fitted as standard equipment;

Invites Member States that have not yet done so to address road safety holistically, starting with the implementation or continuation of a road safety management system, including, as appropriate, interdepartmental cooperation and the development of national road safety plans;

Encourages Member States to consider including road safety as an integral element of planning of land use, street design, transport systems and governance, keeping in view the needs of vulnerable road users in urban and rural areas, inter alia, through the promotion of a safe system approach, as appropriate;

Also encourages Member States to take measures to promote road safety knowledge and awareness among the population through education, training and publicity campaigns, especially among youth, and to propagate good road safety practices in the community;

Further encourages Member States to strengthen institutional capacity through adequate training and capacity-building with regard to road safety laws and law enforcement, vehicle safety, infrastructure improvements, public transport and post-crash care, and to collect, analyse and disseminate disaggregated data for effective and evidence-based policymaking and their implementation;

Invites Member States to consider establishing mechanisms for the periodic assessment of vehicles in order to ensure that all new and in-use vehicles comply with basic vehicle safety regulations;

Encourages Member States to provide consumer information on vehicle safety through new car assessment programmes that are independent from vehicle manufacturers, and also encourages Member States to share such consumer information with, inter alia, the World Health Organization and other countries, in particular developing and least developed countries;

Also encourages Member States to promote environmentally sound, safe, accessible and affordable modes of quality transport, particularly public and non-motorized transport, as well as safe intermodal integration, as a means of improving road safety, social equity, public health and urban planning, including the resilience of cities and urban-rural linkages, and in this regard to take into account road safety and mobility as part of the effort to achieve sustainable development;

Invites Member States to encourage and incentivize the development, application and deployment of existing and future technologies and other innovations to improve accessibility and all aspects of road safety, from crash prevention to emergency response and trauma care, with special attention given to the safety needs of those road users who are the most vulnerable, including pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and users of public transport;

Calls upon businesses and industries of all sizes and sectors to contribute to the attainment of the road safety-related Sustainable Development Goals, including by applying safe system principles to their entire value chain, as appropriate and in line with national laws;

Encourages Member States to adopt, implement and enforce policies and measures to actively protect and promote pedestrian safety and cycling mobility, with a view to also improving road safety and broader health outcomes, particularly the prevention of injuries and non-communicable diseases;

Invites Member States to develop and implement appropriate social marketing campaigns to raise awareness and commemorate the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims on the third Sunday of November every year;

Encourages Member States to strengthen pre-hospital care, including emergency health services and the immediate post-crash response, hospital and ambulatory guidelines for trauma care and rehabilitation services, and requests the World Health Organization to support Member States in these endeavours;

Invites Member States to share best practices and standards bilaterally, regionally and internationally, as appropriate, including through the World Health Organization, upon the request of Member States, on the causes of road traffic accidents and crashes and their prevention, which could be instrumental in addressing information gaps and shortcomings;

Urges Member States to implement road safety policies for the protection of the most vulnerable among road users, in particular children, youth, older persons and persons with disabilities, taking into account the respective obligations of Member States under relevant United Nations legal instruments, as applicable;

Encourages Member States and private sector entities that have not yet done so to establish an effective mechanism to reduce the number of crashes, road traffic fatalities and injuries caused by professional drivers, including drivers of commercial vehicles, owing to job-specific hazards, including fatigue;

Invites Member States to fully integrate a gender perspective into all policymaking and policy implementation related to mobility and road safety, especially regarding roads and surrounding areas and public transport;

Encourages Member States to develop and implement comprehensive legislation and policies on motorcycles, including on training, driver licensing, vehicle registration, working conditions and the use by motorcyclists of helmets and personal protection equipment, within the existing international standards, given the disproportionally high and increasing numbers of motorcycle deaths and injuries globally, particularly in developing countries;

Invites Member States to develop public policies to decrease work-related road traffic crashes, with the participation of employers and workers, in order to enforce international standards on safety and health at work, road safety and adequate road and vehicle conditions, giving particular attention to the issue of professional drivers, including the working conditions of commercial vehicle drivers;

Also invites Member States to provide early rehabilitation and social reintegration, including in the world of work, to persons with injuries and disabilities caused by road traffic crashes and comprehensive support to victims of road traffic crashes and their families;

Further invites Member States to continue to implement professional driver qualification frameworks, established on the basis of internationally recognized standards, including training, certification and licensing, restricted hours of driving and working conditions that focus on addressing the main causes of accidents or crashes involving heavy commercial vehicles, recognizing that distraction is a significant cause of accidents or crashes;

Invites Member States to support, as appropriate, the activities of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Road Safety, and invites the Secretary-General to consider extending the function of the Special Envoy for Road Safety for the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety;

Requests the World Health Organization and the United Nations regional commissions, as well as other relevant United Nations agencies, to continue the activities aimed at supporting the implementation of the road safety-related targets in the 2030 Agenda, while ensuring system-wide coherence;

Requests the United Nations system, including the regional commissions, the World Health Organization and other relevant United Nations agencies, to support Member States, upon their request, in applying voluntary global performance targets for road safety when appropriate;

Requests the World Health Organization to continue to monitor, through its global status reports on road safety, progress towards the achievement of the goals of the Decade of Action, and to leverage as appropriate existing efforts, including those of regional road safety observatories, to harmonize and make road safety data available and comparable;

Invites all relevant stakeholders, international organizations, development banks and funding agencies, foundations, professional associations and private sector companies to scale up funding to support the implementation of measures required to meet the voluntary global performance targets;

Invites Member States to further invest in road safety at all levels, including by allocating appropriate dedicated budgets for institutional and infrastructural improvements for road safety, as well as by supporting the United Nations Road Safety Fund and other mechanisms, such as the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility, as appropriate;