Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting on Improving Global Road Safety

A/RES/76/294View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 13 Improving global road safety, published in 2021.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

2 entities

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Subprogramme 3	Technology, innovation, connectivity and infrastructure development	10
	Subprogramme 3	Transport	15

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

2 entities

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Subprogramme 3	Technology, innovation, connectivity and infrastructure development	10	—
	Subprogramme 3	Transport	15	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 subjects

Declarations (Text)International Cooperation Road Traffic Technical Cooperation Traffic Safety

What’s in this document?

1 operative paragraph

Adopts the political declaration of the high-level meeting on improving global road safety, as contained in the annex to the present resolution.

Political declaration of the high-level meeting on improving global road safety

The 2030 horizon for road safety: securing a decade of action and delivery

We, ministers and other representatives of States and Governments, assembled at the United Nations on 30 June and 1 July 2022, for a high-level meeting with a dedicated focus on improving global road safety:

Recognize that road safety is an urgent development priority, a major public health problem and a social equity issue, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where over 90 per cent of road traffic deaths and injuries occur, inter alia, a result of increasing traffic, rapid infrastructure expansion and heterogeneous traffic mix, and that road safety is both an enabler and a part of our common goal for the achievement of sustainable development, having cross-cutting implications requiring collaborative cross-sectoral actions, and stressing in this regard the importance of strengthening international cooperation in raising awareness and addressing road safety issues;

Recall General Assembly resolutions on improving global road safety, acknowledge the importance of the past three Global Ministerial Conferences on Road Safety and their outcome documents, and welcome the proclamation of the first Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020, and the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030;

Reaffirm further the importance of timely implementation, in this decade of action and delivery for sustainable development, of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development¹ and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development,² and reaffirm the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change³ and the Paris Agreement adopted under the Convention;⁴

¹Resolution 70/1.

²Resolution 69/313, annex.

³United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1771, No. 30822.

⁴See FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1, decision 1/CP.21, annex.

Reaffirm the decision by the General Assembly to invite the World Health Organization, working in close cooperation with the United Nations regional commissions, to act as a coordinator on road safety issues within the United Nations system; recall resolution 57.10 of 22 May 2004 adopted by the World Health Assembly,⁵ in which it accepted the invitation of the General Assembly; and also recall the appointment of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Road Safety and the establishment of the United Nations Road Safety Fund;

⁵See World Health Organization, document WHA57/2004/REC/1.

Reaffirm also the importance of continued action through 2030 on all road safety-related targets of the 2030 Agenda, such as targets 3.6 and 11.2; and recognize their importance in enabling the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 11 and in catalysing action on other Goals, including on poverty eradication, gender equality, climate change, decent jobs, innovation and transport;

Recognize the tremendous global burden that road traffic crashes continue to place on society in terms of both human suffering, with nearly 1.3 million preventable deaths and an estimated 50 million injuries each year, and average costs to countries of 3 to 5 per cent of their annual gross domestic product, which makes road safety an urgent public health and development priority;

Reaffirm the right of every human being, without distinction of any kind, to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Recognize the impact of road traffic crashes on children and youth and emphasize the importance of taking into account their needs and those of road users who are in vulnerable situations, including older persons and persons with disabilities;

Recognize also that addressing road safety is primarily a responsibility of Governments, while also recognizing the shared responsibility among relevant stakeholders such as public and private sectors, academia, professional organizations, non-governmental organizations, citizens and the media to move towards a world free from road traffic fatalities and serious injuries;

Acknowledge the need to promote road safety and sustainable transport to ensure the resilience and efficient functioning of global supply chain connectivity, including for medical supplies, as well as facilitating travel for a sustainable, resilient and inclusive recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic;

Welcome the elaboration of the Global Plan for the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030, which provides a set of options and strategies for use by Governments and other relevant stakeholders while recognizing that implementation of dedicated actions at the national and international levels should be supported through commitment, leadership and partnerships, long-term sustained financing, including public and private, appropriate legislation, strengthened institutions, enabling environments at all levels, education and training, capacity-building, knowledge-sharing and advocacy, and should be guided by technology and innovation, data, evidence and best practices;

Acknowledge that there is no one-size-fits-all formula and that the global level of ambition necessitates considering the specific situation of each country with its needs, different national realities, capacities, policies and priorities, and encourage the strengthening of efforts, including through the sharing of best practices and effective implementation mechanisms and the provision of relevant technical support to support and promote the accelerated achievement of all road safety-related Sustainable Development Goals;

Commit to scaling up our efforts and undertaking the following actions:

Drive the implementation of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030, which describes key suggested actions to achieve the reduction in road traffic deaths of at least 50 per cent by 2030 and calls for setting national targets to reduce fatalities and serious injuries for all road users with special attention given to the safety needs of those road users who are the most vulnerable to road-related crashes, including pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and users of public transport, taking into account national circumstances, policies and strategies;

Develop and implement regional, national and subnational plans that may include road safety targets or other evidence-based indicators where they have been set, and put in place evidence-based implementation processes by adopting a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach and designating national focal points for road safety with the establishment of their networks in order to facilitate cooperation with the World Health Organization to track progress towards the implementation of the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030;

Promote systematic engagement with relevant stakeholders, including from transport, health, education, finance, environmental and infrastructure areas, and encourage Member States to consider becoming contracting parties to the United Nations legal instruments⁶ on road safety and, beyond accession, applying, implementing and promoting their provisions or safety regulations;

⁶References to United Nations legal instruments relating to regulations or standards do not imply that regulations developed under these agreements are “international standards” within the meaning of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade and relevant decisions of the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade of the Organization.

Implement a Safe System approach through policies that foster safe urban and rural road infrastructure design and engineering; set safe adequate speed limits supported by appropriate speed management measures; enable multimodal transport and active mobility; establish, where possible, an optimal mix of motorized and non-motorized transport, with particular emphasis on public transport, walking and cycling, including bike-sharing services, safe pedestrian infrastructure and level crossings, especially in urban areas;

Adopt evidence- and/or science-based good practices for addressing key risk factors, including the non-use of seat belts, child restraints and helmets, medical conditions and medicines that affect safe driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, narcotic drugs and psychotropic and psychoactive substances, inappropriate use of mobile phones and other electronic devices, including texting while driving, speeding, driving in low visibility conditions, driver fatigue, as well as the lack of appropriate infrastructure; and for enforcement efforts, including road policing, coupled with awareness and education initiatives, supported by infrastructure designs that are intuitive and favour compliance with legislation and a robust emergency response and post-crash care system;

Ensure that road infrastructure improvements and investments are guided by an integrated road safety approach that, inter alia, takes into account the connections between road safety and eradication of poverty in all its dimensions, physical health, including visual impairment and mental health issues, the achievement of universal health coverage, economic growth, quality education, reducing inequalities within and among countries, gender equality and women’s empowerment, decent work, sustainable cities, environment and climate change, as well as the broader social determinants of road safety and the interdependence between Sustainable Development Goals and targets that are integrated, interlinked and indivisible, and assures minimum safety performance standards for all road users;

Ensure appropriate road user insurance schemes and enhance support for all victims of road traffic crashes and their families; strengthen pre-hospital care and post-crash response; and encourage access for persons with injuries and disabilities to appropriate services for early rehabilitation and social reintegration;

Improve the working conditions of professional drivers, particularly commercial vehicle drivers, including by pursuing the implementation of high standards on safety and health at work, road safety and adequate road and vehicle conditions, and invite Member States to implement professional driver qualification frameworks established on the basis of recognized standards for training, certification, licensing, fitness and driving assessment;

Integrate a gender perspective into all policymaking and implementation of transport policies that provide for safe, secure, inclusive, accessible, reliable and sustainable mobility, and non-discriminatory participation in transport; and ensure that policies cater to road users who might be in vulnerable situations, in particular children, youth, older persons and persons with disabilities;

Deliver evidence-based road safety knowledge and awareness programmes to promote a culture of safety among all road users and to address high-risk behaviours, especially among youth, and the broader road-using community through advocacy, training and education and encourage private sector participation in supplementing national efforts in promoting greater road safety awareness as part of corporate social responsibility;

Strengthen international cooperation on road safety through sharing of good practices, successful implementation mechanisms, and technical standards; ensuring that used vehicles comply with relevant national safety and emissions standards, striving to ensure that all vehicles produced and sold for every market by 2030 are equipped with appropriate levels of safety performance, and that incentives are provided, where possible, for use of vehicles with enhanced safety performance; encouraging the provision of consumer information on vehicle safety through new car assessment programmes that are independent from vehicle manufacturers and encouraging the sharing of such consumer information with the World Health Organization and other countries, in particular developing countries, including the least developed countries; and harmonization of practices, where appropriate, pertaining to training, driving hours and working conditions, vehicle registration, certification and licensing;

Acknowledge the importance of adequate, predictable, sustainable and timely international financing without conditionalities in complementing the efforts of countries in mobilizing resources domestically, especially in low- and middle-income countries; support the demands of financing in developing countries by leveraging the United Nations Road Safety Fund and other dedicated mechanisms, as appropriate, for promoting safe road transport infrastructure and for supporting the implementation of measures required to meet the voluntary global performance targets, including by supporting the voluntary replenishment of all United Nations system road safety funds and mechanisms;

Promote capacity-building, knowledge-sharing, technical support and technology transfer programmes and initiatives on mutually agreed terms in the area of road safety, especially in developing countries, which confront unique challenges and, where possible, the integration of such programmes and initiatives into sustainable development assistance programmes through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation formats, as well as public-private collaboration;

Promote the development, knowledge-sharing and deployment of vehicle automation and new technologies in traffic management using both intelligent transport systems and cooperative intelligent transport systems, in line with national requirements, to improve accessibility and all aspects of road safety while also monitoring, assessing, managing and mitigating challenges associated with rapid technological change and increasing connectivity;

Contribute to international and national road safety by encouraging research and improving and harmonizing disaggregated data collection on road safety, including data on road traffic crashes, resulting deaths and injuries, and road infrastructure, including those gathered from regional road safety observatories, to better inform policies and actions; strengthen road safety data capacity, including in low- and middle-income countries, and improve the quality of systematic and consolidated data collection and comparability at the international level for effective and evidence-based policymaking and implementation while taking into account privacy and national security considerations; and request the World Health Organization to continue to monitor and report on progress towards the achievement of the goals of the decade of action;

Leverage the full potential of the multilateral system, in particular the World Health Organization, the good offices of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Road Safety, the United Nations regional commissions and relevant United Nations entities, as well as other stakeholders, including the Global Road Safety Partnership, to support Member States with dedicated technical assistance and, upon their request, in applying voluntary global performance targets for road safety when appropriate;

Request the Secretary-General to provide, in consultation with the World Health Organization and other relevant agencies, a progress report during the seventy-eighth and eightieth sessions of the General Assembly, including recommendations on the implementation of the present declaration towards improving global road safety, which will serve to inform the high-level meeting to be convened in 2026;

Decide to convene a high-level meeting on improving global road safety in 2026 in New York, to undertake a comprehensive midterm review of the implementation of the present declaration to identify gaps and solutions to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the road safety-related Sustainable Development Goal targets by 2030, the scope and modalities of which shall be decided no later than at the eightieth session of the General Assembly, taking into account the revitalization of the work of the Assembly.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

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Who cites this mandate in the budget?