Creating safe and inclusive road transport has become a matter of global concern, as the human and economic burdens that road crashes produce hamper sustainable development. For members of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), road safety is a major challenge. Most of the transport sector-related fatalities occur on the roads and in the Asia-Pacific region. Ninety seven percent of road fatalities occur in middle-income countries. Fifty-five percent of all road fatalities in the region involve vulnerable road users including pedestrians, cyclists, and motorized 2 and 3-wheelers. While the road fatality number in the ESCAP region reduced by 12 percent between 2016 and 2019, the road death toll is still unacceptable. This can’t be seen as business as usual.
A road traffic crash is a result of multiple factors related to the components of the road transport system comprising roads, the environment, vehicles and road users, and the way they interact with each other. Some factors contribute to the occurrence of a collision and are therefore part of crash causation. Other factors aggravate the effects of the crash and thus contribute to higher severity. Tackling the risk factors through the identification of interventions that can reduce the risks associated with those risk factors. As per the Global Status Report on Road Safety 20181 published by the World Health Organization (WHO), enacting and enforcing legislation on key risk factors including speed, drink-driving, use of motorcycle helmets and car seatbelts, and child restraint systems are critical components of a safe system approach to prevent road traffic crashes, injuries, and fatalities in the countries.
Since 2019, the ESCAP secretariat published a series of study reports on road safety risk factors including, i) speed, ii) drink-driving, c) motorcycle helmet use, and d) seat belt and child restraints for Asia-Pacific member countries. In 2022, a study has been concluded on the topic of “strategies to tackle the distraction caused by the use of mobile phones use while driving.”
The ESCAP secretariat will organize an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on “Improving Road Safety” in a hybrid format in Bangkok on 9-10 August 2022. The objective of the EGM will be to present the findings of the studies conducted by the ESCAP secretariat on road safety risk factors including speeding, motorcycle helmets, car seatbelts, and distraction caused by mobile phone use while driving and to facilitate discussion among the EGM participants including Government officials from the ESCAP member countries, international organizations, non-government organizations, research institutions, and academia. The presentations and discussions will help build the capacities of the participants on how to tackle those risk factors toward improving road safety in the region.
