WHO asks drivers to slow down for Global Road Safety Week

12.00 | 10 March 2017 | | 1 comment

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is encouraging drivers across the globe to show their support for the fourth UN Global Road Safety Week by pledging to #SlowDown.

Taking place 8-14 May 2017, the bi-annual event is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety on 11 May 2011.

The event is organised by the UN Road Safety Collaboration which was set up in 2004 by WHO to ‘discuss global road safety issues’ and ‘facilitate international cooperation and strengthen global and regional coordination among UN agencies’.

WHO says that speed contributes to around one-third of all fatal road traffic crashes in high-income countries, and up to half in low- and middle-income countries.

The 2017 Global Road Safety Week will set out to ‘increase understanding of the dangers of speed and generate action on measures to address speed, thereby saving lives’.

The campaign is encouraging drivers to ‘speed up the solutions to #SlowDown’ by signing a pledge. People can also download a signboard and share their pledge photos on social media. A selection of graphics for social media are also available to download from the event website.

WHO has selected the UK-based campaign group 20’s Plenty for Us to prepare an ‘action toolkit’ for the event. 20’s Plenty says this is ‘world class recognition’ of its ‘expertise in helping community volunteers with speed management activism’.

The week is set to feature hundreds of events hosted by governments, international agencies, local authorities and civil society organisations, and private companies. The event website includes a map of the world highlighting ‘registered events’ (scroll down the page). The only UK event currently showing is a poster competition by the road safety charity Brake.

The 2015 Global Road Safety Week used the slogan #SaveKidsLives to highlight the challenges and dangers faced by children on roads across the World.

Road Safety GB led a wide ranging campaign across the UK with support from road safety stakeholders including the DfT, Transport Scotland, Highways England, Brake, RoSPA, AIRSO and Road Safety Support

Initiatives in 2015 included a database of road safety professionals in the UK who were willing to support colleagues abroad, road safety resources for children and educators, and a series of online forums focussing on child road safety issues.

 

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    I am delighted that today I will be presenting at the UN Road Safety Collaboration meeting in Bangkok on the #SLOWDOWN DAY Toolkit that we have developed with WHO for use in the Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week.

    This will soon be available on the website at http://www.unroadsafetyweek.org/


    Rod King, 20’s Plenty for Us, Bangkok
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