Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety
On March 31, 2008, the 62nd UN General Assembly Session adopted Resolution 62/244 calling for a Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety to be held in November 2009. Cabinet ministers of national sectors integral to a coordinated national road safety policy will be invited to participate in this first global ministerial conference focused on the goal of developing an international protocol to address the global epidemic of rising death and injury rates particularly in developing and transitional countries. It is hoped that at the Ministerial Conference, experts from the fields of structural and civil engineering, transportation planning, development economics, emergency trauma and rehabilitative medicine, information systems, and justice administration will present research findings on the national, regional and international economic and social development costs and trend implications of existing road traffic management frameworks. Initial objectives established for the Ministerial Conference include:
- Assess progress at a regional level by considering relevant action plans, reviewing targets set by the UN Regional Economic Commissions, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the African Union (AU) , and the European Union (EU), and the progress made towards achieving them;
- Agree on common definitions for key road safety data reporting systems, and identify good practice in knowledge transfer on key risk factors and the development of multi-sectoral national road safety strategies;
- Examine the progress of the United Nations World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulations and the 1949/1968 UN Road Traffic Conventions, and progress towards wider participation in these efforts;
- Review the work of the Commission for Global Road Safety , UN Road Safety Collaboration, the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility Action Plan, and the implementation of the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention and the related UN Resolutions;
- Identify road safety’s contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and prepare proposals for the review of the transport dimension of sustainable development to be undertaken by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in 2010;
- Provide an opportunity for low- and middle-income countries to confirm their commitment to action to implement the recommendations of the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention and adopt national road safety strategies and targets.
Stakeholder support in preparing their countries to participate in the Global Ministerial Conference is essential. We invite the community of global road safety stakeholders to work within their own nations to raise awareness of their country’s road safety status and to ensure each nation will have high-level participation in the upcoming Ministerial Conference. A specific framework for developing a national mobilization action plan will be forthcoming
Executive Summary of March 31, 2008 UN General Assembly Session on Global Road Safety
In addition to the links in the text, additional resources are listed below.
2nd UN Stakeholders Forum on Global Road Safety: Executive Summary (April 2007)
The Global Road Safety Crisis: We Should Do Much More (September 2004)
Make Roads Safe Report (2006)
Make Road Safe: The Campaign for Global Road Safety (2007)
World Bank Global Road Safety Facility Strategic Plan 2006-2015
UN Resolution A/RES/57/309. Global road safety crisis (May 2003)
UN Resolution A/RES/58/9. Global road safety crisis (November 2003)
UN Resolution A/RES/58/289, Improving global road safety (April 2004)
UN Resolution A/RES/60/5. Improving global road safety (December 2005)
UN Resolution A/RES/62/244 Improving global road safety (March 2008)
UN Secretary General's Report on Global Road Safety A/58/228 (August 2003)
UN Secretary General's Report on Improving Global Road Safety A/62/257 (August 2007)
Regional Documents
279 (XXVIV) Follow-Up to Implementation of Components of the Integrated Transport System in the Arab Mashreq (May 2006)
The Declaration of San Jose (September 2006)
The Ministerial Declaration on Improving Road Safety in Asia and the Pacific (November 2006)
The Declaration of Delhi (January 2007)
The Accra Declaration (February 2007)