New York: The UN General Assembly has urged accelerated action to reduce deaths and injuries from traffic accidents worldwide by implementing the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030.
Acting without a vote, the 193-member organ adopted the resolution “Improving global road safety” by which it urged member states and relevant actors to accelerate and scale up efforts to implement the Global Plan, making road safety a political priority and ensuring its relevance in the broader sustainable development agenda.
Also by the text, the Assembly invited 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, and driving under the influence.
It encouraged countries to establish ministerial coordination mechanisms — notably among the health, transport, education, infrastructure, interior and environment ministries — to address cross-cutting issues.
The Assembly welcomed Morocco’s offer to host the fourth Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety from 18 to 20 February 2025 in Marrakech. It also called upon Member States to strengthen the collection, reporting and use of road safety data to generate real-time feedback to inform the implementation of the Global Plan.
“As we approach the halfway point of the Decade of Action, there is still a great deal to do to accelerate action,” Moroccan delegate Hanaa Bouchikhi said the representative of Morocco as she introduced the resolution.
She noted that every year, roughly 1.2 million people die because of a road accident. For its part, Morocco has launched a new strategy for 2016-2026 and created the National Agency for Road Safety in 2018 to reduce such deaths.
Noting that the upcoming 2025 conference in her country will be “the first of its kind on the African continent”, Ms. Bouchikhi said that special attention will be given to Africa where road accident deaths increased by 15 per cent from 2010 to 2021.
