UNRSC meets to discuss road safety advocacy at the time of Covid-19

UNRSC meets to discuss road safety advocacy at the time of Covid-19

The UN Road Safety Collaboration (UNRSC) was due to hold its April meeting in New York, back-to-back with a UN General Assembly meeting where Member States were expected to ratify the 2030 extension to SDG target 3.6 to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 50%. Because of the lockdown being implemented in many countries around the world the UN GA has been postponed. The UNRSC was hence hosted virtually for the first time on 16 April.

More than 130 participants discussed the success of the Third Global Ministerial Conferenceand how to advocate for road safety during Covid-19.Strong support was expressed by the group for a relaunching of the Stockholm Declaration when the pandemic response eases.

IRF (Geneva) stressed the need to focus on new stimulus packages as a means to advocate for safer roads. The project group 2 of UNRSC which is co-chaired by the IRF (Geneva) released in February in Stockholm a publication titled “Ten Steps Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure” that offers a practical guidance framework for countries – especially low and middle income – on how to achieve SDG target 3.6 through safe road infrastructure.