Belize receives IRF flagship road safety award

10 May 2015

The Find-A-Way Award, established in 2012 by IRF Chairman Abdullah Al-Mogbel, recognizes outstanding leadership and commitment to safer roads by national, regional and local governments. The Award is presented every year on the anniversary of the launch of the United Nation's Decade of Action for Road Safety, which set a goal to reduce road traffic deaths and serious injuries 50% by 2020.

"The IRF's flagship road safety award was designed around the idea that, when it comes to saving lives, political leadership matters," said C. Patrick Sankey, president & CEO of the International Road Federation. "Experience from countries across the world has shown that long-term planning and coordinated multi-sector interventions work. In 2013, the Government of Belize and the Caribbean Development Bank launched a groundbreaking road safety project built around this very idea. It is therefore a great honor for the IRF to offer the 2015 IRF Find-A-Way Award to the Government of Belize for their concerted effort to reduce deaths and serious injuries on their roads."

Speaking for the Caribbean Development Bank, Mr.Glen McCarvell noted, "the Belize road safety project not only supports interventions to build the country's road safety management capacity, it also aims to improve the safety of road infrastructure, support police enforcement efforts and improve post-crash care. As the first such multi-sectorial initiative in the region, this project offers a template for improving road safety throughout the Caribbean nations."

The presentation of the IRF's Find-A-Way Award is one of several key contributions by the International Road Federation to the 3rd U.N. Global Road Safety Week, an initiative aimed at fostering discussion and awareness-raising in more than 100 countries. Other IRF contributions have included a policy statement on children and road safety, as well as the organization of a capacity-building workshop for Saudi highway professionals.