A new Decade of Action aims to reduce deaths by fifty percent

1 September 2020

The UN General Assembly has adopted a new resolution on global road safety.

The Resolution:

• Reiterates its invitation to Member States and the international community to intensify national, regional and international collaboration, with a view to meeting the ambitious road safety-related targets in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• Endorses the Stockholm Declaration, approved at the third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, held in Stockholm on 19 and 20 February 2020.
• Proclaims the period 2021–2030 as the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety, with a goal of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50 per cent from 2021 to 2030, and in this regard calls upon Member States to continue action through 2030 on all the road safety-related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Among its many provisions the UNGA resolution also: 

• Encourages Member States to ensure political commitment and responsibility at the highest possible level for improving road safety, and to develop and/or implement road safety strategies and plans with the involvement of all relevant stakeholders, including all sectors and levels of government, as appropriate. 
• Invites 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, the drinking of alcohol and driving, and speeding, and to consider implementing appropriate, effective and evidence- and/or science-based legislation on other risk factors related to distracted or impaired driving.
• Reaffirms the role and importance of the United Nations legal instruments on road safety.
• Encourages Member States that have not yet done so to consider becoming contracting parties to the United Nations legal instruments on road safety and, beyond accession, applying, implementing and promoting their provisions or safety regulations.
• Encourages Member States to make efforts to ensure the safety and protection of all road users through safer road infrastructure by taking into account the needs of motorized and non-motorized transport, and other vulnerable road users, especially on the highest-risk roads with high rates of crashes, through a combination of proper planning and safety assessment.
• Invites Member States that have not already done so to consider adopting policies and measures to implement United Nations vehicle safety regulations or equivalent national standards to ensure that all new motor vehicles meet applicable minimum regulations for the protection of occupants and other road users, with seat belts, airbags and active safety systems fitted as standard equipment.