Who should be primarily responsible for road safety on a national and international level?
This is an important question. At present road safety is seen as everybodys responsibility and therefore nobody is being held accountable. Clearly, for a problem that globally causes about 1.2 million deaths and injures 10-15 million people a year, responsibilities should be assigned. Road safety is everybodys responsibilitythe road users, governments, donor agencies, academia, and non-governmental organisations. However, what is needed is a commission or agency in each country that will coordinate a multidisciplinary agenda, with clear roles for all, and ensure that this agenda is developed, implemented, and monitored. This commission or agency should have the mandate and resources to carry out this task. Public transport is safer and more sustainable than private car travel, but the car predominateshow can we change this? This statement does not always hold true. In developing countries public transport is often unsafe and contributes significantly to the number of casualties. Having
This is an important question. At present road safety is seen as everybody’s responsibility and therefore nobody is being held accountable. Clearly, for a problem that globally causes about 1.2 million deaths and injures 10-15 million people a year, responsibilities should be assigned. Road safety is everybody’s responsibility—the road users, governments, donor agencies, academia, and non-governmental organisations. However, what is needed is a commission or agency in each country that will coordinate a multidisciplinary agenda, with clear roles for all, and ensure that this agenda is developed, implemented, and monitored. This commission or agency should have the mandate and resources to carry out this task. Public transport is safer and more sustainable than private car travel, but the car predominates—how can we change this? This statement does not always hold true. In developing countries public transport is often unsafe and contributes significantly to the number of casualties. Ha
