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EBRD hosts global conference aimed at cutting road deaths
A global conference aimed at reducing the blight of rapidly increasing road deaths and injuries across emerging nations was hosted on July 4 at the London Headquarters of the EBRD.
The Making Roads Safe Conference, co-organised by the FIA Foundation, brought together the World Bank, regional development banks, the EU and leading donor countries to discuss ways of ensuring that all internationally funded road projects in developing countries meet tough criteria for safety assessment and design.
The discussions, attended also by government representatives from emerging economies including Russia, Armenia and Moldova, are part of the build up to a United Nations ministerial conference on road safety that will be held in Russia in November, 2009.
Some $4 billion are spent each year in international funding for road projects in emerging countries, but road deaths in these regions remain an endemic problem. The London conference heard calls for this funding to be used more effectively in terms of increasing safety and reducing accidents and deaths.
Road crashes are already the world’s leading cause of death for young people in every region of the world and statistics for the EBRD region* are a particular cause for concern.
On average, 16.3-19 per 100,000 population die each year in road accidents in Eastern Europe and the CIS, compared with 11-12 per 100,000 in Western Europe, according to the World Health Organisation.
The World Bank predicts that road deaths in East Europe and Central Asia will increase by at least 19% from 1990 levels by 2020.
The EBRD views improvements in health and safety as part of the transition process across its region of activity in central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Brigita Schmögnerová, Vice President of the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, said: “Casualties from road accidents have increased by more than 30% in the EBRD countries of operation costing almost 2% of the GDP annually. Because road accidents primarily affect those between 15 and 55 who are in their prime working years, they have a knock-on effect on family welfare. Concrete steps need to be taken to improve road safety in terms of standards, engineering, and construction.”
The Making Roads Safe Conference heard that systematic implementation of safety assessments and design improvements to existing and new roads can act as a ‘vaccine for roads’, dramatically reducing road deaths.
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, Chairman of the Make Roads Safe campaign, said:
“Road infrastructure is a key priority of the international community and the governments of developing countries for its role in economic development and trade, and access to healthcare and education. Yet as roads are built or modernised, and speeds and traffic volumes increase, the death toll is rapidly rising. This is a tragedy.”
Results from pilot programmes in four developing countries published today by the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) show that tens of thousands of lives could be saved if low cost road safety improvements such as road markings, pedestrian crossings and crash barriers were implemented nationally.
*Road Fatalities in EBRD countries (Source: International Transport Forum, 2008)
Country Recorded Fatalities % increase 06/07
Albania 384 38.6
Armenia n/a
Azerbaijan 1,107 7.8
Belarus n/a
Bulgaria n/a
Croatia 619 0.8
Czech Rep 1222 15
Estonia 196 -3.9
Latvia 419 2.9
Lithuania 739 -2.6
Macedonia n/a
Georgia n/a
Moldova 464 21.5
Poland 5,555 6.2
Romania 2,791 13.5
Russia 33,308 1.8
Serbia 961 6.8
Slovakia n/a
Slovenia 293 13.1
Ukraine 9,481 38.1
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