Leaders in the transport, development, and for the first time, business sectors convened for Transforming Transportation this month in Washington, DC.Leaders in the transport, development, and for the first time, business sectors convened for Transforming Transportation in Washington, DC. A major focus was placed on ‘Sustainable Transport’ with an additional focus on road safety.

Cities are the world’s engines of economic growth. Yet many have a long way to go when it comes to ensuring safe and affordable access to jobs, education, and healthcare for its citizens—in part because their transport systems are inadequate and unsustainable. This weakness is visible in packed slums and painful commutes in cities that fail to provide affordable transport options.

Inadequate transport comes with other costs related to air quality and safety. Beijing, China, battles dangerous levels of air pollution due in large part to motor vehicle emissions. Major Indian metropolises like Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai are growing out instead of up, contributing to increased travel distances and an estimated 550 deaths every day from traffic accidents. And across the globe, cities are the locus of up to 70 percent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions driving climate change.

Poor transport systems not only hinder the public health and economic growth of cities, they can spur civil unrest. More than 100,000 protestors, for example, gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on one night in June 2013 to express a wide range of grievances, including transportation fare hikes, poor public services despite a high tax burden, and other urban issues. But in these challenges lie significant opportunities – particularly for the business and transport sectors at the city level.

Better Cities, Better Business

High-quality and affordable public transport systems make a city attractive to investors and thereby create more job opportunities. Reliable public transport systems also promote inclusiveness and allow all residents to benefit from the economic growth potential of a city.

The World Bank and EMBARQ – the sustainable urban transport and planning program of the World Resources Institute (WRI) – will co-organize Transforming Transportation with a team of partner organizations. Transforming Transportation is a two-day event that will bring together business leaders, policymakers, and city and transport officials. This year’s theme is “Better Cities, Better Business.” By convening this diverse group of stakeholders, we hope to share ideas and spread the message that the business and transport sectors can work together to improve the world’s cities – to benefit themselves, as well as millions of urban residents.

Businesses have not traditionally been seen as critical to improving urban areas, but they should be – 25 major cities account for approximately 50 percent of the world’s GDP, and improving cities is beneficial and rewarding for businesses and urban residents alike. Globally, cities are home to more than 3.5 billion people, more than half the population of the planet. People migrate to cities at the rate of tens of millions per year because cities reduce the physical distance between people and companies. Home to some of the poorest on the planet, they offer the most opportunities to raise oneself out of poverty. Companies are often located in cities for the same reason: proximity.

In a global race to attract and retain talent, cities and businesses must partner to create attractive, dynamic places to live and work. One immediate way businesses can help improve cities is by engaging with the transport sector. Consider the following opportunities:

In Mexico City, Mexico, traffic congestion forces 20 percent of workers to spend more than three hours commuting to work each day, and chronic traffic congestion in Cairo is estimated to cost up to US$8 billion per year — about 4% of Egypt’s GDP. Sustainable transport solutions can help recover the financial value of hours of productivity lost – Line 3 of Mexico City’s bus rapid transit (BRT) system, Metrobús, has saved US$142 million in travel time alone.

Similarly, investing in sustainable transport infrastructure improves road safety for users across all modes of transport, including passengers on public transport, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Because traffic crashes currently claim 1.2 million lives every year and are predicted to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030, investment in pedestrianization and cycling infrastructure could be a game-changer. The vastly publicized pedestrianization of Times Square has also benefited businesses as foot traffic has increased; Times Square has become one of the 10 most successful retail destinations in the world since the beginning of its transformation. What has been good for residents has been good for the city and businesses at large. From Buenos Aires, Argentina’s famed Florida Street, to the Pandara Market in Delhi, India, pedestrian areas make commercial sense: they attract tourists, shoppers and workers on their lunch break.

Working Together for Sustainable Urbanization

In today’s increasingly globalized, interconnected world, we can’t operate in silos – whether in the business, transport, or development sectors. Truly improving cities for the benefit of all requires concerted, cross-sectoral action and seizing all sorts of opportunities—from advances in technology to climate finance and shifts in the global development agenda. We also need to follow the example of recent innovations, like the rapidly expanding car-sharing industry or auto-rickshaw fleet reorganizations and think outside of the box. The most effective solutions may not necessarily be high-tech, but they will certainly require creative, collaborative thinking.

Several major milestones loom ahead: the 20^th and the 21^st Conferences of the Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Lima in 2014 and Paris in 2015, as well as the definition of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These key events will set framework for global action after 2015. Transforming Transportation offers a unique opportunity for businesses, transport experts, and policymakers to raise the right questions and hone in on issues that will take center stage in upcoming international summits. These discussions will help shape economic, environmental, and social sustainability for decades to come.

Learn more: You are encouraged to engage and raise questions on social media using #TTDC14, follow @wbsustaindev and @EMBARQNetwork on Twitter for real-time updates, and tune-in to www.transformingtransportation.org and World Bank LIVE for video streaming of select sessions.

We are incredibly excited to announce that YOURS will be delivering a major road safety programme in Belize in the Caribbean. 2,000 Belizean youths between ages 16-29 are expected to benefit from a USD157,000 Youth and Road Safety Capacity Building Project jointly funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Government of Belize (GOBZ).

The project funded by a CDB-Grant of USD110,000 with a counterpart contribution of USD47,000 by the GOBZ, will be executed by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Road Safety Unit and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

Mr. Glen McCarvell, Operations Officer (Civil Engineer), CDB, notes, “Road traffic injuries are the fourth leading cause of death in Belize. Of these, youth comprise 30 per cent of road crash fatalities, with young males specifically, accounting for 90 per cent. Through this project we aim to increase youth’s understanding of road safety, and youth-related issues surrounding the safe use of Belize’s road network. In particular, the project seeks to catalyse behavioural change in young males, while equipping all participants with the knowledge needed, and assisting with the development of the skills required, to implement their own road safety activities.”

The road safety capacity building programme for youths will be facilitated by Youth For Road Safety (YOURS), an international youth-led and youth-oriented, not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation focused on youth and road safety. The programme will utilise a train-the-trainer approach, while incorporating peer education and active learning.

It is expected that the project will also enhance the benefits to be realised from the ongoing USD8.844 million CDB-funded Road Safety Project launched in March 2013.

Belize has the highest road fatality rate of CDB’s 19 borrowing member countries. The high death rate is disturbing from a public health point of view and also translates into significant social and economic impacts due to lost productivity and increased vulnerability to poverty. A study carried out in 2007 by Belize’s Ministry of Health estimated that the cost of road traffic injuries to Belize’s economy was equivalent to USD16 million.

Floor Lieshout, Director of YOURS said: “We are thrilled about this contract and thank the CDB and Belize Government for the trust in our organisation. We are looking forward to our collaboration, and can’t wait to kick off the project and work with the wonderful youth of Belize.”

An interactive flash map from the Pulitzer Center has been published and illustrates the number of deaths on a countries road per 100,000 citizens allowing us to see a comparison of deaths between rich and poor parts of the world. The global road death toll has already reached 1.24 million per year and is on course to triple to 3.6 million per year by 2030. In the developing world, where this pandemic has hit hardest, it will become the fifth leading cause of death, leapfrogging past HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other familiar killers, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) most recent Global Burden of Disease study.

More than 1.2 million are killed on the world’s roads each year—and that number is increasing rapidly. If nothing is done to reverse this trend, the annual death toll is on course to triple by 2030.

The toll is highest in the developing world. Poor countries account for 50 percent of the world’s road traffic, but 90 percent of the traffic fatalities. Road accidents will soon become the fifth leading cause of death in these countries, leapfrogging past HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other familiar killers, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) most recent Global Burden of Disease study.

Highway fatalities are also a “poverty-inducing problem,” according to Jose Luis Irigoyen, a highway safety expert at the World Bank. “It’s costing on average between 1 and 3 percent of GDP” in low- and middle-income countries, he says, an amount that can offset the billions of dollars in aid money that these countries currently receive.

In 2010, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for a “Decade of Action for Road Safety.” The goal is to stabilize and eventually reverse the upward trend in road fatalities, saving an estimated 5 million lives during the period. The World Bank and other regional development banks have made road safety a priority, but according to Irigoyen, donor funding lags “very far below” the $24 billion that has been pledged to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

In “Roads Kill,” The Washington Post joins with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to bring stories from around the world about this neglected but easily curable public-health crisis.

Nigeria Analysis from the Washington Post
ABUJA — The green-and-white taxi sped through the intersection, ignoring the traffic policewoman officer and narrowly missing a red Honda Civic coming from the adjacent road.

“Wèr è!” — the word means “lunatic” in the Yoruba language — the policewoman screams at the offending driver as he steps on the gas and zooms away. She glares at the disappearing vehicle, powerless to do anything else — no ticket, no fine, nothing for Nigeria’s reckless drivers who routinely act as though the law does not apply to them. It’s only 11:30 a.m. in Abuja, Nigeria’s busy capital, and this policewoman is about to witness several more infractions.

In Nigeria, speed limits appear to be viewed as mere suggestions, lanes are flexible, driving against traffic is routine and if you are caught, a little money can make all your troubles go away.

Nigeria has the worst driving record in Africa: nearly 34 deaths for every 100,000 residents, according to a 2013 World Health Organization report. The Federal Road Safety Commission, the agency responsible for road safety administration in the country, blames most of these accidents on speeding. The country’s notoriously poorly maintained roads, riddled with potholes, help ensure that Nigeria is among the most dangerous places in the world to drive.

“It is not just about drivers here not regarding the rules,” says Afolabi Bakare, a taxi driver. “The truth is most of them do not even know the rules. How many people go to driving school before they get their driving licenses? To tell the truth, even me — I did not know how to drive very well when I got my driver’s license.”