According to Indonesia’s Antara news agency, with 1.3 million people killed and up to 50 million injured every year in road crashes, 90 percent of them in developing countries, traffic accidents have become the leading cause of death for young people aged 5 to 29. Road crashes now kill more people worldwide than malaria.

“Unless well-targeted measures are taken, there will be an escalating death toll on the roads in poor countries, which would be a terrible tragedy,” World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick added.

Zoellick urged countries to invest in road safety, and called on donors to provide funds through the new initiative. Both financing and capacity-building in developing countries are needed, he said, to meet the goals of the UN Decade.

The goal is to reduce the forecast 2020 level of road deaths by 50 percent, from 1.9 million to under one million a year. Achieving the 2020 target could save up to five million lives and prevent 50 million serious injuries.

“We must make road safety a more urgent priority in the development assistance provided by multilateral development banks for road projects. Otherwise, the cost to developing countries is too great. We must deliver the needed resources to create transformational change for safety,” Zoellick said.

He added that leaders of the Multilateral Development Banks’ Road Safety Initiative are committed to building partnerships and raising funds from governments, the private sector and voluntary organizations to support projects in developing countries. The initiative has been coordinated by the Global Road Safety Facility.

Also present at World Bank headquarters for the event were New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is a committed advocate and donor to road safety issues, and actress Michelle Yeoh, Global Ambassador of the Make Roads Safe Campaign.

Partners of the Multilateral Development Banks’ Road Safety Initiative include the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the World Bank.

The initiative calls for an integrated Safe System approach which promotes shared responsibility for ensuring safe mobility, and starts with countries naming a lead agency to direct a national road safety strategy.

The Safe System approach recognizes that human error is inevitable and should not be punished by death or serious injury. It calls for road transport systems designed and operated to ensure far greater protection for all their users.

This depends on a shared responsibility for safety among all partners and stakeholders to align safety management decision-making with a country`s economic, human and environmental goals. Ultimately, a Safe System depends on increasing public awareness of and demand for safe road transport services and products.

— BERNAMA

The press conference was covered by the media; national television Mali, Mali’s national radio and by several private radio and written press. This was officially launched on 7th April 2011.

The conference had the initial prupose of informing and educating the participants, viewers, radio listeners and newspaper readers of the launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety which is scheduled for launch May 11, 2011 and secondly to make public participation requirements and criteria for selecting members of the jury for the competition.

Recall that the prizes of the contest is scheduled for 11 May. The contest is organized by the association “Action and Youth for Development and Road Safety“ (AJD – Road Safety).

More information about the event can be obtained from Mr Fofana Mahamadou, President AJD – Road Safety, Bamako (MALI), tel.: 66 81 13 48.

The press conference was covered by the media; national television Mali, Mali’s national radio and by several private radio and written press. This was officially launched on 7th April 2011.

The conference had the initial prupose of informing and educating the participants, viewers, radio listeners and newspaper readers of the launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety which is scheduled for launch May 11, 2011 and secondly to make public participation requirements and criteria for selecting members of the jury for the competition.

Recall that the prizes of the contest is scheduled for 11 May. The contest is organized by the association “Action and Youth for Development and Road Safety“ (AJD – Road Safety).

More information about the event can be obtained from Mr Fofana Mahamadou, President AJD – Road Safety, Bamako (MALI), tel.: 66 81 13 48.

The Mandela Day initiative embodies the values of Nelson Mandela as daughter Zoleka Mandela speaks to delegates at the Make Road Safe conference for the Decade of Action for Road Safety in London this month. The Mandela family vow to help the United Nations bid to save lives on the world’s roads.

For mor information about the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Zenani Mandela Scholarship, visit www.nelsonmandela.org