Ban Ki Moon: “Each day, nearly 3,500 people die on the roads. Tens of thousands more are injured. Families are broken apart. The futures of young people are dashed. Road accidents have become the leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 29. This is an unacceptable price to pay for mobility”. The World Day of Remembrance is an annual event that takes a moment to reflect upon the lives lost on our roads and to make conscious efforts to change the situation through road safety.
About World Day
The World Day of Remembrance is the day on which all those killed and injured in road crashes are remembered, together with their families, the emergency services and all others affected or involved in the aftermath.
Why is there a need for World Day?
Road deaths and injuries are sudden, violent, traumatic events, and their impact is long-lasting, often permanent. Each year, millions of newly bereaved and injured people from every corner of the world are added to the many millions already suffering as the result of a road crash.
The sense of grief and distress of this huge group of people is all the greater because many of the victims are young, because many of the crashes could and should have been prevented and because the response to road death and injury and to road crash victims is often experienced as inadequate, cruelly unsympathetic, and inappropriate to a loss of life or quality of life.
WHO and UN promote global recognition
From 2003 onwards the World Health Organisation has been supporting the recognition of this day. The United Nations official recognition came with UN resolution 60/5, adopted by the General Assembly on 26 October 2005 who welcomed the proposal to designate the third Sunday in November as the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, in recognition of road traffic victims and their families’ loss and suffering and invited Member States and the international community to recognize this day.
YOURS’ Contribution to the WDR
We will mourn the lives lost on our roads this special day. It also reminds us once again to Embrace Life and commit to road safety. Therefore YOURS announces that our 2011 global road safety awareness campaign, Embrace Life, will launch its picture exhibition to coincide respectfully with the World Day of Remembrace. We have received hundreds of pictures from people around the world who are aware of the fragility of life and therefore embracing life and are fully committed to road safety.
You can read Secretary General’s Statement for WDR in our attachements along with a host of articles about the WDR.
UNRSC Chair Dr Etienne Krug’s Statement for the WDR can be read here.
Please take a moment this Sunday 20th November to reflect on the lives lost and pledge to make efforts for road safety to prevent such tragedies.