Skip to main content

Initiative to Include Road Safety in Sustainable Development Goals

Road safety is a key issue for sustainable development targets. During the Rio+20 Conference in 2012, it was agreed by member States to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to build on the Millennium Development Goals and converge with the post-2015 development agenda. Over the past six months, IRF Geneva has undertaken a sustained campaign to ensure that road safety is included in the SDGs. As part of this, Kiran K Kapila, chairman, IRF Geneva, has reached out, amon
September 15, 2015 Read time: 4 mins
Road safety in developing nations can form part of sustainable development targets
RSSRoad safety is a key issue for sustainable development targets

During the Rio+20 Conference in 2012, it was agreed by member States to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to build on the Millennium Development Goals and converge with the post-2015 development agenda.

Over the past six months, 1201 IRF Geneva has undertaken a sustained campaign to ensure that road safety is included in the SDGs. As part of this, Kiran K Kapila, chairman, IRF Geneva, has reached out, amongst others, to the UN Secretary General, United Nations for Economic Cooperation for Africa, Transport Ministers of APEC countries, the Prime Minister of India, the Heads of States of the African Union. The aim of this approach is to have road safety covered under 3.6.1 to 3.6.3 of the SDGs titled, “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. The following additions to the objective on Road Safety have been proposed:

3.6.1 Strengthening the capacity of all countries, in particular, developing countries, for ensuring proper integration of road safety into existing systems at the policy, legislative, implementation and operational levels.

3.6.2 Substantially increase funding available for road safety by earmarking adequate financial resources in the general budget.

3.6.3 Ensure adequate data collection and management to measure the results of actions undertaken for defining appropriate strategies.

Road safety in developing nations can form part of sustainable development targets

World Road Statistics – 2015 Edition

The International Road Federation, Geneva has been collecting and publishing the World Road Statistics (WRS), the only comprehensive, universal source of statistical data on road networks, traffic and inland transport, for the last 52 years.

During this time the WRS have developed into an invaluable and internationally accepted reference for governments, NGOs, investments banks, and research institutes.

The WRS includes data, by country, on the length and quality of the road network, the volume of traffic, a comparison of road transport with other transport modes and the size and composition of the vehicle fleet. It also covers the number of road accidents and fatalities, production, imports, first registrations and exports of motor vehicles, and expenditures on developing and maintaining the road network, and energy consumption.

This data is available for the period 2000 – 2013 and the latest edition of the WRS – the WRS 2015 - is now ready for release.

The 2015 Edition now includes data for 205 countries (compared to 200 in 2014), it includes new data on the unpaved road network in a country, and the data for the period 2008 – 2013 has been made consistent with the data from 2000 – 2007.

The World Bank:

“The World Bank Group greatly values its longstanding collaboration with the IRF, whose rigorous and comprehensive World Road Statistics form a prime basis for the transport services data compiled in our annual World Development Indicators.”

AASHTO:

“We admire the IRF’s emphasis on safety and transportation best practices, and we continue to value the IRF’s advocacy and overall mission, ‘Better roads. Better World’.”

The International Road Union (IRU):

“The IRF World Road Statistics are an essential complement to our own studies and have a well-deserved reputation as a comprehensive and up-to-date source of key road infrastructure and traffic data. Together, they serve as vital tools for the development of sustainable, fact-based transport policies worldwide.”

The International Energy Agency (IEA):

“We congratulate the IRF for this 50th Anniversary edition of its World Road Statistics, which have been especially valuable in the IEA’s analysis of global land transport infrastructure requirements to 2050.”

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD):

““The IRF World Road Statistics publication is an invaluable resource for understanding the importance of roads worldwide.”
















































For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • UN sets global target for road safety
    October 21, 2015
    The UN has set a global benchmark for reducing traffic fatalities on the world’s road network. Data shows that every year, almost 1.3 million people are killed in road crashes around the globe, according to information gathered by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In a bid to tackle this major problem, world leaders recently vowed to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents by 2020. This target was agreed at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York.
  • The IRF India Regional Conference is seeing its 9th edition this year
    July 7, 2015
    The IRF Geneva said that India has the dubious distinction of claiming the highest number of fatalities by road crashes. More than 10% of road-related deaths occur in India alone, and this poses a serious challenge, being the major killer of young and productive lives. While India’s infrastructure programme is being lauded all over the world and high rate of growth has been achieved for the 1.25 billion strong democracy, a significant 3% of the GDP is lost every year due to the uncontrolled and unmanaged
  • ITF and FIA launch road safety co-operation on traffic crash data
    May 22, 2014
    A three-year programme has been agreed intended to improve the collection and use of traffic crash data. This landmark agreement forms part of the joint effort for UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety. The partnership which will focus on the improvement of road safety data and its analysis was agreed between the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the International Transport Forum (ITF). FIA President Jean Todt signed the agreement together with the ITF Secretary-General José Viegas at an
  • 17th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition: Sharing Knowledge Across Borders
    March 28, 2014
    IRF publishes highlights and proceedings of the premier event for transportation professionals in 2013 IRF World Meetings have constituted important focal points for the sector ever since the first Meeting in 1952. Held on 10-14 November 2013 against a backdrop of unprecedented infrastructure expansion in Saudi Arabia, the 17th IRF World Meeting & Exhibition continued this proud tradition and set new standards for scale, scope and outreach.