More work needed to cut global traffic-related accidents: UN

With over 1.25 million people dying every year in road accidents, UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean Todt and UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) head Christian Bach called on Wednesday for the full implementation of UN road safety legal instruments to reduce traffic accidents worldwide.

"We urge all UN member States to take their responsibilities and to ratify and fully apply the UN road safety legal instruments," the two officials declared in a statement.

'We also call on the motor industry as a whole to ensure that well-established safety standards are applied to all vehicles sold in developing countries," they added.

Figures reveal that 90 percent of total deaths take place in low and middle-income countries, even though only slightly over half (54 percent) of the world's vehicles are in these regions.

With 26.6 victims per 100,000 people (compared to 9.3 in Europe), Africa has the highest mortality rate in the world, as well as accounting for 43 percent of road traffic victims.

Statistics also show that road accidents are the number one cause of death for young adults aged 15-29, while claiming the lives of 500 innocent children every day.

In light of these figures and the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the international community has committed to half the number of road traffic fatalities by 2020.

According to UNECE, greater efforts from stakeholders and countries alike are needed to put in place legal instruments whose aim is to help them build safer roads and vehicles.

"We stand ready, with our partners in the road safety community, to help countries to accede and implement these agreements. We must work together to live up to the promise made by the international community to save millions of lives by 2020," Todt and Bach concluded. Endit