The world tour to make the “pandemic” of traffic accidents visible begins in Latin America

During an interview with UN News, Todt highlighted the importance of making road safety part of “the global agenda” and that “hopefully, thanks to the work we do at the UN together with other large organizations, create more awareness about this silent pandemic, making it even more visible“.

The special envoy made these statements from Buenos Aires where he concluded the last stage of his Latin American tour, which also took him to Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia.

“A lot is going on in the region, but of course the number of victims is still too high“, he declared during his mission that he undertook together with the World Bank and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations.

Raise more political and financial support

The main objective of the mission was to obtain greater political support and increase financial investment in road safety, in order to promote the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety what are you looking for Halve the number of deaths and injuries from road accidents in the world by 2030.

In parallel, the envoy also sought to foster alliances for safe and sustainable mobility for all, including the World Bank, civil society and the private sector.

“We have 8 billion people in the world, and for those 8 billion road users, the responsibility is shared. It would be unfair to say that it is only a political responsibility; it has to be supported from all sectors, placing road safety as the priority in any agenda and guaranteeing compliance with the Sustainable Development Goal (number) 3.6“, said.

Invest in safe and sustainable mobility

In addition, Todt hopes to increase awareness of safe and sustainable mobility both in the region and beyond, according to the target number 11.2 of the Goalsapart from raising awareness about road safety and promoting the new UN campaign #StreetsForLife.

“Of course, the road infrastructure is very important. The lighting, the pedestrian crossings (…) all of that is part of the program. It is It is easy to say that infrastructures need to be changed, but in reality it is not easy to do so.”

For this reason, it defends a greater application of laws and daily actions that help change the global profile of road safety.

“We have to make sure that the law is applied, and that there is still a lot to do in driver education related to driver training and obtaining a driver’s license, with the use of motorcycle helmets approved by the UN, with the use of seat belts, to prevent driving under the influence of alcohol and to ensure that people do not text while driving. These are issues that we are discussing very closely with governments,” he said.

The special envoy will continue his world tour this year visiting Asia and East and West Africa.

In Todt’s opinion, the African continent is the most accident-prone part of the world, followed by Asia.