Mandatory wearing of seat belts in cars was first introduced in Europe in the 1970s. Global Road Safety Campaign: Legislation and technology to help reduce deaths Healthcare
Every year, 1.2 million people die on the roads. Between 40 million and 50 million people suffer injuries from road traffic accidents, some of which lead to lifelong disability. UN Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean Todt announced this today at a press conference in New York. He also recalled that the road is the “number one killer” among young people.
Todt emphasized that within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN has set a target (SDG 3.6) to halve the number of deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents worldwide. And this, the Special Envoy believes, can be achieved through “simple measures” such as wearing seat belts, obeying speed limits, wearing motorcycle helmets, not using a mobile phone while driving, and not drinking alcohol or taking drugs before getting behind the wheel.
Reducing the number of road accidents in New York
New York City Commissioner for International Affairs Edward Mermelstein also took part in the press conference. He declared that “New York City’s streets have become markedly safer” during 10 years of Vision Zero, a multinational traffic safety initiative.
“As the first American city, By adopting such an ambitious safety program, New York created a model that other cities, states and countries are now implementing. Since the launch of Vision Zero, total traffic deaths have dropped by more than 12 percent and pedestrian deaths have dropped by 45 percent when 2023 data is compared to 2013 numbers,” Mermelstein said.
Legislation and technology
Jean-Luc Decaux, a spokesman for the outdoor advertising corporation JCDecaux, which is working with the UN on a global road safety campaign, said a combination of legislation, including traffic regulations, and technology would help reduce road deaths. 62~
“There are teenagers driving everywhere, and I know that you can set a feature on your cell phone that when the phone is moving at a certain speed, you cannot receive text messages. So, the technology is already there,” Decaux said.
Many effective technologies for road safety either already exist or are in development. So, last week, UN experts announced that they had developed a program that would prevent unexpected and unintentional pressing of the gas pedal. Drivers can be helped to avoid this common mistake by technology that “sees” objects in front of and behind the vehicle.
“The next question concerns legislation. I know we are not a society that wants our government to tell us what we can and cannot do. But you know, when lives are at stake, you have to ask the question,” said Decaux. roads. It was launched in 2023. Today it is carried out all over the world: billboards on the topic of road safety have appeared in hundreds of cities.
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