Road safety is everybody's responsibility

Earlier this month, world leaders met in Stockholm at the Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety and discussed joint actions to achieve global road safety goals by 2030. In the Declaration issued by the conference, available here in English, four conclusions stand out for those working at the urban level.

First: Road Safety and the Sustainable Development Goals are closely connected. Second: Vision Zero is the way to go. Third: to reduce traffic deaths we must speed the shift towards walking, cycling and public transport. And last but not least: road safety is everybody’s responsibility, and we have to strengthen institutional capacity at all levels of government.

Polis participated actively in the conference to make sure the needs and priorities of cities were properly addressed. Polis Secretary General Karen Vancluysen and Road Safety Coordinator Pedro Homem de Gouveia shared the experience of the network in workshops organized by the World Health Organization, the European Federation of Road Victims (FEVR), the International Transport Forum, World Bank and iRAP, and in a conference session on Designing Roads for Safety.

Throughout the week, Polis also engaged in networking with several organizations, to make more international know-how and support available to our members. The New Paradigm for Safe City Streets, a city-led declaration setting out the necessary principles for sound effective actions for traffic safety, which counts on the support of over 30 local authorities, private actors and non-for-profit organisations, was endorsed by the World Resources Institute, a global research organisation.