News
Road safety for the people: An Interview with Ibrahim Osman (26-08-2010)
Ibrahim Osman first realized the full extent of the road safety crisis 12 years ago while working on the 1998 World Disasters Report, the yearly chronicle of humanitarian crises published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). That year, the report identified road safety as a leading global killer and a man-made humanitarian disaster in need of urgent attention. Ten years later, this key founding GRSP partner is still a strong road safety advocate. GRSP News recently caught up with Osman, just before his retirement as IFRC's Deputy Secretary General
Radar equipment donated from Australia will help improve road safety in Ukraine (10-08-2010)
The beginning of a new road safety campaign in the city of Lviv in western Ukraine coincided with the handover of five speed-detection radars from the Queensland Police Service (QPS) in Australia.
Cambodian team hits the Australian highway as part of RS-10 capacity building project (09-08-2010)
You cannot miss it. The last thing you want to see on your way home from an after-work drink with your office mates. A Victoria Police "Booze Bus", parked on the shoulder of a nondescript highway off-ramp with its flashing lights and customized floodlight illuminating a cold Melbourne night.
A safe-driving tour through the eyes of GRSP Hungary’s new president (08-08-2010)
In April this year, 40-year-old Balázs Tokár was elected president of GRSP/Hungary. A representative for Shell on the GRSP Hungary board since 2007, he has been involved in a number of joint projects within GRSP, including "Traffic playground" with a mini Shell station that is still operational in Budapest and used by local school classes. "Interestingly," he says, "when we were opening the playground back in 2008 - a troublesome political time for Hungary - representatives of all opposition parties from the local administration were present at the ceremony. This is proof that road safety does not know political borders and is vital for all who bear social responsibility." GRSP's Rita Plotnikova caught up with the energetic and enthusiastic Tokár for an interview about road safety in Hungary.
Annual Meeting In Brazil Highlights Results of Proactive Partnership (03-06-2010)
More than 100 people from around the world came to Rio de Janeiro as part of activities surrounding GRSP’s annual general meeting in June. The venue was the Challenge Bibendum, the biggest international event in the automobile industry, of which GRSP was a leading road-safety participant.
The Global Road Safety Partnership welcomes a new member: Sesame Workshop (26-04-2010)
Sesame Workshop, the producers of the global educational brand, Sesame Street, joined the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) in a move to contribute its educational media expertise to the worldwide effort to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities among children and families.
PrintUN calls for ‘Decade of Action’ for road safety (01-04-2010)
Calling the global road safety crisis "a major public health problem" with a "broad range of social and economic consequences," the 64th General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution March 2 proclaiming 2011-2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety.
The resolution calls for greater action from governments and recognizes the crucial role that multi-sector partnerships play in implementing Decade of Action goals on the ground.
"The solution to the global road safety crisis can only be implemented through multi-sector collaboration and partnerships among all concerned in both public and private sectors, with the involvement of civil society," the resolution reads.
Entitled "Improving Global Road Safety," the resolution was endorsed by numerous international organizations, including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which hosts the Global Road Safety Partnership and engages in numerous road safety activities around the world.
Addressing the assembly before the vote, Matthias Schmale, IFRC Undersecretary General for Development and GRSP executive committee member, said member states "must act without delay, first to prevent today's deadly trend from worsening, and then to reverse it."
"We know that urgent action is required to reverse the growing crisis that disproportionately affects young people, particularly in low- and middle-income countries," Schmale said.
"The deadly road crash crisis is different from other crises," he said. "It is not a natural disaster. It is not a war - there are no enemies in road safety. It is entirely man-made, and all the more shocking for being so. What makes the road crash crisis particularly horrific is that these deaths and injuries are preventable."
Given the scale of the crisis, however, many road safety advocates note that funding for road safety efforts is not commensurate with the scale of the problem. "This crisis is also characterized by the fact there is little international funding to help address it," Schmale said in his address.
The resolution also requests the World Health Organization, UN regional commissions, and the members of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration to prepare an action plan to implement the Decade of Action globally.
Entitled "Improving Global Road Safety," the resolution was proposed "with a goal to stabilize then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing activities conducted at the national, regional and global levels."
Drinking and driving dips in two Chinese cities after the multi-sector involved project (29-01-2010)
Levels of drinking and driving declined significantly in two cities where the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) together with a multi-sector team of government agencies and business organizations conducted a four-year drinking and driving project (2006-2009).
GRSP joins in regional road safety programme in Northern Poland Region (19-01-2010)
The Road Safety Council of the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Region in Poland has invited the Global Road Safety Partnership-Poland to join their ambitious and comprehensive road safety program, which aims to reduce road deaths and accidents over the next three years.
Ministers join call for Decade of Action (21-12-2009)
Government ministers from 70 countries gathered in Moscow for the first-ever Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in November and pledged to gear up road safety efforts and formally ask the United Nations to declare 2011-2020 the "Decade of Action for road safety."