Transport Ministers from more than 60 countries have called for the creation of a new assessment framework to boost road safety practices throughout corporate value chains at the International Transport Forum in Leipzig, Germany on May 23, 2024.
The Chairman’s declaration from a Ministerial meeting of the 69 member states of the International Transport Forum [ITF] - an intergovernmental organization for transport - calls on the private sector to apply the safe system principles of road safety across their value chains, as outlined in the Global Plan for the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030.
“The safe system puts people and safety at the core of our transport systems, and business has a huge role to play in strengthening road safety. So this is about establishing, measuring and incentivising safety principles throughout entire value chains to help make transport more safe, green and healthy,” says Dr Nhan Tran, Head of Safety and Mobility at WHO.
The initiative aims to measure road safety performance, produce plans for improvement, and move towards the harmonization and adoption of key UN and industry safety standards. This includes ISO 39001, which specifies the requirements for road safety management systems for organizations to help reduce road deaths and injuries.
“The framework could be worked into companies' corporate social responsibility plans and social finance practices. This way, we can help guide and steer greater, better-targeted investments that save more lives and strengthen road safety globally,” adds Dr Tran.
The initiative comes after a push for more cooperation between the health and transport sectors. In a video address to the ITF ministerial meeting, which had the theme of ‘Greening transport: keeping focus in times of crisis,’ WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, in part:
“Transport impacts the health of people and the planet … When transport is accessible, safe and affordable, many more people will choose to take the greener option of public transport, walking or cycling. This is why we need more cooperation between the health and transport sectors, and this is why I’m delighted that WHO is partnering with the International Transport Forum to advance safe, healthy and sustainable mobility for everyone.”
WHO and the ITF Secretariat will further develop the road safety assessment framework and present it for review at the Ministerial Conference on Road Safety to be held in Marrakesh, Morocco in February 2025.