From Commitment to Delivery: Country Progress and Accountability for Halving Road Traffic Deaths b 2030 (Side Event of UN High-Level Meeting on Improving Global Road Safety)

Good afternoon, colleagues.
I'm really sorry to interrupt.
We have Spain in the room, so everybody's talking football, of course.
But this could go on for a long time.
We're going to spend a little bit of time to talk about road safety and then we'll start football again.
I'm Aan Program Director for Health Determinants Promotion and Prevention at WHO.
Welcome to you all to this side event where we wanted to have a little bit more time than we'll have this afternoon to go a bit deeper in some of the new estimates of the data, the global data on road traffic deaths, as well as particularly here from countries who are doing so well on improving the situation and hopefully have lessons shared.
We're really delighted to have our Director General, doctor Tedros, with us today for this side event, and he's going to welcome you officially on behalf of WHO.
Doctor Tedros.
Thank you.
We were together in Tenerife, actually, to fight Hana virus.
And him and Minister of Els Monica were saying, Vamos Vamos.
Very often.
And I was wondering what Vamos Vamus because everybody was worried about Hantavirus, so they were saying move quickly.
So for a second time, yesterday, I heard Saga Vamos.
So we're colleagues fighting Hantavirus, and I'm glad to see you here.
Special envoy, Jean Todd And Michela Excellence's ministers, excellence's ambassadors, heads of delegation, dear colleagues and friends.
Welcome, and thank you all for being here.
Rod deaths, as you know, are falling.
2011-2025, the global death rate fell by more than one fifth, and yet the decline is nowhere near fast enough to meet our goal of a 50% drop in deaths and serious injuries by 2030.
At the midpoint in the decade of action for road safety, the time for talk is over.
We must double down on delivery.
Doubling down means moving from pilot projects to national policy, from good intentions to legislation that's enforce it, and from short term funding to sustained, predictable investment.
We need bold national strategies with clear targets, timelines, and budgets.
We need a paradigm shift towards making safety a priority.
We must design streets for people, not motor vehicles, and we must promote a vision of mobility that protects people, prosperity, and the planet.
The global plan for the decade of action gives us the roadmap.
It rests on five pillars, as we know, safe roads and mobility, safer vehicles, safer road users, safer speeds, and better post crash care.
Progress on any one pillar helps, but real change comes when countries act on all five together.
Speed remains one of the biggest determinants of whether a crash is survivable.
Lower speed limits consistently enforced save lives in every country at every income level.
And the basics still matter most.
Seat belts and child restraints, motorcycle helmets, and strict laws against drink and drug driving, where these are enforced, this fall, where they are not progress stalls.
Every government represented here has valuable lessons to share.
Brazil, Ireland, Morocco, Spain, Thailand, and the United Kingdom offer lessons in leadership and coordination.
Brazil has shown what sustained political commitment and city level action can achieve.
Ireland has embedded road safety within its wider public health agenda.
Morocco has strengthened enforcement and driver licensing.
Spain has invested in safer urban design and lower city speed limits.
Thailand continues to tackle the particular risks facing motorcyclists who account for a large share of its roads, and the United Kingdom has built one of the world's most effective systems for road safety data and research.
Each of you can learn from each other.
And none of you should feel you must start from zero.
This meeting is about sharing what works and why.
WHO is proud to play a leading role for the UN on road safety.
We help member states build safe systems and strengthen strategies, policies, laws and regulations.
We help translate evidence into national action plans, and we support legislative reform on the risk factors we know save lives, speed drink driving, seat belts, child restraints, and helmets.
We host the Global Road Safety Leaders Network.
Which supports national road safety agencies.
We lead the creation of global guidelines like the global plan for the decade of action on road safety, and we track progress at all levels through regular global status reports.
Last year, there were over 1.1 million road deaths globally, more than two every minute.
The burden falls heaviest on the young and on the poorest countries.
Road traffic injuries remain among the leading cause of death for children and young people aged five to 29 worldwide.
And more than 90% of road deaths occur in low and middle income countries, even though they have less than 60% of the world's vehicles.
Every single one of those deaths is preventable and none are acceptable.
So today, I ask each of you to leave this room with one concrete commitment.
A law you will pass, a budget you will secure, a strey you will redesign, or a dataset you will publish.
Small specific commitments multiplied across every country here are how we bend the curve before 2030.
Before I close, I thank again, especial envoy, Jean Todd, for your leadership, and thank you all for your commitment to making the world's roads safer.
Let's work together to turn pledges into progress.
I thank you, Eb you, Etienne.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank.
Thanks so much.
Doctor Tedros, for these welcome words and talking about Jean Todd.
I'm handing the floor to him for his welcome words as well.
No need to specify Jean Todd is the special envoy for road safety of the UN Secretary-General.
I think everybody knows it.
Thank you, Etienne.
Thank you, Tedros, for giving me the opportunity to address a few words to you on something which has become a passion to address what they call a silent pandemic.
I'm not going through the traditional speech because we all know the figures.
1.2 million people dying every year.
I want to say special greetings to the representative of the victims who are here today.
We need to work for you because we need to prevent prevention.
You mentioned that prevention is absolutely essential.
Incidentally, while you were talking, I was looking behind the desk and I think we are the best in the class.
We have UK, two days 400,000, Ireland, three days for 100,000, Spain, four days 400,000 the good people in the room, Brazil, 16 400,000, Morocco, 19 400,000 and all that are figures which represent these people.
Then globally, I mean, and for me my Bible, are WHO figures.
Well, sometime, I mean, there is and incidentally in my mandate as a SG special envoy, I'm facing some difficult situation.
My last difficult situation when I was two weeks ago in Azerbaijan with the government and I was mentioning WHO figures and they were debating on those figures because they said, no, they are not the right figures.
But globally, so it may be something which need to be Addressed better.
Incidentally, the best in the class, there is no discrepancy between WHO figures and country figures.
The discrepancy is between those who are not the best in the class.
I was mentioning 1.2 million and always reporting to WHO figures, you have to multiply those figures by countries by 30 to 40 to have the number of disability disabled people.
In a way, I'm going to be a bit brutal, but sometimes it's better to die rather than to be handicap of 50 years.
The handicap means that it's terrible for you, your life is over, for your surrounding and for the society.
I'm going to give you another figure.
I'm French.
French is 500 can do better in Europe.
But in France, declared number for 65 million population, 3,200 deaths, 20,000 injury to disability.
If I tell you what is the price for the French government, you will not believe.
It's 104 billion euros.
104 billion euros.
I mean, for the country, it's a terrible situation.
And for the best in the class, it's about the same multiplicable, you know, and of course, in Africa, the cost are not as high in what we call the developed countries.
So it's really time to act, you know, and incidentally I met in 2010 in Moscow.
It was a Ministerial meeting, decade of action for road safety 2010, 2020.
At the time it was 1 million deaths on the road and the idea was to divide by two.
In 2020, we were 1.5 million and we want to divide by two by 2030.
But honestly, If we don't do more, we will not achieve SDG 3.6, which is to have the number of victim by 203,011.2, which is also very important SDG, which is to give access to public transportation to any citizen.
Because again, if we speak about public transportation for the best in the class, it's natural.
But when you travel to developed countries, a lot in Africa, Bangladesh, Naples, Sria, there is no public transportation.
So what happens, I mean, people are transported like cattle.
And it is a human right.
It is not acceptable.
So I really hope that we train speed.
And that we all work together and it would be very unfair.
I mentioned earlier that the meeting, it will be very unfair to say it's only the responsibility of the government.
It's a responsibility of everybody.
Government, private sector, global organization.
We must work together.
I also mentioned we have the vaccine.
We must take simple things.
And in the developing world, clearly as there is no public transportation, people end up with 20, 30, 40-years-old age motorbike.
Three, four without helmet and those who have a helmet, it breaks like glass.
We've been working on that and were able to support the supplier of UN standard 22 oh six, which is the most sophisticated helmet standard ventilated because it's very warm in those countries.
Below $20 below here, we need the support of private sector, but simply and it's something which was discussed in Morocco last year during the Marrakesh meeting.
If it is a regulation by regulation, you need to have safety belt in the car.
The next step is to make sure that people use the safety belt in the car.
This morning somebody mentioned, if everybody will use the safety belt, we will save 150,000 life.
So if we go back to the helmet, if when you buy a motorbike, on average in this country, the price of motorbike would be around thousand US dollars.
If you had $50, you have a safer motorbike.
And if by a regulation, you can only buy a motorbike with two UN standard helmets, believe me, we have one earlier.
And that's what we need to do.
Where I really feel and I urge the best in the class to support those who don't have access to that.
Very often when I travel and here again, we have a representative of three countries who have been doing the job, if you can give the hand, some of your partner in Africa, in Latin America, in Asia, it is very important because unfortunately, in most of the developing country, people have not been educated, they don't know what to do.
What they see, they feel it's normal.
You know, when you travel in the bush in Africa, I mean, people they don't know that when the helmet does the gift.
So it's not a question, you know? And so that's very important.
And that's what I mean, I really learn by traveling, you know, people need to understand and we need to explain to people that it is time to change.
Thank you.
Thanks very much, Sean, very eloquently said.
Before we move on to our panel and hear from the different representatives of the different countries, I just will give you a quick update on the latest statistics on global road safety in advance of this high level meeting, the BS has been computing the new mortality estimates, which we're going to quickly run through now if the slides want to work.
They just went away.
Next slide, please.
Next one again.
Thank you so much.
There is some good news as doctor Sods said.
Jean was talking about 20:10 when we had the first global ministerial conference in Moscow.
We've been following the data since then because that's when the first decade of action was declared and soon thereafter the target of a 50% reduction by 2030.
The latest estimates is that there's a 9% fall in the absolute number of deaths since 2010, which corresponds to a 21% reduction in the fatality rate because the population has increased quite a bit globally since then.
And 108 countries have reduced fatalities.
It's worth stopping for a minute on these numbers.
When the car was invented 150 years ago and we somehow decided we were going to develop a car based transportation system, as a result, the number of deaths started to rise and it has risen almost nonstop for 150 years with probably the exception of World War I, World War two, and COVID.
Having over a 15 years period, a 9% reduction in the number of deaths is a very major achievements of which we all collectively can be proud of, because that achievement would not have happened without concerted efforts.
If we had not had concerted efforts, the number would have continued to rise and we'd probably be at 1.61 0.7 million by now.
So now we have started to see a decline.
That's the good news.
However, we still have 1.1 0.16 million deaths last year on the world's roads, which is a reduction.
The last estimate was 1.19.
So this is indeed a reduction.
However, of course, it is very far from where we want to be.
Road traffic crashes continue also to be the leading cause of death for children five to 29 in the world.
So the leading cause of death for our children is not some kind of virus or some kind of bug that we cannot control.
No, it's our own transportation systems that we have designed.
So clearly, it's good to have a decrease, but it's very far from where we want to be.
Next slide, please.
Another way of looking at it is also in comparison to the number of cars and vehicles on the road.
The green line is the mortality decreasing, as I said, the red line is the increase in vehicles on the world's road.
Since 2010, they've tripled.
We have three times more vehicles on our roads, which, of course, makes the reduction in debts, again, a serious and important achievement that we can celebrate.
Next.
However, we had talked about a 50% decrease as Jean has said and as doctor Tros has said as well.
A 50% decrease would look like this, so we're very far from where we want to be in the next five years.
Next, please.
If you look at it a little bit more closely at the regional level, since 2010, we see the strongest decreases in Europe and the Western Pacific regions with 54 and 26% respectively, moderate decreases in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and then slower decreases in Africa and the region of the Americas.
But again, it's a decrease in all of the world's regions, which is a good thing.
What's important, of course, is to learn lessons from all of this.
Next slide, please.
And look at what have the countries done that have led to these reductions.
And when we look at the best performers, as we have some here, but we also know that, for example, ten countries have managed to reduce during the first decade of action their debts by 50% and another 35 by 30%.
So we have good lessons to learn from those countries.
All of those who've managed to have success have clearly defined who has the authority to act.
They have a lead agency with the necessary funding.
They collect data and use that data to develop strategies with targets and hold that agency accountable for progress, and they have coordination and communication mechanisms.
All of those countries have put in place the interventions that we know work, shifting to safer modes of transport, moving away from the car to public transport and walking and cycling, working on the infrastructure, speed management, vehicle safety, laws and enforcement, and post crash care.
All of that results in less kinetic energy, safer journeys, and in the end, they save lives.
So we know what needs to happen.
This is not a problem we don't know how to solve.
Next slide, please.
We need to just make sure that we implement at a wider scale those solutions that we know work.
And I'm delighted we have with us today, Brazil, Ireland, Morocco, Spain, United Kingdom, because all of these five countries have an amazing track record in the efforts that have been taken.
I'm also very happy that we have that we will hear from the youth movement, as well as from those who have survived a road traffic crash, and Donna is here to speak about that.
And I hope Rochelle will get a moment as well after that to share her story because what they have to tell us is so important and also, I think, so motivating in terms of the courage they show in transforming their suffering into action.
So I'm delighted now to hand over to my colleague, Nan Tran, who is our unit head for Violence and injury prevention, to lead the discussion for the rest of the panel.
Yeah, over to now.
Thanks, Etienne, for the very inspiring presentation, and I know that everybody here is not satisfied with the progress that has been made, but I think we should nonetheless be happy that there is some progress, and I think that's an indication that we still have an opportunity to be on track by 2030.
I think the idea here is that if we actually galvanize the resources that we have and commit to the 50% target, that even within the four or five years that's left, I think it is possible, and maybe that's just me being very optimistic, but I think that from what we've heard and what we've seen, I think that type of progress is achievable if we commit to that.
So it's my pleasure to facilitate this next part of the discussion.
And before I start, I would just like to announce that due to some scheduling conflicts, we had prepared two rounds of questions, but I know that a couple of our colleagues have to leave.
So what I'm going to ask is that each person actually answer both questions at the same time.
So the questions that we have prepared really relate to what was done.
As the Tin said, we know what needs to be done.
It's a matter of what was done.
But also the second part of that is really what I consider the more crucial part of that, which is how it's done.
I think doing something and knowing what was done isn't always the full picture.
It's really understanding how that change was made possible, what types of challenges had to be overcome in order for that change to be made, I think is equally important.
I think really that's what we are hoping to hear from the panelists today.
So I'm delighted to have, as Athena has already mentioned, a number of countries that have actually made different levels of progress.
Some countries have always been quite solid, and other countries, I think we're seeing as emerging leaders.
And I think it's especially important for us to learn from those experiences because most of the world isn't in the, as Jean has said, the top of the class category.
And I think what we want to do is to identify what lessons are generalizable and what lessons can we take to other parts of the world where this problem is really serious.
So to start, I'd like to invite miss Lillian Greenwood, who is the parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Future of Roads within the Department of Transport for the United Kingdom.
And, Lillian, if I could ask you again just to reflect a bit on what you've done in the UK, but also specifically how you've managed to do that and what types of issues and barriers and challenges you've had to overcome in order to ensure that it was implemented but also sustained as well.
Over to you.
Well, thank you, doctor Trannon.
It's a great pleasure to be here this afternoon.
I think in terms of what we've done, first, I'll just start by picking up what Jean said, which is, we may be amongst the top of the class, but the important thing is that we've said that 1,600 road deaths per year and 29,000 serious injuries is still too many.
We cannot afford to be complacent.
The most important step that we've taken since many of us met in Marrakesh, is to publish a new road safety strategy, the first in more than a decade, and it sets out a long term target that's very clear.
We want to reduce those killed or seriously injured on Great Britain's roads by 65% by 2035, 70% for children, and it's built around the safe system approach.
I think really importantly, we're moving the conversation from aspiration to delivery through a program of reforms across safer roads users, safer vehicles, safer roads, effective enforcement.
We're picking up those pillars, as you rightly said, doctor Tedros, is that you can't pick one, you need to do it across the board.
We're also strengthening governance arrangements to ensure that there's accountability for delivery across government and across partner organizations.
So I think in terms of what's made it possible, what remains the obstacle to faster progress, we've made that commitment as a government to taking that long term approach to road safety, and we want to translate that ambition to delivery.
The first thing is about partnership.
It's absolutely crucial to delivering our strategy.
That means working closely with all levels of government, with emerging with regional mayors, with local authorities, clearly with the emergency services, the police as the body responsible for enforcement.
And with non governmental organizations to make it happen.
And in order to do that, we've set up a new national road safety board to bring those partners together with very clear accountability for delivering our road safety targets.
And I chair that board.
So it's being chaired at ministerial level, bringing together my colleagues from across government and from those other partners so that we can track progress.
And if we're not making progress towards achieving our targets that we reflect and decide what more we need to do and hold ourselves accountable.
Obviously, you know, there's always politics involved.
And I think in developing that strategy, we've worked to strike that balance between improving our safety outcomes.
We do want to reduce those numbers of deaths and serious injuries, but we also want to maintain people's mobility, respect people's right to freedom.
And of course, we want to support economic growth.
But as we've heard, you know, road deaths detract from economic growth.
They put a burden on our national health service.
So we know that if we get this right, it'll be really good for our country.
And that's the argument that I hope we succeeded in winning.
So thank you.
Very much.
First, for reminding us that even countries that have done well still need to monitor and be vigilant about road safety because transport and mobility continue to evolve.
And I think over the last ten years, we've seen very clear examples of that, the introduction of micro mobility.
Even countries like Switzerland had had to deal with this abrupt introduction and figure out how to do that.
And I think, as A is saying, we have to start thinking about how do we move away from car based transport systems.
So I think it's important that even countries that have done well still need to maintain efforts.
And I think you've also highlighted a couple of very important words that I think a number of our NGO and civil society colleagues here will Love to hear, which is about the importance of accountability and ensuring that you are accountable to the people essentially and that you're also using data to drive that and making sure that your strategies are informed by data, which I think is really very, very important part of this.
Next, I'd like to turn to Minister Kyu from Morocco.
And we had it was a privilege for us to be able to work with our Moroccan counterparts almost a year and a half ago to prepare for the ministerial conference.
And at the end of that conference, at the conclusion of the conference, Minister Kyu made a very important declaration.
He talked about the commitment that Morocco is making to ensuring road safety.
But he also made a very specific commitment to ensuring that every motorcycle that's sold will come with two UN standard helmets, and that's a commitment that he reiterated this morning at the pledging conference.
But beyond that, Minister Cao, I'd like perhaps to ask if you could share about what else Morocco is currently doing to improve the road safety situation and perhaps also speak about what are the challenges that you are experiencing and how you're overcoming those challenges to ensure that you maintain progress in improving road safety in the country.
Thank you very much Nan, Mr.
Secretary-General, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
First of all, I would like to thank the World Health Organization for organizing this important discussion about how we can turn commitment to real results.
Of course, every country had its own experience and also its own way of resolving the problem of road safety.
I'm coming back to the experience of Morocco, and the biggest question, I think, is how to resolve the new societal phenomena.
In Route 50, I will speak about the e scooters, the delivery motorcycles, which are new phenomena that exist that appear only 20 years ago after the COVID period.
And now it's really the only way of delivering day and night and most of the people who use this way of delivering, they are living from it.
So it's social and economical issue because most of the young people, they need only maybe 100 euro or $1,000 to buy motorcycle, Cubic Iometer and smartphone and to live.
And so for the social like social phenomena, it's something to encourage because it gives job to the youth.
But at the same time, if we compare it in Morocco in this category, we saw that they represent something like 43% of the accident.
So for us, this phenomena doesn't exist ten years ago, but now it is and also for the eCoters, which is a new way of transportation to schools, to work too, and also it's phenomena that doesn't exist ten or 15 years ago.
I think this event is an opportunity to share the best practices and also the best expertise for the country who had lived this phenomena before the others, and how did they resolve it? I had a meeting half an hour ago with the Minister of France.
And we agreed to create a common committee to share how did they resolve this problem because for us, it's it's real problem.
But besides that, you know, what the commitment that we give in Marrakesh we're still working on it.
Of course, when we talk about the the commitment and how to get it on the land on the result in institutional way, it takes a long time because when you create a law, because the atmosphere needed, you need to pass it in the parliament to vote because it concerned people.
There is permission, there is ification of the law.
But anyway, I think that it's the only way of participant participant of reducing the date, the date of use because this category of user of motorcycle, they are growing, and they will grow in for sure, for the next years.
So I saw that the minimum that we can do is to oblige every buyer of motorcycle to buy with it certified helmet and I would like to thank my friend Jean Todd, who helped us in this to show in all the country what is the importance of using certified helmet, which is not expensive compared to the other, but it can save lives.
Of course, at the same time, Morocco is translating this strategy into concrete action.
We are deploying now something like a new 1,600 new automated law enforcement camera.
To control the road safety enforcement in safer road infrastructure in partnership with local authorities because I think this point is very important because you can do the best lawyer in the world.
But if the representative of the population doesn't feel that they were involved in this policy, it will never success.
That's why you have to share and to give the opportunity for the representative of the who are elected to participate for building the strategy for the application.
Otherwise, you know, there will be big separation between the one who makes the law and the one who will execute them.
That's why now we have a new approach after the Congress of Marrakesh, of the new strategy, which will concern the next four or five years, which will have budget of something like $900 million with the participation of the region, of the cities, and all the core who are elected, not only in the budget, but also they feel that they are responsible and they feel that they build this politic, and they participate in the budget and also on the application because I think those two things are very, very, very, very important.
And, of course, I remain fully that the commitment of Morocco to continue with his partner.
I would like to thank all of you, Mr.
Etienne Krug, Mr.
Tedros, and every one of you because, you know, I was nominated two years ago in the government, and I had the opportunity to lead the organization of the fourth Congress in Marrakesh, and they feel that this big family of road safety is really very attached one to one.
So I would like to thank you for being from this big family.
Thank you, Minister Cao.
I think your reflections about the importance of engaging with local authority resonates with a number of other countries, and I see Minister Greenwood also nodding, and I think that was also one of the points that you made.
And I think in part that reflects the context specificity of road safety.
While there is an important role for national legislation and national policies, a lot of the changes and the actions that are needed really need to be tailored to the local context.
And I think that's a really important point in terms of how we think about implementation and how we think about the different roles, levels of government.
I think the other point you made that I wanted just to highlight was the emerging issues that you're seeing in Morocco, the delivery platforms and the rise of power two and three wheelers.
And I think other regions are experiencing the same types of challenges as well, even countries that we don't historically see that.
Obviously, in countries like Vietnam or Hong, we have 90% of the motorized traffic is motorcycles, but I think also in Europe, now we're seeing that as well.
And I think in Latin America, I think, in particular, that's becoming a very, very big challenge for you.
And so, perhaps I can use that as a segue to invite our colleague from Brazil, Minister De Lima Cato, who's the National Secretary for traffic in Brazil, to perhaps reflect a bit on some of the specific challenges you are encountering, but also how you've been able to overcome and make progress, even though it's not satisfactory to Jean, but I think That you're making some progress.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm very happy to be here.
I would start by saying that Brazil managed to have a national plan, even though Brazil is a big country with 27 states and more than 5,000 municipalities.
But we have a national plan since 2018.
In 2023, we had a major review of this plan, and it became more collaborative.
We invited states and municipalities also to participate not only in executing the plan, but also in building the plan with us so we can learn with their experiences, with their mistakes, and the plan became more adaptive, like a living plan.
Now, I think the main issue about this governance is financing.
So we are having this year another review of the plan, and we're going to link the priorities of the plan with the budgets, the public budgets so that in the three levels of government, we can link the specifics of the budgets into the priorities of the plan.
That's going to help us to give more transparency with the public financing, and I think it will be very important in the future.
But I also would like to talk about this point in financing.
We had a major accomplishment last year.
In 2025, we managed to reverse a trend that started in 2019 and decreased for the first time in these years, the fatalities in the federal highways.
And it was due to more financing, but also more data driven enforcement.
I have here representatives of the Federal Highway Police.
They started using more technology.
They started using more data driven methodology, and we managed to have these reverse in the trend.
I think this is very important to mention.
And last but not least, I would like to face the most important challenge that are the fatalities in motorcycles.
I This year, this last year, we have the decrease in general numbers, but the deaths by motorcyclists, they have increased.
So it's getting difficult, much more difficult to decrease the general numbers because the deaths in motorcycles are increasing continuously.
So I think this is the most important issue we must deal in Brazil.
And of course, I think this is very related to the public transportation.
And we know that, and of course, we are dealing with this.
I thank you for the participation, and I'm here to answer any question.
Thank you.
Thank you for that.
And I think your last comment reflects what Jean was saying about the importance of ensuring sort of a balanced transport system that offers opportunities for access to public transport as well as private vehicles, including motorcycles.
I think we're not here to demonize motorcycles, but I think we want to highlight the importance of having transport systems that are multimodal and that offer access to safe choices as a means of encouraging people to use other options.
I'm sure that people in the room will have questions for you because you talked about a very important issue here, which is financing, and I'm sure everybody here wants to know how you managed to get the budgets for that.
But perhaps I'll save that for the discussion with the groups.
But I think that's a big part of this discussion is how do we how do we ensure having the financing to support the strategies, the data driven strategies that you've talked about, But I think let me hold that because I want to now give the floor to other colleagues.
And perhaps I can give the floor to Minister O'Brien from Ireland to perhaps talk a bit about what you're doing in Ireland to ensure safe roads for everyone.
Thank you, indeed, doctor Tan.
And can I thank E and doctor Ted Ross and indeed Jean To and all of you for being here today and the WHO for organizing it.
And obviously, we have the UN high level meeting on improved global road safety later on where I'll be giving the national statement.
If you don't mind I have one call out in particular, I'd like to mention Donna, who's here, Donna Price, a fellow Irish person as well, who's been an incredible advocate on behalf of victims of road traffic accidents.
And I know for Donna that has been an incredible representative to make sure that those who have suffered due to families and obviously her son, Darren, as well, and everyone else, that those advocacy groups and those voices are absolutely at the table in everything that we do.
And just great to have Donna here, and I know she'll speak later on.
Just reflecting on what has been said, and whilst it is, you know, certainly from an Irish perspective, welcome to be deemed best in class or one of the best in class.
I can tell you from an Irish citizen's perspective and from a government perspective, that does not lead us to any complacency in that regard.
Because when we talk about numbers with raw deaths, and I fully understand why, and we've got to track numbers.
Behind every number is a person.
Behind every number is a family, is a community.
And that's why I'm always at pains to say that when we're discussing raw numbers, and those raw numbers are people and the damage that has been done to that family and to their community is, you know, in many respects, life will never be the same for them.
So I just make my remarks in that context, and whilst we obviously are pleased that we've made progress over a period of time, in Ireland, the Irish citizen is still And impatient for more, and the government is impatient for more measures.
And we've got to balance allowing people go about their normal lives.
You know, I might speak on micro mobility as well at the moment because doctor Tedder admirable, what one new law would we bring forward.
I might speak about that in a moment because we've had two very recently, is looking at the progress that we made.
And yes, when I look at, again, numbers, and these numbers are people, and I go back to 1997, we had 472 road deaths in Ireland in 1997, and that reduced to 133 in 2021.
But I would say that that has increased back up to about 190 in 2025.
So even though the three deaths per 100,000 is something that we've, you know, that measures good progress that's been made, we see with the numbers that you've put forward of the increasing prevalence of motorized vehicles, growing population.
Thankfully, in Ireland, our population has grown by 1.5 million people since 1990.
That might not seem like a lot for a lot of large countries, but that is, like, a big increase.
And, um it's something that we've got to manage.
So I suppose when I look at what we need to do, obviously, better road infrastructure, which we're working on.
But really importantly, as we mentioned before, about that cross agency and local authority collaboration.
So the work that Donna does in the Road Safety Forum for argument's sake, that informs policy, not just new policy, but implementation of existing policies, because what we've all know is what actually, in many respects, what needs to be done in all of our countries.
And there are unique attributes like in Morocco, be that in Spain, be that in Brazil.
There are different things we need to do.
We've quite a dispersed rural population.
We have big cities, but dispersed rural population where people depend on the car, the motorbike, those type of things.
And sometimes in more rural areas as well, there isn't that level of enforcement or detection.
So education is critically important, too.
So we have our road safety authority, and that effectively has been a really significant change.
And what it does, friends, is it brings everyone together.
So not one ministry is even though I'm responsible, and I have a minister for State specifically responsible for road safety.
It's a cross government effort, cross agency effort to implement our overarching road safety strategy.
And that's been critically important.
And If I look at, though, you know, how do we actually ensure that we change driver behavior too? Because a lot of things relate to, yes, enforcement, better infrastructure, better public transport, which we're doing, but that responsibility as well for people when they get into a car or get onto a motorbike or an e scooter, that they understand, you know, the responsibility that they have too.
And that's something that we've got to continue to work on through educational programs which we fund to a very significant level in our schools too.
But across the Road Safety Authority, one of their remits is education.
You'll find when you go to Ireland, I was talking to Jeana briefly just before this that every day, unfortunately, anytime there is a road fatality or a road injury, I think this is which is terrible.
And the thing is that's always reported on our national media.
So it's to the forefront of the national psyche, and it's something that keeps me as minister for transport.
You know that It's always to the forefront of our mind.
And you will hear it on radio, you will see it on TV, and that road death counter, as well.
You know, that statistic is regularly out there.
So we have a big job of work to do.
I think on infrastructure, I mentioned education.
Active travel is critically I speak from an Irish context, but I've seen it across Europe and the pleasure being in Brazil twice in the last year I was in Morocco for one day, actually, earlier in the year.
But I can see, you know, how different countries, different populations go about their business.
Schools are critically important.
We brought forward a big program called Safer routes to School and effectively, that is actually changing not just the infrastructure around it, but changing how parents and kids get to school.
And when we were looking at it in the urban areas in particular, a sizable percentage, and I'm not just going to pick it, a very significant percentage of people are traveling, bringing their kids to school under 2 kilometers, and they don't need to.
And even though people might think it, it doesn't rain every day in Ireland, either, okay? And then there's no such thing as bad weather, it's just you got to be prepared for it, okay? So so people can walk and cycle safely.
But we've worked with schools on this, like things like in my own hometown, we did a school streets program where we basically closed the street outside the school at drop off and pick up.
And initially, that wasn't, you know, wasn't it wasn't actually welcomed.
But it's changed habits and actually even on air quality with my other hat on for the environment and energy.
We're actually now track the improvement in air quality.
So reducing cars that are idling outside school, and kids are actually enjoy walking and cycling to school and building that infrastructure.
Initially, schools were a little bit skeptical about, and now we're opening it up again later this year.
We've over 470 schools participating in that.
Again, in an Irish context, that's a significant number, and we're going to open it up again for more.
So we pay for the infrastructure to improve to improve that across the board.
So there are things that that work, okay? Then, as has been mentioned by his Excellency from Morocco, as well, if you look at micro mobility and doctor Tan, you mentioned it as well.
We've prevalence of e scooter use, and for a lot of e scooters being used, particularly for younger people, and we have laws that anyone under 16 shouldn't be using an e scooter.
But people do.
Actually, next week I'm bringing to cabinet to our government changes to the laws for registration, mandatory helmet usage on e scooters and eBikes and also increasing the age to 18.
Now, why are we doing that? Because about 50% of all pediatric head injuries that we're seeing now in my country are being caused by you are not being caused by, but are happening whilst young people are using E scooters.
And that's something we can't ignore.
We can't also ignore the fact that lots of people use e scooters to go to and from work, particularly commuters, things like that, and they work.
But we've got to always be watching change, and the one constant is change.
So we've got to make sure that our laws and our regulations and our enforcement indeed keeps up to date or in some instances, gets ahead of where we think we're going to be.
And that's why fora like this are so critically important.
Our police and our enforcement services, and it's great to see colleagues here from Brazil are critically important in that.
And again, we've got to look at things like what we're doing about the right to pursuit, like how police force can pursue someone in a safe way, all those various different types of things.
So the lived experience, both from advocates like Donna, from our police forces, our emergency services, we've always got to be listening.
So, look, I think myself that from an Irish perspective, we're obviously satisfied in the sense that we've seen a reduction in the deaths per 100,000 over that period of time.
And we've actually implemented what the UN best practice is, and it's across government.
Our road strategies are updated on a regular basis.
But we're We can't allow, and I know no one here in this room, allow any complacency.
Like one road death is one death, too many.
And the vast, vast majority are preventable.
So I think for us, it's about listening.
It's about listening to advocates like Donna.
It's about listening to professionals like our enforcement, our police services, our emergency services who deal with these terrible instances.
In conclusion, I was really struck a number of weeks ago.
Sorry, Chair, for maybe taking up a little bit two more time.
But there was There was a young girl in Dublin who was walking across the street at a zebra crossing.
Grace Lynch was her name.
And a young man, actually, on an off road bike.
So a bike like a racing bike propelled.
We call it a scrambler bike, actually went through and basically Grace died.
And her 16-year-old going about her business.
I met her parents and her parents, and you just see the that their life has just changed forever.
And like with Donna and like with Grace's parents, as well, they're using that terrible tragedy to bring about good, to try to ensure that no other young man or young woman actually dies in this incident.
They're the things that drive us in making the changes that we need to make.
So, look, it's a real pleasure to be with you today and to thank the WHO, indeed, for convening this meeting to know that you have our full support, and we're always learning.
Every day is a school day, too.
So we've got to keep working on this on behalf of our citizens right the way across the globe.
Thank you.
Thank.
Thank you so much for that and for highlighting the importance of obviously listening, but also, I think the importance of continuing to learn and to anticipate what's to come.
I think that's a very key point in terms of thinking about how do we not only solve the problems of today, but think about how do we anticipate and prepare for the problems of tomorrow? And I love what you've done in terms of encouraging more walking and cycling because from a health perspective, we obviously want to promote that as well, because it is actually not only better for the environment, it's better for people's health as well.
So I hope that more countries can learn from that experience.
Finally, I'm going to turn to the minister from Spain, and I'm not going to ask you how you managed to win a Second World Cup.
I am going to ask you about what you're doing and how you've managed to keep Spain safe from a road safety perspective and how you've been able to do that, not just now, but over the last few decades.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Nan.
First of all, I have to say that it's a pleasure and honor for me to attend this meeting.
So thank you so much, Tedros.
Thank you so much.
Nan and thank you so much, the World Health Organization.
I think that you are making a very nice work, very great work.
If you don't mind, I would like to answer the two questions at the same time.
First of all, I have to say that winning the World Cup, it has been easier than road safety policies, I have to say, but we are working too hard.
And in the same line, I have to say, and for us, it's so important.
It's one of the most important challenges that we face in Spain for a long time.
I have to say that for the last 20 years, we have worked very hard on it.
First of all, I would like to do that improving road safety is no longer a question of knowledge.
We know the risk, and we know the measures we have to put in order.
In the last 20 years, as I told you in the beginning of my intervention, we have been working very hard.
We have achieved, I have to say, significant progress through the implementation of a number of measures whose proven effectiveness, I would like to put here.
First, one of them, reducing the speed limit on single roadways 100-90 kilometers/hour.
For example, this is the the safe system.
We know that introducing a speed limit of 30 kilometers/hour on all urban street with a single lane in each direction, for example.
Establishing a points based driving license system.
I think that this one has been the most important measure we have put in order, whose effectiveness rests on a balance between enforcement and education.
Risky behavior is penalized while ongoing education is promoted to strengthen respect for traffic rules.
As the Irish minister said before, incorporating road safety education throughout every stage of compulsory schooling that is real here now in Spain.
For example, strengthening support for victims of road traffic crises through new assistance measures, including the creation of a national helpline for victims.
These are some of the many initiatives undertaken in recent years.
I would also like to emphasize that effective enforcement of traffic law is one of the most powerful means of reducing road traffic crises under devastating consequences.
Monitoring, enforcement, and penalties remain essential pillars of road safety, of course, education, of course, self protection, of course.
But I have to say that enforcement and penalties is needed, too, talking about the governance financing, accountability, how to manage road safety, how to improve What do we have to do? I think that we have learned in Spain at this moment, and I think that we are learning each day, of course, we have learned 77 lessons how to act, how to manage.
First, every transformation begins with political will.
Some decisions, and we know all of us are difficult.
But when we know that a meassure save lives is our responsibility to implement it, we are talking about implementation.
Second, strong institutions are, of course, essential.
Institutions capable of designing, implementing, and evaluating public policy.
In Spain, we have a specialized national road safety authority with clearly defined powers, technical expertise, sufficient resources, and consistent actions over time.
Third, coordination.
You have talked about that.
Road safety involves many sectors and different levels of governmentment.
We work on an ongoing basis with others ministries, excuse me, as well as with regional and local authorities in Brazil.
5,000 municipalities, more or less the same in Spain.
That this cooperation, of course, among all of us, is indispensable if policies are to be implemented effectively across the country.
For evidence, and I think that is very important for all kind of policies, talking about science and evidence.
The most difficult decisions can only be sustained by robust data.
We use scientific evidence to guide our decisions, assesses their outcomes, and make any necessary adjustment.
Five, fifth, building partnerships.
You talk about it too.
Reforms are stronger when they are developed in cooperation with association representative victims, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, drivers, road transport operators, driving schools, and vehicle manufacturers.
Sixth, And this is fundamental.
We must call on every citizen to take personal responsibility.
Road safety requires awareness and a sense of responsibility.
It concerns every one of us.
Both collectively and individually, personally.
Finally, seven.
I think that it's very, very important.
Sound policy also requires effective communications.
Measures must be properly explained when citizens understand the purpose behind an initiative, public acceptance increases.
I think that is quite important to explain all the messages we have to implement.
We often ask ourselves and today here, what needs to be done? Perhaps the time has come to devote more attention to discussing how we can make it happen.
If we are able to share not only our policies, but also our experience of turning them into reality, we will be closer to achieve the objective that has brought us together today, saving millions of lives on the world, on the on the world's roads.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Minister, for those very inspiring words, and I think that's going to be our new tagline.
Winning World Cup is easier than making addressing road safety.
Joking aside, I think what you've highlighted is that it's a very complex and nuanced topic that it's not just about doing one thing, it's about doing many things, and it's about finding a right balance between education and enforcement.
But also really what you're talking about is really bringing about a change in cultural norms, a shift in the way of thinking, and that is done through enforcement, but it's also done through education, and it's also done through communications and the engagement of media.
And I think that's what we've heard in different ways from the panel of other national representatives as well.
But all of you, I think, have highlighted the importance of engaging with communities, victims groups, and civil society actors who have a role to contribute in playing and contribute and informing, as you said, listening to people.
So with that, I'd like to turn to two colleagues, Donna, who you've already, um, uh, who has already mentioned, but also Sana, who represents youth.
And perhaps I can ask the two of you to reflect a bit on what has been said here from your perspective as victims, but also as youth and those that are going to shape the future of transport, mobility, but also ensuring safety to reflect a bit on what you've heard and what you think still needs to be done.
So maybe I'll start with Donna and hand the floor to you to start your comments and reflect a bit on that.
Thank you I appreciate the opportunity to give the victims perspective today.
And I'd like to also thank my Minister for Transport from Ireland for including our NGO at home and for doing all in their power, really, to try and turn around the utter devastation that our families have experienced in losing a loved one on the roads or being seriously injured and being left really to pick up the pieces of shattered lives.
As Jean mentioned earlier, we know the cure for these collisions.
They're not accidents, and we all have a role to play really in preventing them.
In the International Road Victims Partnership, many of our NGOs have been founded by families whose lives have been devastated by road traffic collisions.
Everything we advocate for is informed by the lived experience of victims and bereaved families, reminding us that behind every statistic is a person, a family, and a future forever changed.
Our priority is to build a road safety system that both prevents tragedies and delivers support, accountability and justice for those affected when tragedies occur.
The greatest challenge now is ensuring that commitments are matched by delivery.
Road safety strategies alone do not save lives.
They must be translated into effective legislation, consistent enforcement, thorough investigation, and meaningful support for those whose lives have been changed forever.
That begins with robust legislation, including mandatory testing and other evidence based safety measures, supported by effective deterrence and penalties that discourage dangerous behavior.
It requires rigorous enforcement because laws only save lives when they are consistently applied.
It requires thorough investigations into every fatal and serious injury collision, together with effective prosecutions and appropriate sentencing that reflects the seriousness of the harm caused so that lessons are learned, justice is delivered, and fair compensation is not unnecessarily delayed.
It also requires timely information and data sharing, compassionate support, and meaningful inclusion for victims and bereaved families throughout the criminal and civil justice process and during any public inquiries and colonial processes.
Families should never be left traumatized by the very systems intended to support them.
They should have timely access to information, justice, and fair compensation for loss and serious injury, together with the practical and emotional support they need to rebuild their lives.
Finally, victims and brief families should not simply receive support after tragedy.
They should be recognized as partners in improving road safety.
Their lived experience helps identify system failures, strengthens accountability, and keeps our focus on preventing future harm.
Every fatal or serious collision should leave behind more than grief and life changing injury.
It should leave behind knowledge, accountability, and action that prevents the next tragedy.
Thanks, Sana.
It's always very inspiring to hear you talk, and we're so grateful for the passion that you and other colleagues here bring to this topic.
And as a reminder that not only do you have an important role to play in sort of shaping the discourse and the conversations that we have, but also ensuring that the conversations don't end with the crash and with the fatality and that there is a need for care and support and justice after the fact, as well.
So I want to thank you for reminding us of that.
I'm going to invite our last speaker, Sana, who represents an NGO called Youth for Road Safety to perhaps reflect a bit on what you make of all of this conversation.
We often talk about youth being the group that's most impacted by road traffic crashes and road traffic fatalities.
And I think it's also important to realize, as we heard this morning, by the way, from a very dynamic 16-year-old CEO, that youth also have a big and important role in shaping the solutions and how we think about the future of road safety.
So Sana, over to you.
Thank you very much, doctor Nan, doctor Tadres, doctor Etienne, Mr.
Todd, Your Excellencies.
It's very important to have a voice like me in rooms like this.
I do not only represent myself, yours, or even the Global Youth Coalition for You Safety.
I represent the biggest youth generation in history.
I want you to look at me, but think of 1.8 billion young people around the world.
Certainly, the world has changed a lot since the first decade of action for safety.
I wasn't there, but doctor Etienne was there.
And we were fighting for road safety to be recognized as a political priority.
But today, the situation is very different.
We see road safety in public health.
We see it in climate targets.
We see it on the agenda of urban planning, digitalization, economic empowerment, and we believe that we've made a lot of progress.
We are more ambitious than the results that we have seen on the screen.
But young people can help accelerate this progress.
And I would say that today we are at a much better place than we were in 20 and ten.
The core mission of organizations like yours is basically not to ask for young people to be visible in the room or to have a microphone in meetings like this.
We want young people to have the power to challenge the system, to set with decision makers, to have more visibility on budget strategies, and to be able to influence.
So the question is no longer, should we have youth in the room? Youth are already in the room.
We want to challenge that and ask, what are we allowed to change when we enter those rooms? Do decision makers have the political will to listen to young people and to reflect to what they hear into the strategies and into all the decisions that will govern the future of our transport system? At the beginning, Mr.
Todd has mentioned something about road safety being commitment, a mandated commitment for governments, and he reflected that we need to have collaboration.
We need to work together to each those commitments.
I want to add to that that these commitments are not self driving.
We need active participation from the civil society, from the road users, from the community to directly deliver and design these commitments.
Mr.
Call from the Ministry of Transport in Morocco mentioned the gap between the policies and between the processes that design the laws and design the regulatory frameworks that shape the system where people move and between the people, the citizens, the recipients of those laws.
And at yours, we believe that young people can bridge this gap.
Young people can act as catalysts and drivers to work closely with decision makers to reflect the lived experiences of their peers on the roads into the strategies and the policies.
And basically, this is one of the programs that we work at with viewers and with our partners who many of them are present in the room here today.
We help governments learn how to work with young people.
We design consultation mechanisms to help municipalities and city councils to take into account the lived experiences of those youth, so we can prevent tragedies, the ones that are similar to what my colleague Donna has mentioned now.
We can prevent this.
And I believe that our biggest one has been achieved as yours.
Young people today are not perceived as victims, we are perceived as change makers, and we have been leading the work with governments in many cities around the world.
And one concrete example that I can give you today is from our flagship program.
It's called Local actions, where we provide seed funding, mentorship, technical assistance to young people to design specific interventions in their communities.
And basically they receive a very modest funding.
It's around 5,000 euros.
But is it can be life changing.
One of our leaders in Peru, they took this funding, and they developed a tool to basically collect data about unsafe cycling routes.
So they started talking to their peers, mobilizing the community, and they came up with this map that allowed the government to know what are the dangerous zones in their cities.
And with a very modest grant like this, they were able to attract $100,000 in funding, and now they are working closely with the city council to expand this tool and to duplicate this experience across other cities, not only in Lima, but outside Lima as well, all around Peru.
And this is a concrete example of what young people can do.
Doctor Tadres in his remarks at the beginning of this meeting, asked governments to leave this room with commitments, with more visibility for budgets, and also to work closely with civil society organizations.
And I want to add to that, please include us in those decisions that you are taking.
Young people, we are expanding our hands, and we want to shake your hand and to work closely with you to change the system.
I shared your optimism, doctor.
At the beginning, you mentioned that we can achieve the target by 2030.
But what I think about is that in 2030, sometime around that year, a child will go to school, and they will not be curious about the decisions that are made here.
They will not be curious about the declarations or the targets.
They will simply use that road.
But that road will be decided by the decisions that are made in rooms like this.
So we have the power today to change this, to make sure that we are preventing many unneeded crashes that could happen in the future.
And I believe that we can change the world if we can work closely together.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Lana.
I think hearing you speak, I think all of us in the room become optimistic in terms of how we look at the future.
I think you are also the first generation of young people or people that will look at road safety and look at a traffic death and say, this is not necessary.
It's not a given.
And I think that's really what's hopeful gives us hope and optimism as we think about how we move forward.
Ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately we are a bit behind schedule, so I'm going to skip the segment of questions and answers, and I would encourage you to approach the speakers here during the break for the next couple of days and continue the dialogues with them.
So I'll hand it back over to Etienne for the closing.
Thanks.
Yeah, thanks, Nan, and I will skip closing remarks because we all need to move to the high level meeting hall.
But I just simply want to warmly thank all of our speakers.
It was amazing to listen to all of you.
I think if we put all of these advice, your seven points, and all of the others experiences in a short document, it's a perfect guideline for ministers coming in, having to deal with road safety.
So a big thanks to all of you I just want to give a shout out before we go to four road safety heroes.
You're all road safety heroes here, those who have spoken, but I want to mention Rochelle Sobel, who lost her son 25 years ago and has never stopped fighting for road safety since then.
I know she wanted to speak here today.
There's no time, but I really want to mention her and thank her for all she does.
And I want to mention Michelle.
Michelle is an Oscar winning superstar.
She's been sitting here very quietly, but she's a fantastic road safety champion.
So thanks, Michelle, for what you're doing.
I want to mention Benzer Buljoul and Perre Navarro as examples of those who behind the scenes lead the work on road safety in their countries.
They've been doing it for years and years.
They're walking Enclopedia of road safety.
They didn't say anything, but believe me, they're amazing champions.
I was going to say Perre Navarro is the Amin Laval of road safety, but both of you.
So thanks very much.
Let's move to the high level meeting.
Thanks to you all.
Okay.