First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety: Time for Action

Moscow, 19-20 November 2009
Moscow Declaration

We, the Ministers and heads of delegations as well as representatives of international, regional and sub-regional governmental and nongovernmental organizations and private bodies gathered in Moscow, Russian Federation, from 19–20 November 2009 for the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety,

Acknowledging the leadership of the Government of the Russian Federation in preparing and hosting this First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety and the leadership of the Government of the Sultanate of Oman in leading the process for adoption of related United Nations General Assembly resolutions,
Aware that as described in the 2004 World Health Organization/World Bank World report on road traffic injury prevention and subsequent publications, road traffic injuries are a major public health problem and leading cause of death and injury around the world and that road crashes kill more than 1.2 million people and injure or disable as many as 50 million a year, placing road traffic crashes as the leading cause of death for children and young people aged 5–29 years,

Concerned that more than 90% of road traffic deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries and that in these countries the most vulnerable are pedestrians, cyclists, users of motorised two- and three-wheelers and passengers on unsafe public transport,

Conscious that in addition to the enormous suffering caused by road traffic deaths and injuries to victims and their families, the annual cost of road traffic injuries in low-income and middle-income countries runs to over USD 65 billion exceeding the total amount received in development assistance and representing 1–1.5% of gross national product, thus affecting the sustainable development of countries,

Convinced that without appropriate action the problem will only worsen in the future when, according to projections, by the year 2020 road traffic deaths will become one of the leading causes of death particularly for low-income and middle-income countries,

Underlining that the reasons for road traffic deaths and injuries and their consequences are known and can be prevented and that these reasons include inappropriate and excessive speeding; drinking and driving; failure to appropriately use seat-belts, child restraints, helmets and other safety equipment; the use of vehicles that are old, poorly maintained or lacking safety features; poorly designed or insufficiently maintained road infrastructure, in particular infrastructure which fails to protect pedestrians; poor or unsafe public transportation systems; lack of or insufficient enforcement of traffic legislation; lack of political awareness and lack of adequate trauma care and rehabilitation,

Recognizing that a large proportion of road traffic deaths and injuries occur in the context of professional activities, and that a contribution can be made to road safety by implementing fleet safety measures,

Aware that over the last thirty years many high-income countries have achieved substantial reductions in road traffic deaths and injuries through sustained commitment to well-targeted, evidence-based injury prevention programmes, and that with further effort, fatality free road transport networks are increasingly feasible, and that high- income countries should, therefore, continue to establish and achieve ambitious road casualty reduction targets, and support global exchange of good practices in road injury prevention,

Recognizing the efforts made by some low- and middle-income countries to implement best practices, set ambitious targets and monitor road traffic fatalities,

Acknowledging the work of the United Nations system, in particular the long standing work of the United Nations Regional Commissions and the leadership of the World Health Organization, to advocate for greater political commitment to road safety, increase road safety activities, promote best practices, and coordinate road safety issues within the United Nations system,

Also acknowledging the progress of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration as a consultative mechanism whose members are committed to road safety and whose activities include providing governments and civil society with guidance on good practice to support action to tackle major road safety risk factors,

Acknowledging the work of other stakeholders, including intergovernmental agencies; regional financial institutions, nongovernmental and civil society organizations, and other private bodies,

Acknowledging the role of the Global Road Safety Facility established by the World Bank as the first funding mechanism to support capacity building and provide technical support for road safety at global, regional and country levels,

Acknowledging the report of the Commission for Global Road Safety Make roads safe: a new priority for sustainable development which links road safety with sustainable development and calls for increased resources and a new commitment to road infrastructure safety assessment,

Acknowledging the findings of the report of the International Transport Forum and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Towards zero: ambitious road safety targets and the safe system approach and its recommendation that all countries regardless of their level of road safety performance move to a safe system approach to achieve ambitious targets,

Acknowledging the findings of the World Health Organization/UNICEF World report on child injury prevention which identifies road traffic injuries as the leading cause of all unintentional injuries to children and describes the physical and developmental characteristics which place children at particular risk,

Recognizing that the solution to the global road safety crisis can only be implemented through multi-sectoral collaboration and partnerships among all concerned in both public and private sectors, with the involvement of civil society,

Recognizing that road safety is a ‘cross cutting’ issue which can contribute significantly to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and that capacity building in road traffic injury prevention should be fully integrated into national development strategies for transport, environment and health, and supported by multilateral and bilateral institutions through a better aligned, effective, and harmonized aid effort,

Conscious that global results are the effect of national and local measures and that effective actions to improve global road safety require strong political will, commitment and resources at all levels: national and sub-national, regional and global,

Welcoming the World Health Organization's Global status report on road safety – the first country by country assessment at global level – which identifies gaps and sets a baseline to measure future progress,

Also welcoming the results of the projects implemented by the United Nations regional commissions to assist low-income and middle-income countries in setting their own road traffic casualty reduction targets, as well as regional targets,

Determined to build on existing successes and learn from past experiences,

Hereby resolve to:
1. Encourage the implementation of the recommendations of the World report on road traffic injury prevention,
2. Reinforce governmental leadership and guidance in road safety, including by designating or strengthening lead agencies and related coordination mechanisms at national or sub-national level;
3. Set ambitious yet feasible national road traffic casualty reduction targets that are clearly linked to planned investments and policy initiatives and mobilize the necessary resources to enable effective and sustainable implementation to achieve targets in the framework of a safe systems approach;
4. Make particular efforts to develop and implement policies and infrastructure solutions to protect all road users in particular those who are most vulnerable such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and users of unsafe public transport, as well as children, the elderly and people living with disabilities;
5. Begin to implement safer and more sustainable transportation, including through land-use planning initiatives and by encouraging alternative forms of transportation;
6. Promote harmonization of road safety and vehicle safety regulations and good practices through the implementation of relevant United Nations resolutions and instruments and the series of manuals issued by the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration;
7. Strengthen or maintain enforcement and awareness of existing legislation and where needed improve legislation and vehicle and driver registration systems using appropriate international standards;
8. Encourage organizations to contribute actively to improving work-related road safety through adopting the use of best practices in fleet management;
9. Encourage collaborative action by fostering cooperation between relevant entities of public administrations, organizations of the United Nations system, private and public sectors, and with civil society;
10. Improve national data collection and comparability at the international level, including by adopting the standard definition of a road death as any person killed immediately or dying within 30 days as a result of a road traffic crash and standard definitions of injury; and facilitating international cooperation to develop reliable and harmonized data systems;
11. Strengthen the provision of pre-hospital and hospital trauma care, rehabilitation services and social reintegration through the implementation of appropriate legislation, development of human capacity and improvement of access to health care so as to ensure the timely and effective delivery to those in need;

Invite the United Nations General Assembly to declare the decade 2011–2020 as the “Decade of Action for Road Safety” with a goal to stabilize and then reduce the forecast level of global road deaths by 2020;

Decide to evaluate progress five years following the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety;

Invite the international donor community to provide additional funding in support of global, regional and country road safety, especially in low- and middle-income countries; and

Invite the UN General Assembly to assent to the contents of this declaration.