The United Nations issues new guidance to make roads safer

• Published On: 11 May 2017
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The focus was on low and middle income countries that contribute to the overall 1.25 million road accidents that occur every year.

Driving at the wrong speed contributes to one-third of the 1.25 million road fatalities around the world every year. Around 40-50 percent of them are by drivers who go over posted speed limits. The 'Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week' being held from May 8-14, will focus on highlighting the threat posed by speed, and launching new guidance to make roads safe.

Close to 30 percent of fatalities on the road are a result of high speed or over-speeding, leading to loss of precious lives, many of which include the youth in their prime; leading to income loss in a lot of families. Low and middle-income countries need to be focussed upon to curb their speed limits, as the road accidents in these countries contribute majorly to the overall number of 1.25 million road deaths across the world every year. This includes India, which has one of the highest road accident fatality records in the world. Even some developed countries like the UK and Sweden have reported rapid increases in accident stats.

To achieve the UN’s target of bringing down the mortality rates by up to 50 percent, countries need to stress upon infrastructure development which includes enhancing the enforcement of various regulations in place, inculcating good driving practices and offering good driver training.

The World Health Organisation recommends stringent laws for drunken driving, stricter policies for graduation of driving licenses and further reducing speed limits in many countries. The UN also suggests that the burden lies on major global Automotive players in enhancing vehicle safety - tech like Autonomous Emergency Braking is already proving to be a life-saving tool.