Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
17
3 Road Safety Management
In 2009, the World Health Organization and the World Bank published the report ‘Global Status
Report on Road Safety – Time for Action’, highlighting the growing public health burden of road
fatalities in the developing world (World Health Organisation, 2009). The report made a
powerful case for urgent measures to address the problem as a global development priority.
This report was the first in a series of annual reports on road safety published by WHO. These
reports show that low- and middle-income countries have higher road traffic mortality rates
than high-income countries. Over 90% of the world’s fatalities on the roads occur in low-income
and middle-income countries, which have only 48% of the world’s registered vehicles.
Furthermore, half of those that die in road crashes are pedestrians, cyclists or motorised two-
wheelers, collectively known as vulnerable road users – and this proportion is higher in the
poorer economies of the world.
The WHO and World Bank findings and recommendations contained in the above-mentioned
reports provided a consensus-based blueprint for country, regional and global action and were
subsequently endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly Resolutions 56/289, 60/5 and
62/244 (Improving Global Road Safety) and World Health Assembly Resolution WHA 57.10
(Road Safety and Health).
The more recent outcome or implementation plan for the above process was known as the
Decade of Action for Road Safety, 2011 – 2020 (United Nations, 2011) with five specific road
safety pillars addressing road safety management, safer vehicles, safer road users, safer roads
and emergency response.
3.1 International Cooperation and Partnerships
Efficient and effective implementation of the WHO and WB recommendations require countries
to work in partnership with the international development community to scale up, refocus and
harmonise their road safety activities, with an emphasis on managing for results. As an
overarching priority, institutional capacity building at global, regional and country levels must
underpin this endeavour if improved country road safety performance is to be sustained in the
longer term.
The guidelines first set out in the recommendations of the First Global Status report (World
Health Organisation, 2009) and later in the UN’s Decade of Action, provide a sequential process
that is vital to success. Safetymanagement capacity reviews, based on the procedures developed
for the World Bank (Bliss & Breen, 2009) and later to be incorporated in the International
Standard for road traffic safety management (ISO, 2012), are deemed and essential first steps in
building a multi-sectoral framework for dialogue between all relevant partners and
stakeholders at country, regional and global levels. Capacity review findings will specify the
position and role of organisations responsible for road safety management (the lead agency),
strengthen the long-term investment strategy and identify (Safe System) projects required to
improve country safety outcomes on a sustainable basis.