Statement by The First Deputy Minister of the Interior of the Russian Federation A.V.Gorovoy at the plenary meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations dedicated to road safety
Mr. President,
Ladies and gentlemen,
The road safety has been and remains one of the most pressing issues of modern society. Deaths and injuries resulting from road traffic accidents have a negative impact on the socio-economic progress and sustainable development of states.
It is important that the topic of road safety not only firmly took its place on the UN General Assembly agenda, but has also become an integral part of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. The incorporation of relevant targets in the Sustainable Development Goals demonstrates the international community's recognition of the need for coordinated action in this area.
Mr President,
In Russia we have consistently implemented a range of measures to improve road safety. This work is being conducted pursuant to the decisions of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation on the basis of the 2020 Federal target program on improving road safety and the 2018-2024 Strategy on road safety in the Russian Federation. In the spotlight we have six key areas, including nurturing a culture of ethics of road users and the proper level of legal awareness; increasing safety of children and pedestrians from accidents and related consequences, as well as developing a system of assistance to victims. As part of the implementation of innovative projects, new opportunities are emerging to make road traffic safer, including by minimizing the influence of the human factor on the functioning of various systems.
Thanks to the measures taken the number of road traffic deaths has decreased by one third over the last 6 years. At the same time, we have succeeded in reducing the mortality rate of vulnerable traffic participants: among minors by a quarter, among pedestrians by one third, among motorcyclists - twice. Progress has been made in the conditions of intensive growth of fleet of vehicles which increased by 20% over the same period of time.
Mr President,
International cooperation in the area of road safety has been strengthened substantially since the inclusion of road safety topic in the agenda of the UN General Assembly at the initiative of Oman in 2003. As a follow-up to the First Global Ministerial Conference on road safety, held in Moscow in 2009, the UN General Assembly declared the 2011-2020 period as the decade of action in this area. The process of practical implementation of steps for integrating the Decade of action with the Sustainable Development Goals started after the Second conference, held in Brasilia in 2015. This process has led to a launch of large-scale actions on stabilization and subsequent reduction in the projected road traffic accident mortality rates. We would also like to highlight the role of Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy, in the implementation of these initiatives. We also welcome the decision of the Secretary-General to establish a road safety trust fund.
Purposeful steps taken by the international community have already yielded positive results. Thus, over the last few years in many states we have witnessed a trend towards decrease in mortality and injury rates, resulting from traffic accidents.
However, much remains to be done in this field. That is why Russia has the honour of presenting today its draft resolution entitled "Improving global road safety".
Mr President,
The draft is based on relevant UN General Assembly resolutions, it reflects the achievements made by the international community in the field of road safety and it focuses on strengthening multilateral cooperation for the benefit of reducing road traffic injuries.
The resolution establishes an understanding that effective response to global road safety challenges is feasible only with the participation of all stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society.
The efforts undertaken by international organizations, mainly within the UN system, are commended. The draft welcomes the steps taken by member states to accede to the relevant international legal instruments and to develop a comprehensive national legislation in the field of road safety with main risk factors being taken into account.
The resolution welcomes the attention given to the issue of interrelation of road safety with sustainable mobility in The New Urban Agenda - Habitat III.
Particular reference is made to the activities undertaken within the Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week where emphasis was put on speed rate as one of the main risk factors.
The document calls on all UN member states to use in practice the system of 12 global targets for risk factors developed by the World Health Organization to monitor progress not only at the national level, but also at the global and regional levels.
The resolution welcomes the offer of the Government of Sweden to host the 2020 Third Global High-Level conference to review the progress made in the achievement of the objectives of the Decade of Action in the field of road safety. We assume that within this event the set of measures, taken as part of the Decade of Action, will be reviewed, and the progress towards achieving target 3.6 will be assessed. We wish our Swedish colleagues success in organizing this important forum.
Mr President,
We express our sincere gratitude to all delegations who contributed to the consultations on the project, as well as to all interested parties. We would like to express our special thanks to our colleagues from the World Health Organization and the UN Economic Commission for Europe for their significant contribution to our common cause.
We urge all member countries to support the resolution, and we invite you to join the ranks of its co-sponsors.
Thank you very much.
