iRAP CEO presents on the role of civil society and youth at the UN High-Level meeting on Road Safety supporting event in New York

On 3 December, UN Member States and parliamentarians gathered in New York to discuss the critical domestic and international financing needs of the 2nd Decade of Action for Road Safety and how government and NGOs can ensure it is a decade of delivery and results. iRAP’s CEO Rob McInerney shared his thoughts on how organisations like iRAP and the Global Alliance for Road Safety NGO members provide the passion and the purpose for road safety action; the push and the evidence-based products to support the business case for investment and how they need long-term partnerships to maximise the life-saving potential of their work. Watch video below and click here to read full transcript.

Convened by the President of the UN General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, the event lays the foundation for the High-Level meeting on road safety scheduled for New York on June 30 and July 1, 2022. Recognising the unacceptable level of death and injury on the world’s roads the event will bring an unparalleled global political attention to road trauma with the theme ‘The 2030 horizon for road safety: securing a decade of action and delivery”. The high-level meeting aims to secure political commitments that will ensure the 2030 United Nations SDG target to halve road deaths and injuries by 2030 is met.

Targets for 3-star or better roads for all road users is now embedded in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action 2021-2030 that was developed by the UN Regional Commissions and WHO and released in October. Meeting these targets will save an estimated 450,000 lives a year and over 100 million deaths and injuries over the life of the treatments. Mobilising the public and private results-based financing to achieve this win-win outcome is now a priority of work by iRAP partners all around the world.

The supporting event provided an opportunity to identify strategies for securing short- and long-term sustainable sources of financing for the implementation of the Second Decade of Action and key safe system actions recommended in the Global Plan as well as to discuss the roles and contributions of diverse stakeholders in the implementation of the Global Plan. The outcomes of these deliberations will be shared and taken forward to the High-Level Meeting on Road Safety in 2022.

Highlights from the event

United Nations General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid opened the event, highlighting the importance of the Global Plan, but warned that ‘unless it is implemented, it is nothing more than a plan of action.’

Watch video below – starting at 23.20 minutes

Video highlighting the magnitude of the problem worldwide, a message of hope and change. The world needs to address this unnecessary and tragic burden on families, communities and economies.

Watch video below starting at 29.56 minutes

Other highlights include:

Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety speaking at 43:00 minutes in.
Zoleka Mandela, Global Ambassador for the FIA Foundation Child Health Initiative speaking at 1:12:45 minutes in.
Two panel sessions (beginning at 1:17;:30 minutes):
- International Financing.
- Role of Private Sector, Civil Society, Academia and Youth.

Watch full recording below.

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