The UN General Assembly today urged accelerated action to reduce deaths and injuries from traffic crashes worldwide by implementing the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030.

Acting without a vote, the 193-member organ adopted the resolution “Improving global road safety” (document A/78/L.78), by which it urged Member States and relevant actors to accelerate and scale up efforts to implement the Global Plan, making road safety a political priority and ensuring its relevance in the broader sustainable development agenda.

iRAP is working with governments and road safety partners across the world to implement the Global Plan and maximise commitments for impact at the upcoming fourth Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety to be held from 18 to 20 February 2025 in Marrakesh.

By the Resolution text, the Assembly invited Member States that have not already done so to “consider adopting comprehensive legislation on key risk factors” and encouraged countries to establish ministerial coordination mechanisms — notably among the health, transport, education, infrastructure, interior and environment ministries — to address cross-cutting issues.

The Assembly welcomed Morocco’s offer to host the fourth Global Ministerial and called upon Member States to strengthen the collection, reporting and use of road safety data to generate real-time feedback to inform the implementation of the Global Plan.

“As we approach the halfway point of the Decade of Action, there is still a great deal to do to accelerate action,” said the representative of Morocco as she introduced “L.78.”

She noted that every year, roughly 1.2 million people die because of a road crash.  For its part, her country has launched a new strategy for 2016-2026 and created the National Agency for Road Safety in 2018 to reduce such deaths.

Noting that the upcoming 2025 conference in her country will be “the first of its kind on the African continent”, she said that special attention will be given to Africa where road crash deaths increased by 15 per cent from 2010 to 2021.

Targeted steps undertaken by the global community have generated positive results to reduce global road trauma, with 10 countries — Belarus, Brunei Darussalam, Denmark, Japan, Lithuania, Norway, the Russian Federation, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela — achieving a 50 per cent reduction between 2010 and 2021.  In another 35 countries, a 30-50 per cent reduction in mortality has been achieved.

Watch iRAP’s Communications as we share plans for the Ministerial in the coming months and how you can get involved to maximise safer roads outcomes in your country.