Abstract: The International Transport Forum (ITF), created in 2007 from the former European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) and all Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries, is a global platform and meeting place for transportation, logistics, and mobility. This article, from a special issue on road safety, describes road safety in OECD/ITF countries. The ITF aims to foster a deeper understanding of the important role played by transportation in the economy and in society. The author outlines road safety activities in the ITF, including ECMT reports and resolutions, targets for reducing road fatalities, peer reviews for road safety performance in member countries, research work on road safety (in the areas of road safety targets, speed management, young drivers, motorcycling safety, drugs in traffic, the safety of heavy vehicles, and pedestrian safety), the work of the International Traffic Safety Data and Analysis Group, various international cooperative efforts including those through the United Nations, the work of the European Commission, and the related road safety interests of the World Bank. The article then presents an overview of road safety performance data in OECD and ITF countries. The author notes that important progress has been made to improve road safety, but the positive performance has not been evenly spread. One figure illustrates the traffic deaths per 100,000 population in member countries since 1970; each country is represented by their flag and a line graph. One section of the article focuses on the long-term ambition of zero traffic fatalities and the interim targets that could be put in place to move systematically toward that goal. The final section briefly summarizes the main road safety problems and recommended countermeasures. These include speeding, drinking and driving, the lack of seatbelt use, young drivers overrepresented in road fatalities, insufficiently safe infrastructure, and insufficient motor vehicle crash protection for occupants. The author describes the Safe System approach that could be used to address these road safety issues.
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-11-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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