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Transport safety: a rural epidemic too

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 'Transport Safety: a rural epidemic too'  by Kate Czuczman (2010)
Published in the Commonwealth Ministers Reference Book

In recent years international bodies concerned with road safety have taken great strides to put the issue on the map. Global campaigns have struck a chord in the minds of the public and policy-makers alike, repackaging the issue as a global health epidemic with transport safety interventions as the much-needed 'vaccines'. The high profile Make Roads Safe campaign co-ordinated by the FIA Foundation calls upon the international community to "take urgent action to stop the daily tragedy of thousands of preventable deaths and injuries on the world's roads". The campaign achieved the first ever Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety and won approval from the UN to establish 2011-2020 as a decade of action for road safety.

The IFRTD network is delighted to see transport safety taking centre stage, but also concerned that with the predominant focus on highways and motorised traffic, some critical symptoms of this global epidemic have been overlooked. With road traffic accident data already scarce (it is estimated that in some countries less than half of the deaths that as occur as a result of road traffic accidents are reported), reliable data on rural transport safety issues is even harder to find. IFRTD is committed to broadening international understanding of the transport safety agenda to encompass the experience of communities in rural settings. This includes an understanding of transport safety in relation to non-motorised vehicles; feeder roads, tracks and paths; the maintenance of bridges and crossings; waterways; risks related to travel in rainy seasons; the vulnerability of both travellers and transport operators on isolated journeys; and the impact of large scale infrastructure traversing and opening up previously isolated areas.
 

View the full article online: http://issuu.com/henleymedia/docs/cmrb-2010/202