2 Mar 2010

UN / ROAD SAFETY WRAP

The latest report on the global status of road safety says that approximately 1.3 million people die each year on the world’s roads, and between 20 and 50 million sustain non-fatal injuries. UNTV / FILE

Posted at: March 2, 2010 5:50 pm

Duration: 01:54

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / ROAD SAFETY WRAP
TRT: 1.54
SOURCE: UNTV/ WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS

DATELINE: 2 MARCH 2010, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1.     Wide shot, exterior North Lawn UN building

2 MARCH 2010, NEW YORK CITY

2.     Wide shot, General Assembly
3.     Wide shot, Yeoh walking to the microphone
4.     SOUNDBITE (English) Michelle Yeoh, Actor and Make Roads Safe Global Ambassador:
"Last November in Moscow, the world came together to decide that the time has come for action. It was thrilling to see so many leaders from every corner of the world committing to make road safety a priority. All of us who care about and have worked for safer roads have traveled a long journey together. Today is the latest and the greatest stage of that journey when the United Nations commits to a decade of Action for Road Safety."
5.     Wide shot, General Assembly
6.     Wide shot, press conference dais 
7.     SOUNDBITE (English) Etienne Krug, Director of the Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability, WHO:
"This decade is long overdue. Just a few facts on road safety; 1.3 million people die every year around the world from road traffic crashes. About half of those people are pedestrians, bicyclist, people on motorcycles, what we call vulnerable road users. People who very often are not even able to afford a car but are the victims of those car crashes."

FILE – WHO – UNDATED, CHINA

8.     Wide shot, parent with boy on motorcycle without helmets
9.     Various shots, people riding tandem on bicycles in traffic without helmets

FILE – WHO – UNDATED, INDIA

10.     Various shots, different road users in risky situations

FILE – WHO – UNDATED, INDIA

11.     Wide shot, cliff where accident occurred
12.     Various stills, accident scene and injured driver

STORYLINE:

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a new resolution on road safety today (2 March) aiming to halt or reverse the increasing trend in road traffic deaths and injuries around the world. 
Sponsored by the Government of the Russian Federation and building on the Moscow Declaration; the resolution calls on Member States to declare 2011–2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety.

Malaysian actor and Make Roads Safe Global Ambassador, Michelle Yeoh, addressed the General Assembly and said that last November in Moscow, it had been thrilling "to see so many leaders from every corner of the world committing to make road safety a priority", leading to "the latest and the greatest stage of that journey when the United Nations commits to a Decade of Action for Road Safety."

The resolution underlines the importance of Member States to continue using the 2004 World report on road traffic injury prevention as a framework for their road safety efforts, calling for action on five main risk factors: the non-use of seat-belts and child restraints; drinking and driving; the non-use of helmets; excessive speed; and the lack of appropriate road infrastructure.

It also calls upon countries to pay particular attention to the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, those groups considered most vulnerable on the roads.

Earlier in the day, Etienne Krug, from the World Health Organization (WHO), told journalists that the declaration of a Decade of Action for Road Safety had been "long overdue".  He pointed out that 1.3 million people die every year around the world from road traffic accidents, half of them vulnerable road users "who very often are not even able to afford a car but are the victims of those car crashes."

A Plan of Action for the Decade calls upon Member States to increase action to address the causes of road traffic crashes; set ambitious targets for the reduction of road traffic fatalities by 2020; increase resources for road safety; and other measures.