On 11 May 2011, the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 was launched in more than 100 countries, with one goal: to prevent five million road traffic deaths globally by 2020. Moving from the Global Plan for the Decade to national action, many countries have taken measures towards improving road safety, either by developing national plans for the Decade; introducing new laws; or increasing enforcement of existing legislation, among other concrete actions. The recent UN General Assembly resolution on global road safety gives further impetus to the Decade by calling on countries to implement road safety activities in each of the five pillars of the Global Plan.
Last year’s EFORT congress contributed to the efforts of the UN Decade by focussing on trauma topics, by dedicating a symposium to injury prevention, and by raising awareness. Also this year, traffic accident-derived musculoskeletal injuries and their rehabilitation will remain a main topic of interest at the 14th EFORT Congress.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon states: "Now we need to move this campaign into high gear and steer our world to safer roads ahead. Together, we can save millions of lives."
Find out about the UN Decade of Action here.