“The road safety Tag is the new symbol of the global movement for safer roads. Wear the Tag, believe in our collective ability to tackle these appalling road deaths and together let us act to save millions of lives in the Decade of Action.” Lord Robertson, Chairman, Make Roads Safe

“Hospitals and morgues around the world are filled with victims of road traffic crashes. Symbolized by the road safety Tag, the Decade of Ac-tion will allow many actors to join forces to put into practice the pre-vention programmes and trauma care services needed to avoid this unnecessary loss.”Etienne Krug, Director, Injury Prevention, WHO

What is the Tag?

There are some symbols that unite the world: the red ribbon which brought such momentum to awareness of HIV/AIDS and the white band against global poverty. Now these are joined by a new symbol.

The Road Safety Tag is the global symbol of the move-ment to improve safety on the roads. It has been adopted as the official symbol for the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, which aims to reduce road deaths and injuries across the world. More than 1.3 million people die every year on the world’s roads, up to 50 million are injured.

By wearing the Tag you are demonstrating your support for the Decade of Action, and your personal commitment to be safe on the road.

Why we must act

Most of us know someone who has been affected by a road crash, either by being injured themselves, or through suffering a bereavement or injury to a family member or friend.

Every day, around the world, 3,500 people leave home and never return because they have been suddenly, vio-lently, killed in a road crash.

These tragic deaths and the misery and grief they cause are not inevitable. They can be prevented, if measures are taken by governments, police, health practitioners and all road users to improve safety.

The United Nations General Assembly has set the goal for the decade: “to stabilize and then reduce the fore-cast level of road traffic fatalities around the world” by 2020. Millions of deaths could potentially be prevented as a result.

The Decade of Action is our opportunity to make our communities and streets safer wherever we live.

“Something can be done. So many people can be saved, so many millions can be saved.”

Violet Olang, June 2010

Violet Olang, a Kenyan student, suffered spinal injuries in March 2009 when the taxi she was travelling in was in-volved in a road crash. The taxi driver had been talking on a mobile phone and driving too fast. Violet was partially paralysed and confined to a wheelchair.

Violet believed that the Decade of Action has the potential to prevent her story being repeated for millions of others. Sadly, Violet died in October 2010.

“This is our Tag. We want everyone to wear one, to believe and to act. In the Decade of Action, if we achieve our potential, we can save millions of lives.”Michelle Yeoh, Make Roads Safe Global Ambassador

Ten reasons to act on road deaths

• 1.3 million people are killed on the world’s roads each year

• Road crashes kill more people than Malaria

• 50 million people are injured, many disabled as a re-sult

• 90% of these casualties occur in developing coun-tries

• Annual deaths are forecast to rise to 1.9 million by 2020

• It is the No.1 cause of death for young people world-wide

• By 2015 it will be the leading health burden for chil-dren over the age of five in developing countries

• The economic cost to developing countries is at least $100 billion a year

• Injuries place immense burdens on hospitals and health systems

• Road crashes are preventable

What can I do?

The first thing you can do is to get a Tag. Wear it, some-how, anyhow. Then tell your friends, family and colleagues to get their Tags too.

A red ribbon is just a ribbon, until it is imbued with the hope and energies of millions of people working against HIV/AIDS. The white plastic wristband is just a piece of plastic, until hundreds of thousands of people proudly display it as they march against poverty. Now it is up to all of us to unite and make this small piece of metal – the road safety Tag - a powerful symbol of our fight against the suffering, grief and injustice caused by road deaths and injuries.

The Tag launch at London’s Natural History Museum. Projecting the Tag onto public buildings is one way to build awareness.

The Decade of Action for Road Safety will be officially launched on Wednesday 11 May 2011.

The objectives of the global launch are to:

• draw attention to the Decade, the impact of the global road safety crisis and the prospects for injury prevention;

• provide an opportunity for governments, interna-tional agencies, civil society organizations, the pri-vate sector and other stakeholders to announce their respective plans for the Decade.

At the global level, a 24-hour “rolling” event will begin in the East and travel to the West.

In each of the world’s 24 time zones, on 11 May, one or several countries will take the lead in organizing a high-profile, media-oriented event. This should be an opportu-nity for Heads of State and ministers, sports stars and ce-lebrities, national road safety stakeholders and the public to show their commitment to scaling up road safety ef-forts.

Please get involved in your country and together we can make 11 May 2011 a launch pad for action: www.who.int/roadsafety/decade_of_action/

The UN Road Safety Col-laboration is developing a global Plan for the Decade with input from many part-ners. It provides an overall framework for activities which may take place in the context of the Decade.

The categories or “pillars” of activities are:

• building road safety management capacity• upgrading the safety of road infrastructure• further developing the safety of vehicles• enhancing the behaviour of road users• improving emergency services.

Governments, interna-tional agencies, civil so-ciety organizations, the private sector and other stakeholders are invited to make use of the Plan as a guiding document for the events and activities they will support as part of the Decade.

For more information see: www.who.int/roadsafety/decade_of_action/

Contacts and resources

www.who.int/roadsafety

The official site for the Decade of Action and the UN Road Safety Collabo-ration, with information on policy, events and net-works from WHO, the lead agency for the Decade.

www.decadeofaction.org

The campaign resources site for the Tag, provid-ing artwork, ideas and Tag availability, hosted by the FIA Foundation.

United Nations Regional Commissions leading road safety efforts in your re-gion:

UNECA www.uneca.orgUNECE www.unece.org/transUNECLAC www.eclac.orgUNESCAP www.unescap.orgUNESCWA www.escwa.un.org

YOURS, the international network for youth for road safety:www.youthforroadsafety.org

Make Roads Safe, the international ad-vocacy campaign for global road safety:www.makeroadssafe.org

The Global Road Safety Facility, coordi-nating efforts by Multilateral Develop-ment Banks to improve road safety:www.worldbank.org/grsf

The Global Road Safety Partnership, bringing public/private partners togeth-er to implement road injury prevention programmes:www.grsproadsafety.org

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, active in promoting road safety across the world:www.ifrc.org/what/health/roadsafety/

The international organization for vic-tims of road crashes:www.fevr.org

Check these two websites regularly for updates and news.

Some other important sources for the Decade of Action:

www.who.int/roadsafety www.decadeofaction.org

“Travel-related injuries and deaths affect millions of people around the world. I’m hopeful that action can be taken to ensure that no one dies before their time”

Bill Clinton, Former US President

Former US President Bill Clinton and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at Tag launch, Clinton Global Initiative, New York

© FIA Foundation