MANIFESTO #4ROADSAFETY

THE WESTMINSTER DECLARATION
ADOPTED BY THE GLOBAL NETWORK FOR ROAD SAFETY LEGISLATORS, 16 DECEMBER 2016

PP1. We, the Members of Parliament gathered in London, on 12 December 2016 during the International workshop for road safety legislators, organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Towards Zero Foundation (TZF), in association with the UK Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS);

PP2. Concerned that more than 1.25 million people and as many as 50 million are injured in road crashes every year with 90% of these casualties occurring in low- and middle-income countries⁶⁸;

PP3. Recognizing that the overwhelming majority of road traffic deaths and injuries are predictable and preventable and that whilst there has been progress by the mid-point of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 much remains to be done, particularly in regard to the adoption of effective legislative and policy frameworks for road traffic injury prevention;

PP4. Recalling the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals⁶⁹ (SDGs) include road safety in Goal 3.6 (Good Health & Well Being) with a target to halve road traffic deaths and injuries by 2020, and in Goal 11.2 (Sustainable Cities & Communities) with a target by 2030 to “provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities, and older persons”;

PP5. Acknowledging the road safety leadership role of WHO, the importance of UN’s road safety related legal instruments and agreements managed by the UN Economic Commission for Europe, and the co-ordination activities of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration;

PP6. Welcoming the UN General Assembly’s support for the implementation of the Global Plan for the Decade⁷⁰ and WHO’s preparation of the Save LIVES Technical Package aimed at policy-makers mainly in low- and middle-income countries which provides evidence-based measures that are most likely to help reduce road traffic deaths and injuries;

PP7. Noting the recommendations of the report “Zero road deaths and serious injuries: leading a paradigm shift to Safe System, published by the International Transport Forum, OECD, in October 2016⁷¹;

PP8. Recalling the UN General Assembly resolution 64/255 of 2010 which called for joint multisectoral action to increase the proportion of countries with comprehensive legislation on key risk facts from 15% to 50% by the end of the Decade⁷²;

PP9. Recalling the Moscow Declaration adopted at the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in November 2009⁷³, the Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety⁷⁴ adopted at the 2nd Global High Level Conference on Road Safety in November 2015, the side event Parliamentarians for global road safety – Building a legislator’s network’ held in Brasilia, and the UN General Assembly Resolution adopted in April 2016⁷⁵;