( l - r ) Henry, Bloomberg
Spurred by the heavy toll road accidents are having on the public purse, the Jamaican Government sent a delegation to the recently held First Global Ministerial Road Safety Conference in Moscow, aimed at addressing the problem of road crashes globally.
The five-member delegation, headed by Transport Minister Mike Henry, was among approximately 1,500 delegates at the conference, which adopted the Moscow Declaration inviting the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to declare a Decade of Action for Road Safety, from 2011-2020. Jamaica has stated its support for this declaration.
US$125-million donation
One of the highlights of the conference was the announcement by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that he would donate US$125 million to a programme to prevent death and disability due to road traffic crashes globally.
The donation represents the largest single donation for international road safety and will be dedicated to benefit low- and middle- income countries.
The conference was called by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in response to the high level of road crashes across the world, which claim 1.2 million lives and injure more than 50 million annually.
Participants included more than 70 ministers of transport, health and interior and other senior government officials from 150 countries.
The objectives of the ministerial conference were to:
Draw attention to the need for action to address the large and growing global impact of roadtraffic crashes, particularly in low-and middle-income countries.
Review progress on implementation of the world report on road-traffic injury prevention and the UN General Assembly resolutions.
Provide a high-level global multi-sectoral policy platform to share information and good practices on road safety.
Propose a number of actions for the future, including a discussion of the resources needed to fulfil these actions.
Local organisation, the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), in a release, hailed the conference and Jamaica's participation as a necessary step in mobilising public support against the road-crash pandemic.
Dr Lucien Jones, vice-chairman/convenor of the NRSC, said: "Minister of Transport and Works Mike Henry, who headed the Jamaican delegation at the First Global Ministerial Road Safety Conference, participated in a panel discussion which highlighted ... the necessity for health officials to play a prominent and proactive role in their support for and leadership in, road-safety initiatives."
Jones, who was a member of the delegation, said the conference allowed the local delegation to forge partnerships with other countries, and international donor communities, which may provide funding to enhance road-safety investments and technical-assistance programmes.
Jamaica's effort to address the problem will see a collaboration between the transport and health sectors.
Previous projects
Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg, who is on the top-10 list of the world's richest men, had previously donated $9 million in 2007 to a pilot programme on road safety in Vietnam and Mexico and to support a report on the status of road-safety laws and enforcement globally.
The pilot programme resulted in an increase in the use of motorcycle helmets in Vietnam, and the enforcement of drunk-driving laws has reduced road-traffic injuries in Mexico by more than 20 per cent.
Locally, up to December 2, a total of 301 persons died in accidents on Jamaica's roads.
Residents demonstrate at the site where a vehicle tumbled over a precipice in the Rio Grande Valley in Portland in January. - File