Driving the road safety message home

The Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) hosted a side event on the second day of the General Assembly to present and discuss the work of the IFRC and its member National Societies in promoting road safety.

As road crashes have become among the leading causes of deaths and injuries in the world, the GRSP highlighted how National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies can promote good practices and adopt approaches that can limit the number of these tragedies.

The panel kicked off with a presentation on how road crashes have become a major global concern, killing and injuring millions of people every year, and how the IFRC came to recognize the importance of this issue and integrate road safety into its programmes.

The attendees then learned about initiatives and activities launched by the Turkish Red Crescent Society, the Mexican Red Cross and the Kazakh Red Crescent to promote road safety in their respective countries.

Mr. Barry Watson, the CEO of GRSP, spoke of how many National Societies were able to use their position as auxiliary to Governments to push for the adoption of road safety laws, and praised their partnerships with local organizations.

“It is pleasing to note that road safety has become integrated as a mainstream issue in the activities of many national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies,” he said.

The IFRC first recognized road accidents as serious humanitarian disasters in its 1998 World Disaster Report and also highlighted the importance of addressing road crashes and related injuries and deaths in Strategy 2020.

Pictured left to right: Andrew Bradley, GRSP Chair; Mine Akdogan, Project Manager, Turkish Red Crescent; Barry Watson, GRSP CEO

From Red Cross Red Crescent Daily Bulletin: www.rcrcconference.org/daily-bulletin/general-assembly-day-3/