Proactive Partnership Strategy - Global Road Safety Partnership

1. Introduction
There is universal recognition of the tremendous global burden resulting from
road traffic crashes, and that road traffic injuries constitute a major but still
neglected public health problem that has significant consequences in terms
of mortality and morbidity and considerable social and economic costs.
In the absence of urgent committed action this problem is expected to
worsen.
According to the WHO and the World Bank 1 , a multisectoral approach is
required to successfully address this problem. Commencing with
evidence-based intervention, is the way to go to reduce the impact of road
traffic injuries.
Government, business and civil society need to collaboratively and actively
participate in actions for the prevention of road traffic injury. They can do
this through injury surveillance and data collection, research on risk factors
of road traffic injuries, implementation and evaluation of interventions for
reducing road traffic injuries, provision of pre-hospital and trauma care,
mental-health support for traffic-injury victims, and advocacy for prevention
of road traffic injuries.
Every road user must take the responsibility to travel safely and respect traffic
laws and regulations. They cannot do this unless they are travelling in a safe
system, with the knowledge and skills to optimize their movement and safety
in that environment. Jurisdictions around the world approach and manage
their system in different ways, according to the resources (human and
financial) available to them.
1
World report on road traffic injury
prevention. Geneva, World Health
Organization, 2004.
Proactive Partnership Strategy