Road safety performance review

Road safety is an important sustainable development goal, yet relatively underappreciated and greatly underfunded. Every year, more than 1.2 million people are killed globally while another 50 million are injured as a consequence of road traffic accidents. Approximately 90% of all road accidents now happen in low- and middle-income countries.Recognizing the need to support member States in urgently and effectively addressing road safety challenges, three of the United Nations regional commissions initiated the project: "Strengthening the national road safety management capacities of selected developing countries and countries with economies in transition". The project aimed to assist four countries to enhance their national road safety management capacities and to effectively address and improve their national road safety records. The project was implemented in Albania, Dominican Republic, Georgia and Viet Nam. The Road Safety Performance Reviews assessed the current road safety situation, helped the Governments concerned to identify the most critical road safety issues and recommended actions to be taken. Based on the identified priority needs, capacity-building seminars and workshops for national road safety stakeholders were organized. Additionally, the project raised public awareness on road safety issues and sensitized national experts, as well as the public and non-governmental sectors to the need to set ambitious road safety targets and implement specific measures to improve road safety.