Road Safety 10 Principles
In October 2005 the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution A/60/5 on improving global road safety. This resolution called for the first Global Road Safety Week to be held between April 23rd and April 29th 2007.
Events will be held at the local, regional and international levels all with the aim of raising road safety awareness among policymakers. While this is a noble effort, for which there are many organizations lobbying for change, we feel that the “bottom of the pyramid” is presently being neglected. Road safety is not merely about frightening statistics it is about reality. And the reality is that many humanitarian vehicles and drivers are ill-equipped to tackle road safety and proper vehicle handling. 67% of the leading humanitarian agencies have no global drivers training program. And, yet, studies show that 95% of road traffic crashes are caused by “user error.”
Recognizing this reality, Kjaer Group and Fleet Forum, together with the Global Road Safety Partnership, are launching the 10 Campaign to put practical tips on road safety in front of drivers, fleet managers and others who are behind the wheel. As the focus point for thousands of humanitarian vehicles and thousands of drivers, this effort will have an impact on rolling back the increasing tide of road traffic injuries and deaths.
Our call to action is to place the Road Safety 10 Principles in as many humanitarian vehicles as possible. Agencies that accept this challenge must sign a declaration of support and identify the number of vehicles in their fleet and the languages they would like the 10 Principles printed in. Kjaer Group will then catalogue the request and will incur the costs of printing, translating and distributing this tool. The supporting agency must then place these stickers inside the vehicle on the visor above the driver’s seat or visibly on the dashboard.*
The Fleet Forum has recently initiated a Fleet Safety Project. The main goal of this project is to develop and test a fleet safety toolkit which enables humanitarian organizations to establish a culture of road safety and safety standards. The Fleet Safety toolkit will be available free of charge for all humanitarian organizations. For more information please visit www.fleetforum.org/fleetsafety.
Common knowledge is anything but common and through this effort practical information will reach those that can make an immediate difference.
* Stickers will only be printed for proven fleets, for which a list of vehicles is requested including the number of units and location. Available languages include English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Vietnamese.
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