Car accidents kill a child every 3 minutes
On May 11, 2011, the United Nations launches a ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety' with a goal to stabilize and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing activities conducted at the national, regional and global levels.
The 24-hour event gives politicians, celebrities and road safety specialists around the world the opportunity to highlight their plans to tackle the global road safety crisis where 1.3 million people are killed on the world's roads each year and a further 50 million are injured. The number of the killed people is equal to the number of Yerevan's population.
It is estimated that by 2020 annual worldwide road deaths will rise to 1.9 million and that 90 per cent of casualties occur in developing countries. The campaign argues that beyond the human and economic costs, road crashes can be prevented. Leading road safety experts reckon that sustained, coordinated road safety programmes could reduce the death toll by 50 per cent within the decade.
A child is killed in an accident every three minutes.
Road accidents annually total 2000 in Armenia which kill 300 people. The figures have made local road safety specialists unite efforts and combat the phenomena.
The UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 is endorsed by 100 countries around the world and public institutions like the World Bank and the World Health Organisation.
The UN hopes that safety measures such as enhancing the behaviour of road users, building and maintaining better roads, and car manufacturers' commitment to the safety of vehicles will be taken up and used by governments, international agencies and road safety organisations.
The National Road Safety Council of Armenia, the United Nations Department of Public Information and OSCE Office in Yerevan have initiated a series of events to mark the Decade of Action for Road Safety.
