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1st United Nations Global Road Safety Week
April 23-29 2007 marks the 1st United Nations Global Road Safety Week, aimed at improving road safety around the globe, particularly focused on young road users. During the Week, hundreds of national and international initiatives will be organized by governments, foundations and others to promote safer road use.
Since its conception, the Bone and Joint Decade has worked tirelessly in partnership with several international organisations to bring prevention of road traffic injuries into the political spotlight. Over the course of the Decade, the BJD and its partners have attended many UN General Assembly Meetings and Stakeholders’ Forums to promote Global Road Safety awareness and solutions. The most recent of these, the 2nd Global Road Safety Stakeholders' Forum, held on 25 April 2007, was attended by BJD ISC Member Dr Wahid Al-Kharusi and Ambassador Fuad Mubarak Al-Hinai of Oman, a member of UN the Global Road Safety Steering Committee.
The objectives of the Stakeholders’ Forum as stated by the UN were to raise awareness of road traffic injuries; strengthen demand for road safety; build political will; support ongoing sustainable and collaborative efforts to implement the recommendations of the World report on road traffic injury prevention; and contribute to identifying and mobilizing resources. For more information, please see http://www.who.int/roadsafety/week/activities/global/en/index.html
Other key events during the UN Road Safety Week include the World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, bringing delegations of young people together from many countries to exchange ideas and adopt a resolution calling for action on road safety. In Brussels Belgium the 1st European Road Safety Day will take place on 27 April 2007, and in Kyoto Japan, a Policy Dialogue for the Promotion of Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) in Cities will be held on 23-24 April 2007.
It is hoped the events of the 1st Global Road Safety Week will serve as launching points for new and effective road safety initiatives in the years ahead.
For more information about the UN’s initiatives, please see http://www.who.int/roadsafety/week/en/
For background information on the BJD’s involvement, please see http://www.musconline.org/default.aspx?contid=1369
To access visually strong video clips about road safety and the importance of seatbelt use, helmet use, speed control, not drinking and driving, please see:
BJD: http://www.musconline.org/default.aspx?contid=1812
WHO: http://www.who.int/roadsafety/week/resources/multimedia/en/index.html
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