The United Nations (UN) Decade of Sustainable Transport is a 10-year initiative declared by the UN General Assembly to promote safe, inclusive, green and efficient transportation systems globally. It aims to raise awareness of transport’s crucial role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals and to gather and rally new solutions, resources and partnerships to advance sustainable transport globally.
A sustainable transport system protects everyone that uses it. Ensuring that streets, roads and highways are rated at least 3-stars (out of a total of 5 stars) and are fundamentally safe for all expected modes of travel, abilities, and journeys is essential in achieving this.
More than 3,000 road crash deaths and 100,000/day or more injuries occur worldwide, at an estimated cost of $10 billion/day. About one-third of deaths are work-related, emphasizing the importance of safety to human capital, the economy and productivity.
Global Road Safety Performance Targets 3 and 4 encourage governments to lift roads and designs to 3-stars or better for all road users. For each Star Rating improvement of a road or design, crash costs roughly halve. Investment projects that have made use of the freely-available iRAP methodology and resources have already prevented hundreds of thousands of deaths and serious injuries.
Adopting Star Rating targets and incorporating evidence-based safety principles and interventions early into planning for streets, roads, highways, public transport systems, and any development that influences the movement of people or vehicles on roads, is a reliable way for governments to minimise implementation costs while maximising safety benefits.
Measures like safety barriers, traffic calming, safety barriers, bicycle paths, pedestrian sidewalks and crossings, street lighting and intersection improvements can have a profound effect on the safety of a road environment.
Safe road environments also support choice; when people feel that an environment is safe, they are more likely to feel comfortable walking and cycling and using the public transport systems that will be needed to safely meet greater demand for urban mobility.
