Prince Michael opens the ITF Summit with a call for a Three Point Plan of Action
Speaking at the Opening Plenary: Safe and secure transport for the 21st century during the ITF summit HRH Prince Michael of Kent outlined a three-point plan, to set a new UN target for 2030, to boost funding, and to increase political commitment for road safety, is inter-related.
He said, " A target is needed to measure performance, funds are needed for effectiveness, and political commitment is needed for action. All three are about leadership. The ITF Summit is a unique forum where Transport Ministers can demonstrate leadership"
Explaining how road safety was an issue of personal concern, and a passion he said:: “Three decades ago I established my Road Safety Awards to recognize advances in road traffic injury prevention. The awards began in the United Kingdom at a time when my country experienced more than five thousand fatalities every year. Today, with the consistent application of policies to make vehicles, roads, and road users safer, the UK now loses fewer than two thousand people killed in road crashes each year.
My awards are now fully international and over the years I have very much enjoyed meeting the diversity of winners around the world. These have included governments, research organisations, philanthropies, businesses and civil society groups all devoting their energies to saving lives on our roads. In 2011 I was pleased to create a special annual award for the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety.
It should come as no surprise that in 2016 my Decade award was given to the International Transport Forum for its report: Zero Road Deaths and Serious Injuries Leading a Paradigm Shift to a Safe System, and also in recognition of their outstanding research and recommendations over a number of years. In 2008, for example, the ITF published another important report entitled “Towards Zero Road Deaths: Ambitious Targets and a Safe Systems Approach”. And whilst the ITF’s reports may not always have the snappiest of titles, the quality of their research, based on input from governments and experts across the OECD countries is undeniable. “
The full speech can be found here.
