Road Safety now on the Commonwealth Road Safety Agenda
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) took place in Kigali, Rwanda 20-25 June and a communique from the meeting was released on 25 June. Following a campaign led by Towards Zero Foundation we are very pleased to report that paragraph on road safety and the UN target was included in the Heads of Government Communique and reads as follows:
99. Heads expressed concern about road traffic injuries, now considered to be the leading cause of death of children and young people worldwide. They supported action in line with the UN General Assembly Resolution 74/299 on improving global road safety and committed to attaining the SDG target 3.6 to reduce road traffic deaths by at least 50 percent by 2030 compared to 2020 levels.
The communique was endorsed by 35 Heads of Govt present and now means that road safety is properly recognised on the Commonwealth agenda. This is, therefore, another follow up achievement for the #50by30 campaign.
The call for recognition was included in a Youth Declaration submitted to the Heads of Govt, so it is a great example of a youth-led initiative. The CHOGM commitment provides a new platform for road safety advocacy among 56 Commonwealth countries that together account for over 500,000 annual road traffic fatalities.