General Assembly calls for meeting to emphasize traffic safety

The United Nations General Assembly today decided to devote an entire session next year to the problems of road safety.

Noting that traffic accidents killed an estimated 1.26 million people worldwide in 2000, and "disproportionately affect people in low- and middle-income countries," the 191-member Assembly said a meeting next April would "increase awareness of the magnitude of the road traffic injury problem at a high level."

The resolution passed today said the meeting would launch a World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, currently being developed under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The resolution also asked the UN specialist to develop recommendations for traffic safety and requested Secretary-General Kofi Annan to submit a report in time for the 2005 General Assembly session.

"Road traffic injuries are a preventable and treatable problem," the Assembly said.