FRANCOPHONIE Summit adopts ambitious strategies for road safety in Madagascar

USPA NEWS - Yesterday, heads of state and government officials from francophone countries met in Antananarivo (Madagascar) for the 16th Francophonie Summit and passed a resolution on road safety, based on UN resolution 70/260. The resolution stressed the importance of collaborative development & implementation

The summit recognised that some francophone countries have already adopted ambitious strategies in regard to road safety and have managed to significantly reduce fatalities on the road. However, the leaders acknowledged that 1.25 million people are still killed, and a further 50 million injured or handicapped, by road crashes each year and that road crashes have become the number one cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 29. The heads of state agreed that the human, social and economic losses imposed by these crashes in francophone countries were unacceptable and that they could not be permitted to rise in coming years in line with the increasing number of cars on the road.---------------------------------------------------------- Based on the UN resolution 70/260, it was therefore decided yesterday that francophone countries must commit to promoting and improving road safety. It was established that this will be done primarily through awareness campaigns and providing educative training to prevent road crashes, including in schools. The resolution stressed the importance of collaborative development and implementation of these strategies, to share, exchange and expand upon the best methods across the francophone world.   FIA President Jean Todt, who also serves as UN Secretary General´s Special Envoy for Road Safety, stated: “I welcome the support of francophone countries for this resolution, which prioritises road safety as a key part of the OIC´s political agenda. Urgent action is required if the Sustainable Development Goal target to halve road fatalities and injuries by 2020 is to be met.“ Source FIA