GENEVA - The UN called on governments and the automotive industry on Wednesday here to implement UN road safety legal instruments to save lives.
The UN Secretary General's special envoy for road safety, Jean Todt, and UNECE executive secretary Christian Friis Bach made the demand.
Every year, 1.25 million people die around the world as a result of road crashes and 20 to 50 million more are injured. It is the number one cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29 and claims the lives of 500 innocent children daily.
Today, 90 percent of these deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, even though they account for only 54 percent of the world's vehicles.
With the UN sustainable development goals recently adopted, the international community has committed to halving road traffic fatalities by 2020. This will require accrued efforts from all stakeholders and countries.
Over the past decades, the UN has developed many conventions governing most aspects of road safety. These legal instruments are in place and at the disposal of countries to help them build safer vehicles and safer roads, with consistent traffic rules and road signs.
The two officials urged all UN member states to take their responsibilities and to ratify and fully apply the UN road safety legal instruments and called on the motor industry as a whole to ensure that well-established safety standards are applied to all vehicles sold in developing countries.(Xinhua)