[sustran] Fw: AHEAD OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY, ANNAN URGES COMMITMENT TO ROAD SAFETY

[Kisan Mehta]

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to share my views on the UN Scy General's statement on road
safety ands look forward
to receiving your reactions and comments.  There cannot be any respite in
the developing countries as
long as the World Bank and others continue to support motorisation at the
cost of common man.
Best iwshes.

Kisan Mehta
Tel: 00 91 22 2414 9688

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kisan Mehta" <kisansbc at vsnl.com>
To: "Bombay Traffic" <bombaytraffic at yahoogroups.com>;
<bombaynet at yahoogroups.com>; "Sujit Patwardhan" <sujit at vsnl.com>; "Ajit
Shenoy" <ajitshenoy at now-india.net.in>; "Kush" <lapwing at sify.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 1:32 PM
Subject: Fw: AHEAD OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY, ANNAN URGES COMMITMENT TO ROAD
SAFETY


> Dear Friends,
>
> The UN  Secretary General has expressed serious concern on the increasing
> road accident injuries and
> fatalities.  We haave addressed a letter showing as tyo how the UN and
> multilateral agencies working under
> the UN or in close collaboration with the UN are responsible to increasing
> road accidents. Append hereunder
> our letter to the UN Secy Gen and his statement.  Let us hope that higher
> sense of responsibility prevails.
> Pleaseshare with friends and concerned citizens. Would be happy to hear
from
> you. Best wishes.
>
> Kisan Mehta
> Tel: 00 91 22 24149688
>
> i----- Original Message -----
> From: "Kisan Mehta" <kisansbc at vsnl.com>
> To: <UNNews at un.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 1:24 PM
> Subject: Re: AHEAD OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY, ANNAN URGES COMMITMENT TO ROAD
> SAFETY
>
>
> > Dear Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
> >
> > We were relieved to learn that you have urged the authorities to make a
> > commitment to Road Safety
> > on the occasion of the General Assembly.
> >
> > We must however state that the support and finance extended by the World
> > Bank, ADB and other
> > multilateral financial agencies to nations for road and transport
> > development programmes can be
> > considered as the major contributor to road accident fatalities and
> > injuries. These agencies do not place
> > any condition on the borrowing agencies on the requirements of creating
> > safety facilities for pedestrians,
> > they support motorisation by assisting liberally to construction of
> > highways, flyovers etc while reducing
> > and cutting down simultanously pedestrian movement fatalities and public
> > transport services.
> >
> > We can cite many instances of this bias for the motorists.  In Mumbai
the
> > World Bank extended a
> > loan in 2002 of US $ 550 million for the Mumbai Urban Transport Project
> out
> > of which highway
> > construction sans pavements and road crossing facilites through crowded
> > downtown areas will get lion's
> > share as much as $ 200 million. Yet car owners shall not be required to
> pay
> > anything for return of the
> > loan. .Burden of constructing such roads will fall on poor residents.
> >
> > The municipalised road bus service will get only $ 25 million. Bus
> > passengers will be required to pay out
> > 40% higher bus fares.  All this is happening after the World Bank study
> has
> > shown (1) public transport
> > accounts for 88% of daily journeys with car providing 7%;  (2) the road
> > accident rate in Mumbai is the
> > highest in the world (3) majority of roads have no pavements or are
shorn
> of
> > pavements for carriageway
> > widening and (4) 95% of the road accident victims are pedestrians. (ref:
> > Project Approval Document
> > of the World Bank June 2002).  The Bank officers have observed that the
> > authorities spent well over
> > $ 2 billion on construction of flyovers, elevated roads and physical
> > barricades in the movement of
> > pedestrians just before the loan was approved.
> >
> > This all is happening even after the Bank found air quality in Mumbai to
> be
> > extremely poor. Auto exhaust
> > forms about 81% of the air pollution. Yet the Bank sanctioned the loan
and
> > started paying out the money
> > before taking any measures for improvement of air quality.  About 65% of
> > Mumbai residents live in
> > unauthorised roadside shanties. Slum dwellers become the direct target
of
> > auto fumes.
> >
> > So you can see as to how the institutions working under or in close
> > cooperation with the UN are
> > contributing to increasing road accidents and to deteriorating public
> > health.   You are aware that all this
> > is being done by the UN and multilateral agencies in the name of poverty
> > removal and alleviation. It is no
> > use declaring platitudes and at the same time supporting programmes that
> > increase road accidents.
> >
> > We fervantly hope that you would study the situation in depth and mould
a
> > policy for assuring higher
> > road safety.  Research can come up afterwards.    Road injuries in the
> poor
> > countries is already very high
> > hardly taken cognizance by the affluent financial institutions. We do
not
> > have to wait till the year 2020
> > to comprehend the grim magnitude of the problem. Are you ready to start
in
> > earnest and make a sincere
> > effort to work for improving the conditions?  We are with you in your
> > initiative.    Best wishes.
> >
> > Kisan Mehta
> > Save Bombay Committee
> > 620 Jame Jamshed Road, Dadar East,
> > Mumbai 400014  India
> > Tel: 00 91 22 2414 9688
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "UN News Service" <UNNews at un.org>
> > To: <news11 at list.un.org>
> > Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 11:30 PM
> > Subject: AHEAD OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY, ANNAN URGES COMMITMENT TO ROAD
SAFETY
> > > New York, Sep  9 2003  2:00PM
> > > In a
> >
<"http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/58/228&Lang=E">report
> > issued ahead of the upcoming session of the United Nations General
> Assembly,
> > Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommends that the UN's chief legislative
> body
> > call on Member States to stimulate a new level of commitment in tackling
> the
> > problem of road traffic injuries, projected to rank third among causes
of
> > death and disability by 2020.
> > >
> >  "Improving road safety requires strong political will on the part of
> > Governments," Mr. Annan says, recommending that countries be encouraged
to
> > develop and implement a national strategy on road traffic injury
> prevention
> > and appropriate
> > action plans.
> > >
> > An estimated 1.26 million people worldwide died as a result of road
> traffic
> > injuries in 2000 alone, representing
> > 25 per cent of all deaths due to injury, Mr. Annan says in the report
> > released today. The UN World Health
> > Organization (WHO) also estimates that by 2020, road traffic injuries
> could
> > rank third among the cause of death,
> > ahead of malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.
> > >
> >  Mr. Annan notes that despite this widespread impact of traffic
accidents,
> > funding for research into the problem has been limited. "A lack of
> research
> > means that the magnitude of the problem, its impacts and the cost and
> > effectiveness of
> > intervention are not fully understood, particularly in low- and
> > middle-income countries," he says.
> > >
> > Road crashes can indeed be prevented, but the historical approach that
> > places responsibility on the road user is
> > inadequate, the Secretary-General states, advocating an approach that
> > recognizes not only the fallibility of road
> > users but also the infrastructure.
> > >
> >  "In a systems approach, not only the driver, but also the environment
> > (infrastructure) and the vehicle are seen as part of the system in which
> > road traffic injuries occur," Mr. Annan says, adding that Member States
> > should also "aim to ensure that sufficient resources are available,
> > commensurate with the size of the road safety problem in their country."
> > >
> > > The Secretary-General also recommends a General Assembly call for
> efforts
> > by the UN system to address the global road safety crisis. "Most United
> > Nations agencies could integrate road safety into other policies, such
as
> > those related to sustainable development, the environment, gender,
> children
> > or the elderly," he notes.
> > >  2003-09-09 00:00:00.000
> > >
> > > ________________
> > >
> > > For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
> > >
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