U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Senior Associate Administrator Office of Traffic Injury Control Commission for Global Road Safety Launch of the Make Road Safe Report

 The report clearly lays out the projected fatalities and the economic and social costs that will take place if no action is taken over the coming years. We salute this effort to focus the global community on reducing traffic crashes and fatalities worldwide.  With the recent outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus, we have seen how the world community is capable of mobilizing and responding to emerging new health risks. This report can help develop a sense of urgency to address another emerging health risk - one that could ultimately take many more lives.  What's even more compelling is that we already have a vaccine for this problem. We know how to reverse its spread, and greatly reduce its impact. Over the past 30 years, road traffic fatalities have drastically declined in many industrialized countries through deliberate concerted efforts. Now it is the time to share this vaccine worldwide.  Everyone here today understands the scope of the problem. The challenge before us, of course, is in galvanizing the world community to both recognize the urgent need to address road traffic fatalities on the international level and to put our proven vaccine into motion.  This report will help to create the framework for such an international movement as well as outline key elements of a comprehensive approach to road traffic safety. It will support the upcoming Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Russia later this year, and will help build momentum for a resolution calling for a decade of action next year in the United Nations.  The five-pillar Action Plan in the report provides a strategic way for effectively reducing traffic fatalities by encouraging countries to use a safe roadway, safe driver and safe vehicle approach.