Streets for Life: Saving Lives on the Road through Safe Speeds

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Streets for Life: Saving Lives on the Road through Safe Speeds

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Opening Remarks

  • Pablo Fajnzylber, Acting Vice President and Director of Strategy and Operations, Infrastructure, World Bank
    Pablo Fajnzylber
    Acting Vice President and Director of Strategy and Operations, Infrastructure, World Bank

Technical Presentation

High-Level Panel

Moderator

Read the transcript


  • 00:11 [Binyam Reja]: Okay. Great. Good morning,  
  • 00:14 everyone. Good evening. good afternoon. First  of all, I would like to apologize for the delay  
  • 00:20 for starting this webinar. We just had  quite a number of technical problems,  
  • 00:25 but now we're all set to get started. Welcome to  this high-level panel organized by the World Bank,  
  • 00:33 Global Road Safety. We're organizing this webinar  in the context of the six UN Road Safety Week,  
  • 00:41 an important week. The title of this high-level  panel is Streets for Life: Saving Lives on the  
  • 00:48 Road through Safe Speeds. Under the UN Global  Road Safety Week, actually GRSF has already been  
  • 00:56 actively promoting this and already delivered  the speed management webinar on April 26th.
  • 01:04 [Binyam Reja]: Today we'll have  
  • 01:05 this high-level panel and tomorrow we'll have  the launch of the Low-Speed Zone Guide event.  
  • 01:13 This interactive event will provide information  and technical sessions on evidence-based road  
  • 01:18 safety knowledge to help manage speeds  through infrastructure interventions,  
  • 01:22 effective enforcement, world informed  leadership, targeted awareness measures  
  • 01:27 and vehicle technology. This is a high time  to raise our collective voice against speeding  
  • 01:32 and showing global leadership and commitment.  These activities will mark an important  
  • 01:37 milestone in the roadmap toward establishing  the second decade of road action in road safety.
  • 01:42 [Binyam Reja]: That's 2021 to 2030. As you're all aware,  
  • 01:47 there are very high costs for traffic injuries.  Each year, we lose about 1.3 million people and  
  • 01:54 around 50 million injured, mostly in  low and middle-income countries. Speed  
  • 02:00 is a key contributor to road crashes, taking  over 650,000 lives annually. Hence the six UN  
  • 02:07 Global Road Safety Week, rightly focuses on this  issue and brings a global spotlight for several  
  • 02:13 roads. We're very pleased to be at the forefront  of this initiatives. We're very happy to be  
  • 02:18 partnering with a number of global organizations  and GRSF is taking leadership at this front.
  • 02:24 [Binyam Reja]: Today, we have very amazing  
  • 02:27 and distinguished speakers and panelists  who are playing a critical role across the  
  • 02:33 world to make progress in road safety agenda.  Let me introduce this distinguished panelists  
  • 02:40 in the order they come in this program. First,  I'm delighted to introduce Pablo Fajnzylber  
  • 02:46 our acting Vice President and Director of  Strategy for Infrastructure. Pablo will give the  
  • 02:53 opening remarks. Thank you Pablo first of all for  being part of the series of events we've having  
  • 02:59 under the UN Global Road Safety Week and  really appreciate your leadership and  
  • 03:04 support for road safety at the Bank. We will  be taking questions from World Bank colleagues  
  • 03:11 on the GRSF role in speed management initiatives,  including [inaudible] ... this presentation  
  • 03:18 is going to be presented by Radek Czapski  and Alina Burlaçu. Burlacu. Sorry, Alina.
  • 03:29 [Binyam Reja]: Radek is Senior Transport Specialist  
  • 03:30 and Program Manager for GRSF, and Alina is also  Senior Transport Specialist and Program Manager  
  • 03:37 for the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative  for Global Road Safety (BIGRS). After this  
  • 03:43 short presentation, we'll move to the high-level  panel discussion. We're delighted to have Mr.  
  • 03:49 Etienne Krug from the World Health Organization.  He's the Director for the Department of the  
  • 03:55 Social Determinants of Health. Then we are honored  also to have Mr. Jean Todt, the UN Special Envoy  
  • 04:02 for Road Safety and FIA President. He has been at  the forefront of this initiative in many forums.
  • 04:08 [Binyam Reja]: Many of you sure you're aware of the  
  • 04:11 great work Mr. Todt has been doing on this aspect.  We're also delighted to have Ms. Mamta Murthi  
  • 04:18 our Vice President for Human Development at the  World Bank emphasizing as she will speak later  
  • 04:26 about the importance of human development and the  linkages between road safety and human capital  
  • 04:31 and human development in general. We also  have Susanna Zammataro, she's the Director  
  • 04:37 General for International Road Federation,  an important stakeholder that's promoting  
  • 04:43 safe roads and promoting private partnership in  this regard. We would hear from Susanna as well.
  • 04:48 [Binyam Reja]: Last but not least is Mr. Hartwig Schafer  
  • 04:53 our Vice President for the South Asia Region  at the World Bank. who has been promoting road  
  • 05:00 safety in South Asia region and globally. We're  very delighted to have you Hart in this program.  
  • 05:05 I thank you all of the panel to join me  in thanking the panelists for joining  
  • 05:10 us today. I'm sure the audience will get some  insightful guidance on how to make [inaudible]  
  • 05:16 and how to save lives on the road. Now, I would  like to request Pablo to make his opening remarks,  
  • 05:22 which will be followed by the presentation of  Radek and Alina. Pablo, over to you please.
  • 05:26 [Pablo Fajnzylber]: Thank you Ben. Thank you so much to you.  
  • 05:33 Thank you to our distinguished guests.  We're very lucky to have two World Bank  
  • 05:38 vice presidents of these event, as well as  distinguished representatives from the UN,  
  • 05:43 the International Road Federation, the World  Health Organization. We're really lucky to have  
  • 05:49 all of you today, and we hope that this will  be a very fruitful debate that will be very  
  • 05:55 informative to all the participants. I am also  delighted to do this in the context of this year,  
  • 06:02 UN Global Road Safety Week, which as we  know is themed, Streets for Life: #Love30.
  • 06:09 [Pablo Fajnzylber]: Under this year's Global Road Safety Week,  
  • 06:14 the World Bank Road Safety Facility is promoting a  series of knowledge products that aim to advocate  
  • 06:22 and call for action on speed management in our  streets worldwide. These initiatives will mark  
  • 06:30 an important milestone towards establishing the  second Decade of Action in road safety. 2021,  
  • 06:37 2030. Interactive events such as the one  we're holding here today, aim at sharing  
  • 06:44 and exchanging evidence-based knowledge on what  is proven to work in road safety interventions.
  • 06:51 [Pablo Fajnzylber]: Specifically, our focus today is  
  • 06:55 on interventions that help manage speeds through  infrastructure investments, effective enforcement,  
  • 07:03 well informed leadership, targeted awareness  measures, and new vehicle technology.  
  • 07:10 To focus on speed management is related first  to the fact that this year, the UN Global Road  
  • 07:18 Safety Week, advocates for the implementation of  speed management strategies. This is especially  
  • 07:24 important in places where we have vulnerable road  users present and where there is clear evidence  
  • 07:31 that a speed of 30 kilometers per hour is required  to produce safe outcomes for these road users.
  • 07:39 [Pablo Fajnzylber]: As we will hear today, vehicle speeds  
  • 07:42 play a significant role in road safety outcomes,  leading to increased deaths and serious injuries  
  • 07:50 every year. Speed ... This is very important,  also plays an important role in other societal  
  • 07:57 developments, such as local air pollution, global  greenhouse gas emissions, noise pollution and  
  • 08:06 active travel promotion. All these issues have  important links to broader health and development  
  • 08:13 outcomes. It is thus essential to highlight these  linkages between speed, safety, air pollution  
  • 08:22 and human capital development. This is because  recognizing these interconnections, can lead  
  • 08:29 to increased awareness of the synergies at hand  and can help bring about greater policy action.
  • 08:36 [Pablo Fajnzylber]: And also ultimately increase benefits  
  • 08:39 for the population if these issues are considered  together. As we will discuss in a few minutes,  
  • 08:46 there are cost effective solutions that we can  use to better manage speeds to both improve  
  • 08:53 road user's safety and to also achieve these  broader societal outcomes. The World Bank has  
  • 09:00 been implementing many of these solutions as part  of our projects. As we move into this new Decade  
  • 09:07 of Action, we hope that this event helps bring  global focus to the need for practical approaches  
  • 09:16 to engage governments and the private sector to  first invest in road safety, but at the same time,  
  • 09:24 harness data to inform implementation  and calibration of our interventions.
  • 09:29 [Pablo Fajnzylber]: Finally, to ensure that synergies  
  • 09:32 with other development agendas, especially the  one related to the human development issues,  
  • 09:39 are well taken into account. As you know,  road safety has been an important priority  
  • 09:45 for the World Bank. We have aimed at playing  a global leadership role in this space through  
  • 09:52 the activities of the Global Road Safety Facility  that is now more than 15 years old. As an example  
  • 09:59 of our latest work in this area, we recently  launched a new Speed Management Hub website  
  • 10:07 that contains information and resources on these  topic. Our Global Road Safety Facility is also  
  • 10:14 leading international efforts to produce a new  global guide on the effective management of speed.
  • 10:20 [Pablo Fajnzylber]: This guide will complement other global resources  
  • 10:26 by providing up-to-date information on the  following, first, the importance of effective  
  • 10:32 speed management in terms of safety, but also  as we mentioned, broader societal benefits.  
  • 10:38 Second, on ways to set effective speed limits  for different road environments. finally,  
  • 10:45 on methods to support these speed limits  through the improvement of infrastructure,  
  • 10:50 but also the design enforcement  of policies of various natures.  
  • 10:56 Let me to take this opportunity to invite everyone  to our event tomorrow mentioned by Ben earlier.  
  • 11:02 This event tomorrow May 20, will be about  empowering communities to manage speed.  
  • 11:09 At this event, we will officially launch  another product, the Low-Speed Zone Guide.
  • 11:16 [Pablo Fajnzylber]: Which has been produced jointly between the  
  • 11:18 World Bank, GRSF and WRI. This guide will aim at  helping communities and decision makers to plan,  
  • 11:28 design and implement effective speed-related  interventions specifically in built up areas.  
  • 11:36 This Low-Speed Zone Guide will complement  the Global Speed Management Guide,  
  • 11:42 which we plan to launch later this year,  but which we will make available tomorrow  
  • 11:48 at the webinar for a preview. Thank you once  again to our guests and to all the participants  
  • 11:56 in today's event. I really look  forward to hearing today's presentation  
  • 12:01 and having a very productive panel discussion.  Thank you very much and back to you Ben.
  • 12:09 [Binyam Reja]: 
  • 12:19 Okay, great. Thank you Pablo  for these great opening  
  • 12:28 remarks and setting the context for  discussion today. So now we will just  
  • 12:32 move straight to the presentation by Radek  and Alina. Over to you guys. Thank you.
  • 12:52 [Alina Burlacu]: [silence] Radek, We cannot hear you.
  • 13:19 [Alina Burlacu]: So it seems that  
  • 13:21 my colleague Radek... Radek, can you hear us now?  
  • 13:32 I think he might have some connection  problems. So I'll start with the  
  • 13:38 presentation and finally ask Radek to  step in whenever he has a good connection.  
  • 13:47 So good morning, afternoon or evening to all  distinguished guests and participants connecting  
  • 13:52 from all around the world. My name is Alina  Burlacu and together with my colleague Radek  
  • 13:56 Czapski we were supposed together to deliver  the presentation and address it briefly today.
  • 14:02 [Alina Burlacu]: As most of you know,  
  • 14:04 speeding is estimated to be a direct cause or  major contributor to around 50% of global road  
  • 14:10 death, which translates into 650,000  lives annually. that is why the World  
  • 14:16 Bank and the Global Road Safety Facility are  particularly committed to tackle this challenge.  
  • 14:22 This event organizing the context of  the speed management focus of the UN  
  • 14:27 Global Road Safety Week is part of our global  quest for safe speeds, but before we provide  
  • 14:33 some more details on our speed focused actions,  let me briefly introduce you our engagement.  
  • 14:40 So first and foremost, we are a global road  safety fund hosted by the World Bank since 2006.
  • 14:46 [Alina Burlacu]: Thanks to generosity of our donors,  
  • 14:48 we are all recognized at the bottom of the slide  we managed to attract almost 74 million United  
  • 14:55 States dollars (USD) for a very diverse set of  research advisory and capacity building projects.  
  • 15:03 But at the same time we are a global knowledge and  expertise center, which provided support to over  
  • 15:08 80 developing countries. We are very grateful  to all our donors for their ongoing support,  
  • 15:13 and obviously hope to continue and expand  our collaboration to achieve ambitious goals  
  • 15:18 of the current UN Decade of Action in road  safety. Thanks to chairs and funded direct  
  • 15:24 support to the developing countries and guidance  to the World Bank fund and investment projects.
  • 15:28 [Alina Burlacu]: Thousands of us have been and will be saved in the  
  • 15:31 next decades, but there is still a long way to go  in cooperation with our global regional partners,  
  • 15:38 such as WHO, MDBs, UN partners, NGOs, research  institutions and academia. We are also glad  
  • 15:46 that more than half of GRSF funding have gone  to initiatives implemented by this partner.  
  • 15:54 Our attention is focused on low and middle income  countries and our main types of engagements  
  • 15:59 range from promoting strong regional and country  level road safety leadership and influencing  
  • 16:04 decision makers through advising  and promoting proven result-focused  
  • 16:09 safety interventions among developing  country professionals to funding external  
  • 16:14 partners in the research and knowledge exchange  activities in low and middle income countries.
  • 16:18 [Alina Burlacu]: In parallel, GRSF provides  
  • 16:21 regular support to World Bank teams, in assuring  safe solutions to World Bank loan funded projects,  
  • 16:28 and thanks to our donors along with our  support to the Bloomberg Philanthropies  
  • 16:32 Initiative for Global Road Safety and our  multi-donor trust fund grant program, we are  
  • 16:37 advancing our long research activities, which  focus on the most efficient ways of addressing  
  • 16:42 key road safety challenges of developing  countries, including in speed management.  
  • 16:48 In recognition of our efficient delivery of  diverse road safety activities, the GRSF has won  
  • 16:53 three prestigious Prince Michael awards in 2020,  which is a very nice and re-energizing surprise.
  • 17:03 [Alina Burlacu]: Before I go into more details on the  
  • 17:05 Speed Management Hub, I would just like to briefly  underline that speed management was and is among  
  • 17:12 top priority areas for GRSF activity. Let me just  briefly mention a few of the most recent examples.  
  • 17:21 Our research on infrastructure related speed  management measure is the priority theme of this  
  • 17:29 year GRSF Call for proposal, which is advancing  now and successful brands to be confirmed in June.  
  • 17:35 Also, speed is among the driving factors  influencing economic analysis of World Bank  
  • 17:41 projects. Two of the GRSF recent practical guides  share international good practices regarding  
  • 17:48 effective speed management measures, is one of  them being the guide for road safety intervention,  
  • 17:53 evidence of what works and what doesn't work.
  • 17:55 [Alina Burlacu]: And also the guide  
  • 17:56 for determining readiness for speed cameras  and other automated speed enforcement systems  
  • 18:02 prepared jointly with our partners, the  Global Road Safety Partnership or GRSP.  
  • 18:09 Another GRSF managed program is the Bloomberg  Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety,  
  • 18:14 or also called BIGRS which spreads over a  six years period and aims saving 600,000  
  • 18:21 lives and prevent up to 22 million injuries.  
  • 18:25 World Bank GRSF is one of the safer ways and  safer mobility partners, and also the host of  
  • 18:30 the Speed Management Hub of the initiative, which  was officially launched a couple of months ago.
  • 18:34 [Alina Burlacu]: Some key engagements that GRSF has under the Speed  
  • 18:38 Management Hub, include provision of speed-related  technical expertise and also preparation and  
  • 18:44 publication of various speed-related studies,  success stories and guides together with knowledge  
  • 18:49 sharing and dissemination. One of the main outputs  of the Speed Management Hub is a dedicated online  
  • 18:55 platform, aiming to be a one stop shop in terms  of speed-related knowledge. This platform provides  
  • 19:01 evidence-based road safety knowledge to help  manage speed through infrastructure intervention,  
  • 19:06 effective enforcement, targeted awareness  measure and also vehicle technology.
  • 19:11 [Alina Burlacu]: The platform also allows the wide dissemination  
  • 19:14 of speed related frequently asked questions and  myth together with a rich library, latest news and  
  • 19:20 best practices on this topic. Then also we have  several myths busted on our hub platform. I'd like  
  • 19:28 here to mention the number one myth related to  speed, which is that speed isn't actually a major  
  • 19:35 cause of road crashes or that changing my speed  won't have any impact on safety. The reason why  
  • 19:42 this is a myth is very simple as the relationship  between speed and crash outcome has been captured  
  • 19:48 in various models, most notably Nilsson's  Power Model that you can see on the screen.
  • 19:53 [Alina Burlacu]: This shows that 1% increase  
  • 19:56 in average speed results in approximately 4%  increase in fatal crash frequency. Basically,  
  • 20:03 this model shows how decreasing average speed by  only a few kilometer per hour can significantly  
  • 20:08 reduce the risk and severity of crashes. Maybe  this doesn't seem like much, but in practice,  
  • 20:15 if we reduce the speed by 2%, meaning for example  in urban areas from 50 to 49 kilometer per hour,  
  • 20:22 and similar changes on other roads globally,  we would be saving over 100,000 lives from road  
  • 20:28 crashes each and every year. Imagine  the impact if we would go for a 10%  
  • 20:34 reduction, we would be preventing over  half a million lives lost in road crushes.
  • 20:39 [Alina Burlacu]: Even more than this,  
  • 20:41 adopting 30 kilometer per hour speed limit  in cities, will make Vision Zero reality and  
  • 20:47 have no more lives lost in road crashes as Oslo,  Norway's capital achieved in 2019. But for this  
  • 20:55 political commitment and continuation  of programs across political parties  
  • 20:59 are crucial, together with community support. one  good example in this regard is Bogota. Bogota is  
  • 21:06 a success story that exemplifies the power of  reducing speed limits. In 2017, the World Bank,  
  • 21:12 GRSF, iRAP and local partners assessed almost  200 kilometers of roads across the city and used  
  • 21:19 the data to perform a series of scenario tests to  see what the impact of changing speeds would be.
  • 21:24 [Alina Burlacu]: This helped build the  
  • 21:26 evidence to support a move to reduce and strictly  enforce speed limits. Later in 2018, the city was  
  • 21:33 convinced to reduce and actively enforce speed  limits from 60 to 50 kilometer per hour on  
  • 21:38 five major corridors, which together accounted  for a quarter of the city's total road death.  
  • 21:44 The effect was dramatic. According to the early  reporting, month-on-month death dropped by 34%.  
  • 21:52 The success in this corridor encouraged the city  to later roll out a 50 kilometer per hour speed  
  • 21:57 limit in all arterial roads in the city. So  this was a really good place to start from  
  • 22:03 and build on the case that  lower speeds save lives.
  • 22:06 [Alina Burlacu]: I should also add here that the city  
  • 22:08 has done a lot of other good work, including on  bicycle lanes and pedestrian crossings at schools.  
  • 22:14 Bloomberg Philanthropies through their initiative,  supported the transition between administration  
  • 22:19 and political parties, making sure these  lower speed limits not only stay in place,  
  • 22:24 but are also adopted on other streets. The GRSF  has more upcoming resources to support enhanced  
  • 22:32 speed management. We have a Low-Speed Zone  Guide and the Global Speed Management Guide  
  • 22:36 that Pablo was just mentioning both prepared  together with the World Resources Institute,  
  • 22:41 and we hope you can join the interactive  event tomorrow and learn more about them.
  • 22:44 [Alina Burlacu]: We are also working on a road safety calculator,  
  • 22:48 which is a planning level tool to inform  decision makers on road safety improvements and  
  • 22:52 investments, including five interventions  of speed, which you can see on your screen.  
  • 22:57 Last but not least, a research analysis on  the economics and benefits of speed management  
  • 23:02 is ongoing, aiming to improve our understanding of  the wider socioeconomic gains that can be obtained  
  • 23:09 in the context of low and middle income countries  through sound speed management. So I will end  
  • 23:14 my presentation here and I will invite you to  check our website and reach out to us for any  
  • 23:19 questions you might have related to speed or road  safety in general. Thank you. Ben, over to you.
  • 23:30 [Binyam Reja]: Okay, great. Thank you Alina for the presentation  
  • 23:33 and laying out what the work being done in GRSF  and Bloomberg Philanthropies. It's also great that  
  • 23:39 you have evidence [inaudible] reducing speed  and moving to 30 kilometers per hour speed zone.  
  • 23:46 I also like what you said about the need  for political commitment and community  
  • 23:51 participation. So, well with us today, we have  important policy makers and leaders in their  
  • 23:58 sphere. So, let's have this discussion how we can  actually galvanize community awareness, ownership  
  • 24:07 and political commitment for really reducing  speed on our roads and thereby saving lives.
  • 24:14 [Binyam Reja]: Let me now welcome our distinguished  
  • 24:16 panelists to our virtual table. As a reminder,  we have Mr. Etienne Krug from WHO, Jean Todt  
  • 24:25 from the UN Special Envoy for road safety, Mamta  Murthi, our Vice President for Human Development,  
  • 24:33 Susanna Zammataro, IRF Director General and  Hart Schafer, Vice President for South Asia  
  • 24:41 Region in the World Bank. So we'll have a  series of questions as I'm going to give  
  • 24:47 a few questions and I'll let the panelists  answer. So the topics we'll discuss today are  
  • 24:53 around the Decade of Action for road safety,  on rebuilding momentum in the new COVID world  
  • 25:00 and linking development agenda and attending  synergies, especially with human development.
  • 25:06 [Binyam Reja]: If we have time,  
  • 25:07 we will also discuss about new technology and  knowledge for moving forward. So let's start  
  • 25:13 then on this question on the Decade of Action  for road safety. So let me start with Mr. Krug,  
  • 25:20 who has been leading efforts on the preparation  of the new Decade of Action for road safety.  
  • 25:26 So Mr. Krug, we have just finished the first  Decade of Action for road safety and we are  
  • 25:32 now entering a new Decade of Action. Can you  tell us a little bit on what this have been,  
  • 25:38 the key challenge for the first Decade of Action  and for the main lessons that we have learned  
  • 25:45 from this Decade of Action that could be  applied for the new Decade of Action? Mr. Krug.
  • 25:51 [Etienne Krug]: Thanks so much. First of all, happy  
  • 25:54 UN Global Road Safety Week to all of you and  thanks to our colleagues in the World Bank for  
  • 26:00 organizing this important discussion on road  safety in general, on speed in particular,  
  • 26:06 and on this #Love30 concepts of reducing speed  in urban areas. Yes, indeed we just finished  
  • 26:15 the first Decade of Action and we've seen  quite big differences in what has been achieved  
  • 26:24 in some countries versus others. We've seen  important decreases in road traffic deaths in  
  • 26:30 Russia, in Brazil, in the European union  ranging from 20% all the way to 50%.
  • 26:36 [Etienne Krug]: So that's a lot of success  
  • 26:41 in just 10 years showing that it's possible.  The key to these achievements really has been  
  • 26:49 political will. A decision at the highest  level of government at the national or even  
  • 26:54 international level in the EU to really address  this issue and have substantial reductions.  
  • 27:01 And that of course they put in place  the things that we know are needed,  
  • 27:05 good laws, an enforcement, including on speed,  good infrastructure, vehicles, trauma care, solid  
  • 27:13 data collection, et cetera. But this issue of  political will at the highest level has been key.
  • 27:19 [Etienne Krug]: We've seen in other countries that this  
  • 27:22 politic will wasn't there, and in most low income  countries and low and middle income countries,  
  • 27:28 we have still seen an increase in  the number of deaths showing that  
  • 27:33 more efforts are needed. So at the beginning of  this decade, we are quite convinced that we can  
  • 27:38 achieve the proposed reduction of 50% of deaths  around the world, if we put in place those things  
  • 27:46 that we know work. If we add to that some  innovation, which includes a modal shift,  
  • 27:52 moving away from a car-based transportation system  to one that is more healthy, walking, cycling and  
  • 28:01 public transport should get a much bigger space in  our transportation system. But to do that we need  
  • 28:08 every head of state, every head of government  to take the decision that enough is enough.
  • 28:13 [Etienne Krug]: That we don't  
  • 28:14 want to continue to pay this huge  price for our mobility. Thank you.
  • 28:19 [Binyam Reja]: 
  • 28:24 Great. Thank you Mr. Krug for that [inaudible] the  political commitment. When we move... I just want  
  • 28:34 to follow up with you then, when we move to the  new Decade of Action, do you see the inclusion  
  • 28:42 of speed management to be included there given  [inaudible] how can we ensure that this is the  
  • 28:50 core part of new Decade of Action? In particular,  I really like how moving to public transport to  
  • 28:58 active transport and avoiding [inaudible] being  important, because that also is actually a way  
  • 29:05 to decarbonize the transport system and reducing  greenhouse gas emission. So whatever we do in road  
  • 29:10 safety, actually has carried a lot of synergies  with other sectors, which we can discuss later.
  • 29:15 [Binyam Reja]: But just on the speed management, well how you  
  • 29:18 would see it being included and how can we ensure  it to be included on the second Decade of Action?
  • 29:23 [Etienne Krug]: Indeed, if we reduce speed  
  • 29:26 and if we move to more active and healthy  modes of transport, we will reduce emissions,  
  • 29:33 we will reduce noise, we will have more  opportunities to move, which is much healthier  
  • 29:40 in terms of prevention of cancer, cardiovascular  disease. So yes, there's a lot of additional  
  • 29:45 benefits. To do that we need to tackle speed.  So speed is a central element of the new plan  
  • 29:51 that has been developed for the Decade of Action,  which by the way, is on the web right now for the  
  • 29:57 whole month of May for an open consultation  process for all member states, UN agencies,  
  • 30:04 civil society organizations to comment on. But  speed is already included and it's central.
  • 30:09 [Etienne Krug]: Addressing speed, it's probably  
  • 30:11 very important to mention that addressing speed  of course requires good road safety legislation  
  • 30:17 and enforcement and information to the public,  but it's not only about that, it is also about  
  • 30:22 modifying infrastructure, making sure that the  infrastructure is built, and that's very important  
  • 30:28 of course for the World Bank to keep in mind.  I'm sure Susana will talk about that too, but  
  • 30:34 make sure that infrastructure is built, so that  speeding is simply not possible. We know how to  
  • 30:41 build a road these days so that you can't speed  anymore. We also know how to make sure that there  
  • 30:46 are sidewalks, bicycle lanes elevated, separated  so that people can walk and cycle safely.
  • 30:52 [Etienne Krug]: It's also about  
  • 30:53 vehicles and make sure that vehicles cannot  speed too much. The technology is there now,  
  • 30:59 so that we call also on vehicle manufacturing  to play their role. So all in all, yes it is  
  • 31:06 definitely part of the new Decade of Action and  more than it's a central element of the new plan.
  • 31:11 [Binyam Reja]: Okay, great. That's really great to hear  
  • 31:16 that we have it front and center in the second  Decade of Action. Okay. Now let's move to our  
  • 31:26 second panelist. Mr. Todt, welcome Mr. Todt,  I think you've been a really great leader  
  • 31:34 on road safety globally. It's really good  and delightful to have you here. I wanted to  
  • 31:41 ask you, actually, what the expectations  are, looking at implementing and achieving  
  • 31:46 the goal of the second Decade of Action. You  heard Mr. Krug laying out what that includes,  
  • 31:52 it would be great to hear from you what your  expectations are and what do you consider are  
  • 31:58 the main principles in which decision makers and  key stakeholders should be focusing their time,  
  • 32:04 energy and limited resource in achieving  the Decade of Action. Over to you. Mr. Todt.
  • 32:13 [Jean Todt]: Thank you very much and happy  
  • 32:18 to be sharing this important World Bank meeting  with my colleague during this UN Road Safety Week.  
  • 32:30 I thank the World Bank Global Road Safety Facility  for bringing us all together. Road safety needs a  
  • 32:39 concerted default from all stakeholder around the  world. While we made gains into the first Decade  
  • 32:46 of Action and Etienne reminded a while ago,  my expectation is to have even greater gains  
  • 32:53 in the second decade by addressing disparity  and gaps. In what areas could we do better?  
  • 33:01 We know that 90% of our fatality than injuries  occur in low and middle income countries.
  • 33:08 [Jean Todt]: Therefore with our limited resources and time,  
  • 33:12 we must focus on providing support to those most  affected communities. This will be essential to  
  • 33:21 drive us to reach our goals in the second decade.  Financing platform like the UN Road Safety Fund  
  • 33:29 and Global Road Safety Facility are key mechanisms  to provide this type of support. We know that we  
  • 33:37 do not place enough value on all elements of our  road transport system. We need to do a better  
  • 33:43 job of engaging and holding the private sector  accountable, including vehicle manufacturers,  
  • 33:50 investors in transport and infrastructures, ride  share providers, beverage companies and so on.
  • 33:56 [Jean Todt]: All actors have a  
  • 33:59 responsibility in building the safety system  that protects every road users, especially  
  • 34:06 the most vulnerable. We know that road safety  benefits many sustainable development goals,  
  • 34:12 and can be transformative for the environment,  healthcare sectors, sustainable cities,  
  • 34:18 human rights amongst others. We must do a  better job of showcasing these linkages.  
  • 34:24 This will drive more investments and priority  among the government. We also know that achieving  
  • 34:31 the LDG target 3.6 to half road death and injuries  can only be reached by achieving LDG. 11.2  
  • 34:40 which is to provide access to safe, sustainable  and affordable transport to all by 2030.
  • 34:48 [Jean Todt]: For this, I must raise the importance of  
  • 34:51 increasing access to safe public transit,  which also delivers on our climate goals.
  • 35:01 [Binyam Reja]: Okay, great. Thank you,  
  • 35:04 Mr. Todt for the very sharp way you really  articulated the linkages between improving speed,  
  • 35:13 road safety and the wider development goals  for environment, for sustainable cities,  
  • 35:19 human capital. That is good in  that respect. So thank you. So  
  • 35:25 now let's move to Mrs. Susanna Zammataro  from IRF. You're a very important step,  
  • 35:34 Mrs. Zammataro for the [inaudible]. So I wanted to  really understand from your point of view, what do  
  • 35:40 you see as some of the key challenge or missed  opportunities from the first Decade of Action,  
  • 35:45 especially this has been an issue we're discussing  today, and what are some of the lessons from this?
  • 35:50 [Binyam Reja]: What did we really  
  • 35:51 miss in the first Decade of Action that  we could have done better in making sure  
  • 35:57 our roads have the appropriate speed and are safe.
  • 36:01 [Susanna Zammataro]: 
  • 36:05 Thank you very much. I hope you can all hear  me well. Yes? Thank you for having me this  
  • 36:12 afternoon and thanks to the GRSF for organizing  this panel and giving me the opportunity as  
  • 36:17 well to share the floor with the stage with such  passionate leaders, when it comes to road safety.  
  • 36:25 I would like to start answering your question  most probably by underlining first of all the  
  • 36:31 tremendous achievements made during the first  Decade of Action in terms of building the body  
  • 36:36 of knowledge around road safety and around the  key risk factors such as speed. We have today  
  • 36:43 robust research findings, providing a  strong evidence and recommendation for  
  • 36:49 a system of say speed limits for the  different type of road environments.
  • 36:54 [Susanna Zammataro]: I hope we'll have a chance to later on  
  • 36:56 the conversation to back to this. Although all the  benefits are scientifically proved, no low income  
  • 37:04 countries today and only 3% of middle income  countries have 30 kilometers per hour or less  
  • 37:11 speed limit for urban roads. Of course that tells  us that there's so much work that we still need to  
  • 37:17 do. Campaigns like the one we are currently  experimenting this week, the ongoing Streets for  
  • 37:25 Life and the #Love30 campaign help tremendously  I have to say in changing that narrative around  
  • 37:33 speed, which often is a very political debate to  the extent it becomes a really just debate almost.
  • 37:40 [Susanna Zammataro]: In general, change the way we talk about  
  • 37:43 road safety and it's exactly what the previous  Decade of Action has been trying to do very hard,  
  • 37:52 and through the concept and this whole  concept of the safe system approach.  
  • 37:57 Building the understanding and road safety  is a shared responsibility as some of the  
  • 38:02 previous speakers have mentioned.  So even when you just look at speed,  
  • 38:06 whether you are a driver or you are a  policy maker or law enforcement agent,  
  • 38:10 or a road designer, your responsibility  does not increase or decrease accordingly.
  • 38:17 [Susanna Zammataro]: Another key lessons learn is that speed  
  • 38:20 management really relies on a coordinated and I  would say multi-sectoral efforts that as Etienne  
  • 38:27 was saying involves infrastructure planning and  design the legislation and traffic policy, the  
  • 38:35 vehicle safety standards, as well as a combination  at the same time of public awareness and deterrent  
  • 38:42 based for example on automated enforcement. One  of the key recommendations that we got from the  
  • 38:48 Stockholm minister on the declaration was that,  of course, managing speed to safe levels must be  
  • 38:55 a priority in the next decade, but also address  it as it has been said in a very holistic manner.
  • 39:02 [Susanna Zammataro]: This is especially important  
  • 39:04 for low and middle income countries, where  we know that there is in general insufficient  
  • 39:09 road safety management capacity, or  low capacity for speed enforcement  
  • 39:16 for vehicle safety standards, for fleet monitoring  and public awareness. We can only really attain  
  • 39:24 impressive results when these interventions come  all together and are combined and made possible  
  • 39:31 by as well appropriate levels of human and  financial resource. Concluding in terms of  
  • 39:37 missed opportunities, which was initially  your probably question, I would say that  
  • 39:43 if two things come to my mind, one was probably  importance to engage youth and the private sector.
  • 39:50 [Susanna Zammataro]: It was only towards the end of the Decade of  
  • 39:53 Action that we have seen growing attention to and  also space I would say, being made for these two  
  • 39:59 fundamental stakeholders and the potential of the  contribution of the private sector to road safety,  
  • 40:06 including of course on this specific issue of  speed still remains largely untapped today.  
  • 40:12 I hope we'll have a chance to come  back later to this during the debate.
  • 40:16 [Binyam Reja]: Yeah.  
  • 40:19 Great. Thank you so much Susanna. That's great.  Really showing [inaudible] the missed opportunity  
  • 40:27 engaging with the private sector [inaudible] is a  key one. This is why I think in the second Decade  
  • 40:33 of Action, moving forward, engaging the  private sector in different circumstances,  
  • 40:39 including the financing platform, John Todt  mentioned would be key. The multi-sectoral aspect  
  • 40:46 is also really important. Okay. Now I'd like  to now bring in Mr. Hart Schafer our Vice  
  • 40:53 President for South Asia and ask him what we've  been doing especially in South Asia Region.
  • 40:58 [Binyam Reja]: We've been doing quite  
  • 41:00 a number of activities over the several years,  
  • 41:03 and perhaps if you can maybe give us a little  bit of a flavor of what we've been doing in terms  
  • 41:08 of policies, interventions related to road  safety management. Hart over to you please.
  • 41:14 [Hartwig Schafer]: Thank you Benyam and good afternoon. Good evening.  
  • 41:18 Good morning to our colleagues and friends who  are part of this important event, and thanks  
  • 41:22 for inviting me to this UN global Road Safety Week  event. For South Asia Road Safety is a key issue.  
  • 41:32 South Asia accounts for 10% of the global vehicle  fleet, but for 25% of all road crash death. So it  
  • 41:40 is a development issue because road crashes hit  the most vulnerable segments of the society.  
  • 41:47 Very often cyclists, pedestrians in low income and  poor communities, we are making that a priority,  
  • 41:56 but when we think of South Asia at this time  of course, our thoughts are with the people  
  • 42:02 of South Asia who are traveling with a  devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • 42:08 [Hartwig Schafer]: What the pandemic has shown  
  • 42:11 is a clear link between road safety and overall  management of health and public health systems,  
  • 42:19 because road crashes, clearly the injuries are  taking away scars capacity that is now needed for  
  • 42:26 the people to be treated for COVID-19. So if we  improve road safety, then we are actually freeing  
  • 42:32 up resources when the next pandemic is going to  hit. State-of-the-art emergency care services  
  • 42:39 are good for resilience against the pandemic,  but they're also very important to help with  
  • 42:44 trauma victims after road crashes. One of our  latest reports on traffic crash injuries and  
  • 42:50 disabilities in India, have shown that one of the  key factors that we need to, or key gaps we need  
  • 42:57 to address is access to medical treatment  and safety nets for most crash victims.
  • 43:03 [Hartwig Schafer]: So the first hour after a  
  • 43:04 crash we all call the golden hour that can  save life, can make a difference between  
  • 43:10 remaining alive or being part of the statistics.  What is encouraging is that countries in South  
  • 43:17 Asia are recognizing that. I want to give you  an example of what I see as a game changer. And  
  • 43:25 Etienne alluded to it. We need to get to the  highest political level with this. It is not  
  • 43:31 just something that is in the transport sector. It  is an issue that is important for everybody in the  
  • 43:39 political cabinet, in the government and two and  a half years ago, when we had our annual meetings,  
  • 43:46 I had asked for a two pager that I was showing  to everyone, or the ministers of finance.
  • 43:50 [Hartwig Schafer]: And I was telling them  
  • 43:52 how much they were actually losing in terms  of GDP. We know the number is anywhere between  
  • 43:59 three and 5% of GDP loss because of lack  of road safety or because of road death and  
  • 44:08 injuries. I think that gets the attention  of the ministers of finance and what we  
  • 44:13 have seen in subsequent to that is that they are  pulling together cross cabinet working groups,  
  • 44:20 commissions. We have seen that together when I  was with my friend Jean Todt, when we visited  
  • 44:25 Bangladesh and Nepal, there the ministry of  transport, but it also included the ministry  
  • 44:31 of health, ministry of education, interior and  police, because they all have a stake in this.
  • 44:36 [Hartwig Schafer]: I think this cross sectoral  
  • 44:38 approach is absolutely critical, and it shows  results. If we look at Tamil Nadu for instance,  
  • 44:45 Tamil Nadu was able to reduce fatalities by 25%  in only three years. It was because they invested  
  • 44:55 in trauma care centers, they invested  in speed enforcement systems and they  
  • 45:00 brought all the stakeholders together to own this  challenge. Similar efforts are going on in India  
  • 45:06 and in Bangladesh. Both have recently adopted  landmark reform and legislation to address road  
  • 45:14 safety and transport management. We are also  looking in engaging in Sri Lanka and Pakistan  
  • 45:20 to build better institutions and to manage  road safety, not only at the federal level,  
  • 45:26 but also at the state or the provincial  level, which is very important.
  • 45:29 [Hartwig Schafer]: In countries with the federal system,  
  • 45:31 we need to address it at the federal, the  state and the municipal level. I think on  
  • 45:36 the municipal level, we'll talk about that  in a little while. What is important here is,  
  • 45:40 and I'm very proud of this, that we are working  as a World Bank very closely with the UN family  
  • 45:46 in country, but also at the corporate level. That  is important for the advocacy, and it helps us to  
  • 45:52 bring together our joint power and efforts  and comparative advantage to address this  
  • 45:59 everywhere from enforcement, capacity building  to infrastructure investments and to institution  
  • 46:05 building. So with, let me finish here this  first question, but I'm very happy to be here.
  • 46:11 [Binyam Reja]: Great. Thank you Hart for your passion  
  • 46:15 and for your support, it's really encouraging to  hear that the bank has been at the forefront of  
  • 46:22 addressing the road safety problem in South Asia  and to actually see the example you give about  
  • 46:28 Tamil Nadu. I also really like the evidence  that you presented to the finance ministers,  
  • 46:35 really this [inaudible] policy dialogue is what is  really important to show them what is the cost in  
  • 46:41 economic terms, because that's [inaudible]  what you really understand from Finance  
  • 46:44 ministers in many countries. So to get them to  buy into this, to get a cross-sector cabinet,  
  • 46:52 multi-sector intervention, is really important  and you are showing us that [inaudible]  
  • 46:57 and that could be replicated in any in other,  around the world. So this is really great.
  • 47:03 [Binyam Reja]: Okay. So moving on. So now  
  • 47:06 let's talk about ... Hart you mention about COVID  in South Asia and India in particular in Nepal.  
  • 47:15 Of course our thoughts are there with our  colleagues, friends and all the people with really  
  • 47:20 this devastating COVID that they're going through.  So they're rebuilding thinking now, hopefully  
  • 47:33 in a post COVID world, hopefully it'll come  soon to our developing countries to South Asia,  
  • 47:39 but I wanted to have a little bit of a  discussion as we enter a post COVID world,  
  • 47:45 how we will see road management and safety  to be integrated into a green recovery that  
  • 47:52 many countries would take. I'm going to ask  John Todt first on this question, especially  
  • 48:01 as it relates to how we will move  forward, how you see we can make.
  • 48:09 [Binyam Reja]: So, as you would remember John, we had  
  • 48:14 this third global minister of meeting in Stockholm  that actually was creating quite a lot of momentum  
  • 48:21 about road safety, about speed management. Now  this was of course countries now get diverted  
  • 48:30 in focusing COVID-19 pandemic, but how do you  see we can actually then continue to create this  
  • 48:40 awareness and momentum to all the stakeholders  about road safety, even while we are in  
  • 48:49 COVID context or as we enter the post  COVID world. Over to you Mr. Todt.
  • 48:58 [Jean Todt]: Thank you. Thank you for that. In terms  
  • 49:02 of the question about COVID-19 overshadowing  our work in road safety, I will challenge  
  • 49:09 us to instead focus on how it has provided new  opportunities to achieve our global goals. It has  
  • 49:18 forced us to be agile and responsive. I would like  to highlight three reflections to support this.  
  • 49:27 First, the world continued to rely on mobility  during the pandemic, which means the importance of  
  • 49:34 road safety was always there. 40 months ago, when  curfews and lockdown were being imposed globally,  
  • 49:42 we were not yet sure how COVID-19 pandemic  will affect road safety and transport.
  • 49:48 [Jean Todt]: Today, we see how the pandemic  
  • 49:51 has had a significant impact on the world's  mobility sector. Restrictions have resulted  
  • 49:57 in everyone moving far less than previously,  and about public transport and mass transit was  
  • 50:05 hit the hardest. But we have also seen that  even during a global health crisis, the world  
  • 50:12 continued to rely on mobility, the movement of  essential workers, transport of food and goods,  
  • 50:19 delivery services, dissemination of vaccines  and humanitarian and emergency relief services,  
  • 50:26 have only been possible with a safe, reliable and  connected transport. Those in the poorer places,  
  • 50:36 which were also hard hit by the virus, have  not shared our privilege to stay at home.
  • 50:42 [Jean Todt]: It makes road safety more relevant than ever.  
  • 50:46 Second, some of the shifts in mobility pattern and  new [inaudible] designed as a result of COVID-19  
  • 50:53 response, has propelled us closer to some targets,  especially in greener and more active mobility.  
  • 51:01 Because of the change in landscape  as a result of COVID-19 response,  
  • 51:06 we have seen any policy  makers, especially in cities,  
  • 51:10 review their street designs, their road safety  policies, and modified their mobility system.  
  • 51:17 For example, many cities redesigned street to  increase cycling, walking and [inaudible] access.  
  • 51:25 This reported safer mobility and concurrently  prevented the spread of the virus.
  • 51:30 [Jean Todt]: What COVID-19 has shown us is the  
  • 51:34 importance of an integrated approach for making  cities more sustainable, resilient and inclusive.  
  • 51:42 If we can position road safety effectively,  we can access the crisis stimulus packages  
  • 51:48 that are supporting the green transition, as well  as the expansion of sustainable infrastructure  
  • 51:56 and transport. Additionally, with a  change in demand and use of transport,  
  • 52:01 COVID-19 has also pushed us to integrate more  digital technology to deliver new needs and roads.
  • 52:09 [Jean Todt]: It has also given a bigger role to automation.  
  • 52:13 Going forward, mobility operators across  the sector will need a strong ability to  
  • 52:19 forecast [inaudible] and adjust route planning and  staffing in response becoming more digital, more  
  • 52:27 collaborative and more innovative and continuing  to transform the transport sector for the better.  
  • 52:33 Third and last, we have seen the commonality  between the pandemic and the road safety, in  
  • 52:40 both it effects on the most vulnerable. We should  roll on this as we reposition our effort during  
  • 52:47 COVID-19 recovery. The vulnerable people are the  ones who are most impacted when a crisis hits.
  • 52:54 [Jean Todt]: COVID-19 response and achieving road safety will  
  • 52:58 benefit the most vulnerable. It is a spirit of  social inclusion that we should rebuild better on  
  • 53:05 both fronts. Furthermore, access to safe mobility  helps the most vulnerable access to decent work  
  • 53:12 and education, addresses the gender equality in  access to mobility, and it also helps us rebuild  
  • 53:20 for more sustainable cities and communities,  therefore to address speed is also covered.
  • 53:27 [Binyam Reja]: 
  • 53:30 Great. That was really great Mr. Todt. I see  you see also opportunity basically in the COVID  
  • 53:39 crisis. It's interesting, the word crisis in the  Chinese language has two characters. It's called  
  • 53:47 [Chinese 00:53:46] the first character says it's  danger and the second character is an opportunity.  
  • 53:52 So in any crisis you have danger and opportunity.  So I think we have to really seize this moment,  
  • 54:00 this green recovery to position road  safety as a key development issue that  
  • 54:08 can actually ... has a much more impact. That  was really great. Now I'm going to bring Mamta  
  • 54:21 Murthi our Vice President for Human Development  
  • 54:24 to speak a little bit about the human development  dimension of COVID-19 and ... road safety issue.
  • 54:34 [Binyam Reja]: So, Mamta you know that over 60 million deaths  
  • 54:40 have now occurred globally since the first fatal  road crash that occured more than a century ago,  
  • 54:47 which are speed related. We expect a further  25% increase on this number over the next decade  
  • 54:55 if concrete actions are not taken. In the public  health world, this has been considered a silent  
  • 55:01 pandemic since 2004. COVID was recognized as a  pandemic early last year and has seen a massive  
  • 55:09 and rapid mobilization of governments and private  sector to address this issue. What lessons should  
  • 55:16 we take from COVID-19 response when comparing  this two public health pandemics? How can we  
  • 55:23 [inaudible] a silent pandemic and how we  can get a massive response [inaudible]?
  • 55:30 [Mamta Murthi]: Thank you Ben.  
  • 55:37 Hello to everyone who's on this call. It's a real  pleasure to be here. Thank you for inviting me.  
  • 55:46 Let me say three things in response to your  question. First of all, we need to acknowledge the  
  • 55:53 massive casualties that occur because of lack  of road safety. I believe when I was looking at  
  • 56:01 these numbers last night, it's 1.5 million deaths  a year and 50 million accidents a year. So this is  
  • 56:10 no small number, this is staggering. While we are  focused on deaths, both in the case of road safety  
  • 56:17 and in the case of COVID-19, I think we also need  to think about the lingering effects on people and  
  • 56:26 on their quality of life, both the survivors  of road accidents and the survivors of COVID.
  • 56:34 [Mamta Murthi]: So without a doubt,  
  • 56:36 this is a big issue, and all of us at this point  know somebody who has been touched by a road  
  • 56:44 accident or touched by COVID and it prompts us to  think about what we can learn from one pandemic,  
  • 56:54 for the other issue of road  safety. Let me focus, not on the  
  • 57:01 multiple aspects that everyone has spoken about  eloquently. Let me focus on behavior change,  
  • 57:08 as a very important element, which we have learned  about through COVID-19 and which is relevant for  
  • 57:16 road safety. We know from COVID-19, that there is  a lot of vaccine hesitancy. This is true the world  
  • 57:25 over. Now, developing countries are at the moment  not receiving enough vaccines, but we do know  
  • 57:33 from surveys that even if they were to receive  vaccines, there is significant vaccine hesitancy.
  • 57:38 [Mamta Murthi]: 
  • 57:39 A large number of people when asked if they  will take a vaccine in a developing country,  
  • 57:44 say they won't, or they say they are unsure.  In fact, there are more people who are unsure  
  • 57:51 than people who say no, but we also know  that successful information campaigns,  
  • 57:58 information from people who are influential,  they could be community leaders, they could be  
  • 58:05 religious leaders, they could be  pop stars, they could be sportsmen.  
  • 58:09 We know that this has an impact on the  receptivity of the population towards the message.  
  • 58:16 Here is one lesson that I think does carry  over from the pandemic to road safety.
  • 58:21 [Mamta Murthi]: Receiving information,  
  • 58:24 receiving the nudge that is required to make the  change, that's required to make the change about  
  • 58:31 reducing speed, about wearing a helmet, about  looking carefully when you cross a road and all  
  • 58:38 of this can have an impact on how people conduct  themselves on a road. This can impact road safety.  
  • 58:49 Finally, let me be a bit contrarian and  depart from the analogy of the pandemic.  
  • 58:59 COVID-19 is an infectious disease, it came upon  us suddenly, it has spread rapidly, caused massive  
  • 59:06 death and desolation, but I would like to make an  analogy with chronic disease. I think that's much  
  • 59:15 more relevant to road safety. Chronic disease  is about how we behave on a day-to-day basis.
  • 59:21 [Mamta Murthi]: Do we eat well? Do we exercise?  
  • 59:24 Do we cut back on smoking? Do we engage in  fewer risky behaviors from a health standpoint?  
  • 59:35 This I feel is a more appropriate analogy to  road safety, because just like in daily life,  
  • 59:41 we underestimate the risk of not getting exercise  or we underestimate the risk of poor nutrition,  
  • 59:49 or we think, what will one  additional cigarette do? Similarly,  
  • 59:55 we underestimate the risk of high speeds.  What will one additional kilometer per hour  
  • 01:00:03 by way of speeding do? Yet we saw this excellent  evidence presented earlier about the impact of  
  • 01:00:10 speeding or what will not wearing a  helmet as I ride my motorcycle today  
  • 01:00:16 do? I think there is a lot that can be learned  from the way chronic disease is managed.
  • 01:00:24 [Mamta Murthi]: We know that giving people information,  
  • 01:00:28 nudging them towards better behavior,  fiscal and other government policies such as  
  • 01:00:34 taxing cigarettes or taxing sugary drinks, other  forms of community engagement can affect behavior.  
  • 01:00:47 This I feel is a very useful analogy that could  be transferred over to road safety, helping people  
  • 01:00:54 engage in the right kinds of behaviors that make  roads safer for pedestrians and for people who are  
  • 01:01:03 using other forms of transport. We actually  did a very interesting report on this. It's  
  • 01:01:08 called The High Toll of Traffic Injuries, where we  identified a number of best buys in road safety.
  • 01:01:16 [Mamta Murthi]: These are interventions  
  • 01:01:19 that deliver a return very quickly in terms  of reduced fatality and reduced injury.  
  • 01:01:27 They also cost very little. So my  sense is that we want to learn from  
  • 01:01:34 the management of chronic disease, we want  to learn from that and take forward some of  
  • 01:01:39 these investments that we have identified in our  publication on the high toll of traffic injuries.
  • 01:01:44 [Binyam Reja]: Okay, great. Thank you Mamta, I think this  
  • 01:01:50 is great. I think you've given us a really good  food for thought, especially focusing on behavior  
  • 01:01:56 and nudging people to adapt better road safety  behavior if you will, like better lifestyle. So  
  • 01:02:06 I think we would need to bring in a  number of behavioral economists really  
  • 01:02:12 when we design road safety interventions and how  we can nudge people towards a better lifestyles.  
  • 01:02:18 I thought that's a very nice way of articulating  this issue. Okay, great. Thank you. Let's  
  • 01:02:24 now try to move ahead fast. We started late,  so we do need to make up some time now.
  • 01:02:30 [Binyam Reja]: So I'm going to bring back  
  • 01:02:33 again Hart Schafer to discussion. Then you mention  briefly about cities and municipalities in your  
  • 01:02:41 first intervention. So I wanted to ask you that.  So we are seeing cities being reset in terms of  
  • 01:02:47 traffic patterns because of the pandemic. Travel  behavior is changing, land use is also changing.  
  • 01:02:53 People want to live in the suburb or people  want to drive solo instead of public transport.  
  • 01:03:00 So how relevant is the speed management for  cities in the context of building back better as  
  • 01:03:07 we recover from the pandemic crisis? So how should  cities now function? What do you see here please?
  • 01:03:15 [Hartwig Schafer]: Well, to the crisis, the pandemic crisis really  
  • 01:03:19 brought the focus on the future of transport of  mobility and road safety in general. If we look  
  • 01:03:24 at the height of the pandemic crisis, the absolute  numbers of road incidents was actually going down,  
  • 01:03:31 but that could have been because there's less  traffic and less mobility because when you dig  
  • 01:03:36 deeper and look at the number of fatalities  per kilometer traveled, it actually went up.  
  • 01:03:41 I think that reflects that streets are  empty. Naturally, speeding is going to  
  • 01:03:46 increase and with increased speeding you  have more severe accidents and incidents.
  • 01:03:51 [Hartwig Schafer]: There is a larger proportion  
  • 01:03:53 of the population that is actually using roads  as pedestrians, as cyclist and so on. So when  
  • 01:04:01 we look at how we come out of this pandemic and  we build back better, clearly we need to take  
  • 01:04:07 those strengths into account. I think the public  will be more cautious in using public transport,  
  • 01:04:14 using cars, and there will be a preference  for walking and cycling. Naturally, that means  
  • 01:04:19 we need to rethink our transportation system,  we need to rethink urban mobility as a system  
  • 01:04:25 itself. It needs to be less of a car-centric  approach as Etienne was saying earlier.
  • 01:04:31 [Hartwig Schafer]: It needs to put low speed streets in place,  
  • 01:04:34 streets that are safe for the different user  groups. That requires that urban mobility  
  • 01:04:42 will have to provide dedicated lanes for  pedestrians and cyclists that are safe  
  • 01:04:47 and ensure mobility across cities. We see some of  those initiatives actually being launched already  
  • 01:04:55 in India. We have the Smart City Mission that  was recently launched India. It's the title India  
  • 01:05:03 Cycles4Change Challenge, and it is  supporting 11 cities where they are piloting  
  • 01:05:08 working and cycling alongside with motorized  traffic. We as development partners can help  
  • 01:05:15 by making sure that part of our project finance  is actually going into those investments that  
  • 01:05:22 are not just the tarmac that gets the  road in, but traffic calming investments.
  • 01:05:28 [Hartwig Schafer]: Making sure that there are safe  
  • 01:05:30 lanes for pedestrians and cyclists, that there are  footpath, and we can also help with policy because  
  • 01:05:36 it requires a revision of the urban mobility  policies. Lastly, we can help with building  
  • 01:05:42 capacity because that's a paradigm change. We need  to make sure that those who are in charge of those  
  • 01:05:47 policies and investments, actually learn from best  practice. As a global institution like the UN,  
  • 01:05:54 like the World Bank, we can bring global  expertise, whether it is from Barcelona  
  • 01:05:59 or from other cities to countries like India or  Bangladesh and I think this is something for us,  
  • 01:06:06 we are saying we are going to follow the GRID  approach in the recovery from the pandemic.
  • 01:06:12 [Hartwig Schafer]: For a Greener,   more Resilient, and more Inclusive Development.  And road safety is absolutely integral to that.
  • 01:06:18 [Binyam Reja]: Okay, great. Thank you Hart for that.  
  • 01:06:24 Okay. So let's move now to the third topic for our  discussion. This is linking development agenda,  
  • 01:06:32 attaining synergies among different practices  and sectors. I'm going to go back again to Mamta,  
  • 01:06:43 our Vice President for Human Development. So  let me ask you Mamta, in your role as the Vice  
  • 01:06:47 President for Human Development at the World  Bank, you oversee a range of agendas including  
  • 01:06:53 education, health, gender, social protection  in jobs as well human capital project.  
  • 01:06:58 How do you see this development  agenda items linking to road safety?  
  • 01:07:03 Including the safer speeds issue and what are the  synergies we should be aiming for if we want to  
  • 01:07:08 achieve sustainable improvement in people's life,  gender equality and economic growth? Please Mamta.
  • 01:07:17 [Mamta Murthi]: Thank you Ben. So, let me begin by  
  • 01:07:21 saying that in human development, we believe in  putting people at the center of development and  
  • 01:07:28 supporting programs that allow people to  access public services so that they can invest  
  • 01:07:35 in themselves and have greater opportunities. I  would see transport as a key enabler that allows  
  • 01:07:45 people to access services like health, like  education. It allows people to access jobs.  
  • 01:07:52 It's both a key enabler, both transport  and safe transport are both a key enabler  
  • 01:07:58 and a key equalizer, because this  kind of access is essential if we  
  • 01:08:03 want to reduce disparities between people  living in different geographical areas or  
  • 01:08:09 people of different genders or people of  different abilities or ages or income levels.
  • 01:08:15 [Mamta Murthi]: Having safe transport, safe,  
  • 01:08:20 affordable, accessible transport is essential  to human opportunity and human development. Now,  
  • 01:08:26 I have an image in my mind about what this looks  like, and let me just give two quick examples. If  
  • 01:08:34 I'm thinking about a rural area, I immediately  think about roads, preferably all weather roads  
  • 01:08:40 that can get kids to school. There needs  to be some shoulder or something next to  
  • 01:08:47 the road so that kids can walk safely. There  needs to be some rules and regulations so that  
  • 01:08:53 the different forms of transport that are using  the road do so in a way that kids remain safe.
  • 01:09:00 [Mamta Murthi]: Very importantly, girls need to be able  
  • 01:09:03 to get to school and return from school safely. So  that's what I would see as a safe and accessible  
  • 01:09:13 transport, supporting human development in a rural  area. If I think of an urban area, the image in my  
  • 01:09:18 mind is slightly different. I'm thinking about a  dense concentration of informal activity of shops,  
  • 01:09:27 of restaurants, of offices, of warehouses. People  need to be able to reach these places of work,  
  • 01:09:34 pedestrians who are walking need to be safe,  
  • 01:09:39 different modes of transport need  to be accommodated, public transport  
  • 01:09:43 should be available, the public transport  should be driven or run by drivers who are safe.
  • 01:09:52 [Mamta Murthi]: The train stops need to be safe,  
  • 01:09:54 well lit, women need to be able to go to  and from work safely. That's the image  
  • 01:10:03 that I have in mind. So, while it may defer from  a rural to an urban area, while it might defer  
  • 01:10:10 in terms of the kinds of economic activity  that is supporting, in the end it's about  
  • 01:10:15 transport that is an enabler and an equalizer  for people to access services and reach jobs.
  • 01:10:21 [Binyam Reja]: 
  • 01:10:24 Okay. Wonderful, if I just ask you to continue  briefly on the human development agenda,  
  • 01:10:31 is there any principles or lessons  that you think are transferable  
  • 01:10:36 from what we see in the human development agenda  to improving road safety outcomes? For instance,  
  • 01:10:42 is a transferable experience from various types  of engagements from minister level to local  
  • 01:10:47 community engagement. Just maybe, perhaps  you can say a little bit briefly on that.
  • 01:10:54 [Mamta Murthi]: Let me say that I  
  • 01:10:56 believe there are two things that have been  very successful in the Human Capital Project  
  • 01:11:01 in raising the importance of investing in people.  Two lessons which I think are transferable to the  
  • 01:11:07 road safety agenda. The first lesson is the need  to quantify the impact of investments on both  
  • 01:11:17 the quality of life of people, and on economic  growth. We've been able to do this using the  
  • 01:11:23 human capital index, which was introduced in 2018.  This really quantifies the impact of investments  
  • 01:11:30 in education or healthcare or safety nets on  opportunities for people and on economic growth.
  • 01:11:36 [Mamta Murthi]: I believe something similar. Just  
  • 01:11:39 like Hart was talking about earlier, as he did  in the case of South Asia, I think quantifying  
  • 01:11:44 the impact of investments in road safety on  other outcomes, whether it's jobs or inequality  
  • 01:11:51 or growth is very important to making the case  for road safety investments. The second point  
  • 01:11:57 I would make is the multi-sector point,  and I think Susanna made it and Hart and  
  • 01:12:02 Etienne and others made it. We know that  human development depends on many things.  
  • 01:12:10 I just talked about how accessing schools  through transport is extremely important.  
  • 01:12:15 So what we did in the Human Capital Project is  that we proposed a whole of government approach.
  • 01:12:22 [Mamta Murthi]: There's a focal  
  • 01:12:23 point in government, whether that's at the  federal level or at the community level.  
  • 01:12:28 This focal point is able to pull together the  different parts of government that are needed  
  • 01:12:35 to have an impact on a particular outcome of  interest. In the case of the Human Capital  
  • 01:12:40 Project, these are human capital focal points, and  they work with ministries of finance, education,  
  • 01:12:46 transport, et cetera to help devise a program that  the World Bank and other agencies in partnership  
  • 01:12:54 can support in order to improve human development  outcomes in country. So something like this I  
  • 01:13:01 think would be very helpful for road safety  because of its cross sectoral nature.
  • 01:13:07 [Mamta Murthi]: Hart earlier gave the  
  • 01:13:09 example of the state of Tamil Nadu, which has  been very successful in India in bringing down  
  • 01:13:15 road fatalities quite sharply. One of the  things that the government of Tamil Nadu did is  
  • 01:13:20 they had a cross sector task force to help  with this activity. So these are the two  
  • 01:13:25 lessons that I think would transfer over from  the Human Capital Project to road safety.
  • 01:13:31 [Binyam Reja]: Okay. Wonderful. Thank you Mamta. Okay. So we  
  • 01:13:36 have five minutes left in our allotted time. So, I  really will have to move fast one, maybe I'll skip  
  • 01:13:46 some questions and go on the [inaudible] in  technology issue and I would like to ask,  
  • 01:13:53 bring back Jean Todt for this question. So Mr.  Todt, you have previously spoken about Motorsport  
  • 01:14:02 as a development laboratory to advance on and make  motoring safer. In regards to the speed issue,  
  • 01:14:11 what transferable lessons in technology are there  to learn from and what other emerging mechanisms,  
  • 01:14:18 systems, technologies would you like to see in  the vehicles we see on our streets, particularly  
  • 01:14:24 in low middle income countries or part of our  broader system response to this issue? Please.
  • 01:14:32 [Jean Todt]: 
  • 01:14:36 I believe that Motorsport is an example  on effective view of the safe system  
  • 01:14:43 approach. We have been able to achieve  this because Motorsport provides one of  
  • 01:14:49 the most heavily founded platform for automotive  research. Its competitive environment results  
  • 01:14:57 in accelerated innovation and technological  development towards road safety. For example, the  
  • 01:15:06 Motorsport world particularly Formula One shows  that speed can be controlled and managed during  
  • 01:15:15 the opening lap of the last year Bahrain Grand  Prix, you may remember the Romain Grosjean  
  • 01:15:22 crash when he lost control of his  car traveling at 240 kilometers an  
  • 01:15:28 hour. When he hit the gas rail barrier at 190  kilometer an hour, snapping is car into two.
  • 01:15:36 [Jean Todt]: We all have seen those survival  
  • 01:15:39 images. What have saved Romain Grosjean? Years of  research by the FIA Safety Department, resulting  
  • 01:15:48 in the development of the latest protecting  equipment like helmets, driver overalls,  
  • 01:15:56 forward head hand and neck restraints, fire  resistant underwear, gloves, improve vehicle  
  • 01:16:04 design, like the hollow FIA crash test survival  cells, cockpit padding, advent infrastructure  
  • 01:16:13 material for absorbing the energy of an impact and  the complete absence of any other road users and  
  • 01:16:22 specific design circuits. In addition, the prompt  response of the rescue team as well as the mental  
  • 01:16:29 and physical agility of a trained professional  driver to take decisions in a fraction of second.
  • 01:16:37 [Jean Todt]: All these elements combined,  
  • 01:16:40 making up a safe system protects your road  users, won't make a mistake. Even after the  
  • 01:16:47 crash that occurred in Motorsport including the  cases with no severe consequences for the driver,  
  • 01:16:54 investigations take place. It helps us  learn more and reduce potential risk for  
  • 01:17:00 similar situation in the future. So, what  we saw in Bahrain will not happen again.  
  • 01:17:09 When we see the investigation of Romain  Grosjean getting into data and getting also into  
  • 01:17:20 accident data recorder, we can see the speed and  the forces on the car and in here accelerometer  
  • 01:17:28 that are fitted inside the driver's ear here  to measure the movement of his head in a crash.
  • 01:17:34 [Jean Todt]: It is what we call a  
  • 01:17:36 safe system approach. It is a culture  of safety embedded into competition,  
  • 01:17:42 and I believe this is the most important lesson  Motorsport can bring to everyday mobility  
  • 01:17:50 as a laboratory. Most of the cars in operation  in many parts of the world, do not meet minimum  
  • 01:17:58 recommended UN standard that we all well know. If  the same volume of production that had occurred  
  • 01:18:05 since 2010 is repeated in the next decade, about  another 900 million new auto automobiles will be  
  • 01:18:13 added to the global fleet by 2030. The majority  will be produced and sold in middle income  
  • 01:18:21 countries. We need this cars to be fitted with  the UN's list of recommended safety standards,  
  • 01:18:28 including front and side impact, predestrian  protection and electronic stability control.
  • 01:18:34 [Jean Todt]: In the new decade,  
  • 01:18:37 what we need the most is a culture of safety.
  • 01:18:40 [Binyam Reja]: Okay. Wow. Wonderful. Thank you  
  • 01:18:48 on that. Well, the time is really over. There is  one or two minutes, I'd like to maybe ask Susanna  
  • 01:18:57 to briefly talk about the technology  aspects for safety especially the  
  • 01:19:05 technology and the artificial intelligence trend  and how you see the big data aspects in improving  
  • 01:19:15 road safety. Also maybe to  
  • 01:19:20 Etienne Krug from WHO if you can also tell us  a little bit the knowledge that we have and the  
  • 01:19:27 tools that we have in moving this agenda forward.  In particular, are we ready? Are we fully equipped  
  • 01:19:35 to bring it all together? So both of you, and  then we'll conclude for keeping you a couple  
  • 01:19:42 more minutes later than we are scheduled.  We started late actually, Susanna first.
  • 01:19:47 [Susanna Zammataro]: Thank you very much Ben,  
  • 01:19:50 and maybe in the interest of time, allow  me to divert from your question. Actually,  
  • 01:19:55 I'm going to answer to your question in one  sentence, just by saying that indeed, big data,  
  • 01:20:03 artificial intelligence and technology in general  will be the greatest allies we have going forward,  
  • 01:20:08 and we should stop thinking about technology  and artificial intelligence and big data as  
  • 01:20:14 being at the same time something that seems  very far away from low and middle income  
  • 01:20:19 countries. Reality is actually the  bank has been doing fantastic work  
  • 01:20:22 on how using those tools to harvest those type  of data that we need to make informed decision.
  • 01:20:29 [Susanna Zammataro]: Very quickly I want to come back and  
  • 01:20:32 that's why I'm dissenting from your question.  Come back to the issue of the private sector.  
  • 01:20:36 We as IRF have been working very hard with the  private sector, trying to illustrate really the  
  • 01:20:47 areas of opportunities where companies can make  meaningful contribution to road safety outcomes  
  • 01:20:53 and also inspire action within the sector. We're  doing that even more proactively than that. We're  
  • 01:21:00 working on building private sector coalitions  in different countries around the world,  
  • 01:21:05 and there will be an announcement going on Friday  I believe. We need to learn to better harness the  
  • 01:21:12 power of corporate resources and the presence  in the communities as it was said by others.
  • 01:21:18 [Susanna Zammataro]: One final quick point,  
  • 01:21:21 imagine for a moment, the level of impact and the  transformational change we could have if we were  
  • 01:21:26 able to scale up in the sector, those  good examples which exist and are set  
  • 01:21:32 by some leading companies today, throughout  their supply chain and largely in the sector  
  • 01:21:38 via for example an industry code of conduct, which  would be backed up at the same time by the robust  
  • 01:21:44 knowledge and expertise sharing. If you couple  that with policy and regulatory interventions,  
  • 01:21:49 you actually have a winning recipe, that's exactly  where those partnerships in between the public  
  • 01:21:56 and the private sector are so important.  We can also start from local communities.
  • 01:22:01 [Susanna Zammataro]: In fact, as Hart was mentioning  
  • 01:22:03 and then build it up through  the national level. Thank you.
  • 01:22:06 [Binyam Reja]: 
  • 01:22:08 Great. That's wonderful. You actually also  addressed one of the key questions we were  
  • 01:22:12 asked from the participants. Okay. Etienne if  you could sum it up for us in terms of whether  
  • 01:22:21 we have the knowledge and tools to move  forward on this and or what we need more.  
  • 01:22:37 Etienne? Okay. I don't know  whether he is still with us, maybe  
  • 01:22:44 Hart then I can give you the floor to sum it up  for us. Also, maybe if you see the technologies  
  • 01:22:51 and what [inaudible] heard, just that you  think from the World Bank perspective.
  • 01:22:56 [Hartwig Schafer]: No, I think this has been  
  • 01:22:59 a very rich discussion. I really want to thank all  the panelists. So for me when I look at low speed  
  • 01:23:05 streets, it has at least a triple width, it's  healthier and safer, that's important because  
  • 01:23:10 it keeps us safe, clearly. The second,  it's greener, it helps us to actually  
  • 01:23:16 get better air quality in urban centers where  we need it most and, it is better for social,  
  • 01:23:21 cultural and economic development. If you're  sitting in the car, you're going through,  
  • 01:23:25 if you are walking as a pedestrian or a cyclist,  you may go to the shop [inaudible] on. So  
  • 01:23:30 it helps businesses, it revitalizes inner  cities and I think this is the way to go.
  • 01:23:36 [Hartwig Schafer]: We see that in the developed  
  • 01:23:37 world happening. When we look at Barcelona  as an example, I mentioned that earlier,  
  • 01:23:42 I think we can do it in the developing  world. So I look to continuing  
  • 01:23:46 on addressing road safety in a very strong  partnership with the UN, with the FIA Foundation,  
  • 01:23:52 Bloomberg Philanthropy, IRF and so on. Thank  you very much for this interesting discussion.
  • 01:23:57 [Binyam Reja]: 
  • 01:23:59 Great. Thank you Hart. Well, this has been  indeed a very rich discussion, very insightful,  
  • 01:24:06 very collaborative. We've had quite a lot of  activities and questions from the audience.  
  • 01:24:12 Our team has been also responding to them. I think  many of you have already covered a lot of them.  
  • 01:24:18 Let me just thank again the panelists, Etienne  Krug, John Todt, Mamta Murthi, Susanna Zammataro,  
  • 01:24:25 Hart Schafer. Thank you all and ... thank you  also for Alina and Radek, and for Pablo for  
  • 01:24:33 opening this important seminar webinar. I would  also like to invite you all to come for the next  
  • 01:24:41 session that we have upcoming on the speed  management guide book that's going to be launched.
  • 01:24:48 [Binyam Reja]: Okay. So this will bring it to close  
  • 01:24:52 our session, and I wish you all a good day.  
  • 01:24:56 Good, safe, good day and we will continue the  discussion. We will reconnect in the future. Ciao.
  • 01:25:03 [Susanna Zammataro]: Thank you. Bye-bye.
  • 01:25:06 [Binyam Reja]: Thank you. Thank you.
  • 01:25:08 [Mamta Murthi]: Thanks everyone. Bye-bye.

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