Bloomberg commits US$125m to reduce road traffic crashes

Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced the winning cities and countries selected to participate in a new phase of the foundation’s ‘Global Road Safety Initiative’, aimed at reducing fatalities and injuries from road traffic crashes. 

With a new commitment of US$125million over five years, the programme will work at both the national level to strengthen road safety legislation and the city level implementing proven road safety interventions.

Twenty invited cities participated in the competition, with ten cities and five countries selected as official participants in the programme. 

The five countries selected to receive technical support to review and strengthen road safety legislation include China, India, Philippines, Thailand and Tanzania. 

The 10 cities are: Accra, Ghana; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Bandung, Indonesia; Bangkok, Thailand; Bogota, Colombia; Fortaleza, Brazil; Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; Mumbai, India; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Shanghai, China.

The selected cities will receive: senior-level, full-time staff to work within city governments on their road safety initiatives for up to 5 years; comprehensive technical assistance from the world’s leading road safety organisations; training for police officers and other relevant city staff; and support to create hard-hitting mass-media campaigns.

"We can prevent millions of road traffic fatalities and injuries through stronger laws, more effective enforcement and better infrastructure. 

“The 10 cities selected to participate in our next five-year road safety programme have demonstrated a commitment to this work, and we are excited to support them," said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term mayor of New York City.

"Road traffic deaths will become increasingly common in the years ahead, unless we take decisive action now to prevent them."

The proposals that cities submitted detailed how they plan to address road safety by applying solutions to a number of challenges, including improving pedestrian and cyclist safety, increasing awareness through graphic media campaigns, and increasing police enforcement to combat drink-driving and speeding, as well as encouraging the use of motorcycle helmets, seat-belts and child restraints. 

Infrastructure solutions such as widened sidewalks and improved pedestrian crossings are also included in the cities’ proposals.

With assistance from the world’s leading experts in road safety, winning cities will establish an elite network of visionary municipal leaders who commit to implementing bold, new efforts to save lives and protect their citizens from road traffic injuries.

“The investments in road safety by Bloomberg Philanthropies since 2010 have driven momentum for the UN’s Decade of Action on Road Safety, energised the NGO community worldwide, and led to significant legislative advances in many countries,” said Saul Billingsley, Director General of the FIA Foundation and Co-Chair of the Road Safety Fund. 

“Bloomberg Philanthropies has shown great vision and leadership in supporting global road traffic injury prevention, and we hope other public health philanthropies will take heed and follow their example.” 

More than 1.2 million people die and 20-50 million people are severely injured from road traffic crashes around the world every year. 

Since Bloomberg Philanthropies began working on road safety in 2007, nearly 2 billion people have been covered by strengthened road safety laws, 65 million people have been exposed to hard-hitting media campaigns promoting road safety, close to 30,000 professionals have been trained on road safety tactics, and local governments have committed US$225million toward infrastructure improvements that will make roads safer.

In 2010, Bloomberg Philanthropies committed US$125million to 10 countries that represented half of road traffic-related deaths globally (Brazil, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Kenya, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam).

Brazil, Kenya, China, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Cambodia and Vietnam have all passed life-saving road safety legislation, including stricter penalties for drinking and driving, and applied speed reduction laws. 

In an unprecedented shift, China instituted stronger penalties for drinking and driving in 2011, and in 2013 Vietnam penalties were established for motorcyclists wearing helmets that failed to meet safety standards. Similarly, in Cambodia, a strong road safety bill was passed in January 2015. 

Part of the law now requires all motorcyclists, including drivers and passengers, wear a helmet.

Additionally, the interventions have had a notable impact on the ground. In Ivanovo, Russia, in 2014 88% of car riders wore seatbelts -- a sharp contrast to 2011 when less than half wore life-saving seatbelts.