The conference “Role of the Traffic Safety Agency and Importance of Reliable Data in Policy Making”, jointly organised by the Transport Community, Macedonian Ministry of Transport and Communications and the World Bank, took place in Skopje today. Participants highlighted the importance of a holistic approach to road safety and called for improvements in the design of roads and vehicles, better laws and law enforcement and provision of timely, life-saving emergency care for injured.“We are reminded every day that we must make every possible effort to prevent road accidents from happening. In 2021, a new Decade of Action for Road Safety started, with the ambitious target of preventing at least 50% of road traffic deaths and injuries by 2030. Our partners – the World Health Organisation and the UN regional commissions – developed a Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, which will be our guide for devising concrete actions that will improve road safety in the region. Unfortunately, there is a lot of work ahead of us, given that road safety statistics in the region are worse than in the EU. We are also committed to improving the reliability of road safety statistics in the region and the Western Balkans Road
Safety Observatory, operating within the Transport Community Permanent Secretariat, will help us achieve this ambitious goal,” Matej Zakonjsek, Director of Transport Community, said.
Several EU Member States have shown significant progress in the area of road safety that can be replicated in the region. Their policy is guided by the European Commission, which based its road safety policy framework for 2021 to 2030 on the Safe System approach. This approach, derived
from European best practice and now recommended globally by the World Health Organisation, reframes the road safety policy by focusing on preventing deaths and serious injuries.
