Sharad Shrestha

Nepal has a fragile topography. In the history of its road transport development, more priority was given in developing road length by constructing new roads while the maintenance aspect of road safety received less importance till the 80s.
Road construction followed standard geometrics with least concern for road safety. Most of the roads and bridges did not have walkways and other required road safety features. The road intersections, blind curves, and bridge approaches were the most vulnerable spots for the motorists, as well as the pedestrian. Skilled human resource, a proper plan and working modality, availability of necessary fund, adequate legal provision and its enforcement, awareness in all road users and proper coordination are the essentials of road safety management.
At present, Nepal is facing major impact on Road Safety due to COVID-19 pandemic in regards to safer people, safer roads, safer vehicles and safety management. Road Safety is recognised as a crosscutting issue for the 2020 – 2023 PIARC (World Road Congress) work cycle. The Association implements several actions to improve road safety worldwide on a sustainable basis and collaborates with other international organizations within the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration (UNRSC).

New Resolution
On 31 August 2020, the UN General Assembly has adopted a new resolution on global road safety and has proclaimed the period 2021–2030 as the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety, with the overall aim of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50 per cent by 2030.
Currently, more than 1.35 million people are killed and as many as 50 million people are injured a year, with 90% of those casualties occurring in developing countries. Road crashes are the leading cause of death around the world for children and young people between 15 and 29 years of age.
The secretariat of the UN Road Safety Fund (UNRSF) organised a webinar on the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on road safety in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).
The dynamic discussion at the webinar shed light on both the global and national effects of road safety and safety measures as a result of the pandemic. With more than 60% of the world’s population under some form of confinement at the beginning of June, the COVID -19 pandemic has impacted road safety. In March 2020, there was a reduction in road fatalities of around 40% in France and Sweden in comparison with 2019 and 50% for New York City.
The COVID-19 crisis has been an opportunity for many cities to review urban street design policies and to test new mobility systems such as closing streets to motorised vehicles, promoting cycling and walking corridors or using artificial intelligence for moving safely.
National and local authorities need to respond to the demand of commuters by opening emergency bike lanes, making street infrastructure safer for pedestrians and allocating more spac e to them, including embracing the concept of safety distance as an integral part of the urban transport system.

Stockholm Declaration
The 3rd Global Ministerial conference on road safety held in February 2020 led to the Stockholm Declaration, a commitment to engage and invest in road safety. This declaration calls for a new global target to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030.
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) makes a call to member states to renew their commitment to the Global Stockholm Declaration 2020 by endorsing the seven road safety conventions. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) reinforces the need for a legal framework innovation and affordable measures to address the challenges of the pandemic.
The outbreak and spread of COVID -19 is an occasion to rethink urban mobility and make cities safer, greener and healthier. Road safety is a form of human right. COVID -19 and road safety have a common unfortunate characteristic that the most vulnerable people are the worst affected when such crisis hits. Pedestrians, children, and women and those in extreme poverty continue to be most vulnerable on the roads. The importance of road safety is a right that protects the right to life, the right to personal security, the right to health of all people.
Civil society has a strong role to play and contribute to resilience when a crisis hits. Leadership and leveraging partnerships are at the core of an integrated approach for road safety.
It is important to have an integration of policies for road safety to face any crisis so that road safety and COVID -19, climate change and social injustices are approached as integrated issues to combat. There is a great opportunity to improve our streets design and build protective infrastructure for walking and cycling. We must shift our joint aspirations to have a road safety goal that is safe, healthy and sustainable.
The technology was successfully ramped up for safer and environmentally friendly mobility in Ethiopia. Transportation in Addis Ababa Transport Bureau stated that during the lockdown, the UNRSF Road Safety Project saw a 10-fold increase in the use of one of the cycling paths and bicycle ownership, also surged, however, the city streets are starting to get congested again. Ethiopia claims opportunities to combat road safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethiopia saw a 65% reduction in vehicle-related crashes at the height of the pandemic – related confinement measures. Remain, Hubert, UNRSF made a call for financial support to fund important and impactful projects like the scaling-up safe street design project in Ethiopia. According to him, the best vaccine for better global road safety is the regional and local implementation of the Global Framework Plan of action, which is an excellent guideline not only for the government but for all road safety stakeholders on how to improve the national road safety systems.
UN-HABITAT in Nepal needs to play a crucial role in road safety through its guidance for mitigating the impact of the pandemic as it provides technical assistance needed to help reclaim a safe space for people by providing policy advice, support to harmonise road design manuals and technical assistance in the design of pedestrian paths that are in line with global standards and best practices. An additional role that UN-Habitat takes is bringing together the right stakeholders.
Partnership with UN-Habitat would be a better option to reduce fatalities on our streets and roads because of road safety during the pandemic COVID-19. The local government also needs to monitor the implementation of the guidance effectively through coordination with stakeholders mainly road and vehicle users in the present situation.

(The writer writes on environment issues)