Road safety in the Arab region

Road traffic fatalities and serious injuries represent a global public health problem, especially for the Arab region and cause considerable economic losses to individuals, their families, and society. Those losses arise mainly from lost productivity from those killed or disabled.

Our approach

Our partners

Ministries of transport in member States, other regional commissions, Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, non-governmental organizations. 

Our activities

ESCWA is currently advising member States on methods to reduce  fatalities and serious injuries owing to road crashes through the following:  

1. ESCWA produced technical guidelines on establishing national systems for road safety  

2. Regional priorities for road safety management, 2019-2020 

3. Road safety is one component of the Integrated Transport System in the Arab Mashreq (ITSAM)  

4. ESCWA covered road safety issues at several sessions of the Committee on Transport and Logistics 

5. The project on “Reducing road deaths and injuries in Jordan  through increasing restraint use” aims at bridging gaps in the seat belt and restraint regulatory framework in Jordan.  

6. The project on “Transformative actions for safe motorcycles in Tunisia” aims to change the behaviour of motorcycle users towards a better perception of the highway code.  

7. ESCWA also helps its member States comply with General Assembly resolution A/RES/74/299, which proclaims the period 2021-2030 as the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety, with a goal of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50 per cent by 2030.