Road safety campaign ambassador calls for new solutions

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the ambassador for the 'Make Roads Safe' campaign, Michelle Yeoh, on Wednesday jointly called for governments to support transport solutions that will reduce the high rate of deaths and injury caused by road accidents in the Asia and Pacific region.

In her role as ambassador for the global road safty campaign, Ms Yeoh, an award-winning actress, advocates for road injury to be recognized as a global public health and development priority.

She was at ADB headquarters in Manila to participate in a three-day transport forum at which leading experts from around the world are discussing crucial issues facing transport in Asia and the Pacific.

“The Asia and the Pacific region is facing an epidemic of road death and injury, but we also have innovative Asian road safety solutions such as the International Road Assessment Programme, which is transforming the way we understand safe road design, and the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative," Ms. Yeoh said. "There is so much we can do to save lives on our roads."

"Every year some 1.18 million people globally are victims of fatal road accidents, and 60% of all road accidents occur here in Asia and the Pacific," said ADB's Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, Ursula Schaefer-Preuss.

"Equally notable is how this issue impacts the poor, who suffer gravely from unsafe roads, while remaining marginalized by transport policies that are biased in favor of private vehicles," she added.