The Global Network for Road Safety Legislators, a network supporting parliamentarians to understand and advocate for global road safety has marked its first five years of activity. The Global Network is coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO) with funding support from the FIA Foundation. 

 

The non-partisan voluntary group of members of parliament first came together at the Second Global Ministerial Conference in Brasilia in 2015, and was formally established in December 2016, to unite the voices of parliamentarians as advocates and campaigners for road safety worldwide.. Through policy dialogue, best practice dissemination, and cooperation with WHO and its partners, network members collectively push for the adoption of comprehensive road safety plans, strategies and evidence-based laws, working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals target to halve road traffic deaths by 2030.

 

Since its inception, the Global Network has served as a platform for parliamentarians around the world, both collectively and individually, to advocate for legislation and policy changes in their own countries. This platform has helped parliamentarians to successfully raise the visibility of the economic and social burden of road traffic deaths across political lines. In the United Republic of Tanzania, this has led to the formation of a non-partisan group of Ambassadors of Road Safety which has successfully brought parliamentarians and civil society coalitions together to advocate with one voice for an overhaul of the Road Traffic Act. In Uganda, the Parliamentary Friends of Road Safety (PAFROS) has mobilized commitment to road safety through its legislative action plan.  

 

The Global Network has also helped to forge collaborative links between parliamentarians from different countries. In Thailand, parliamentarians have benefited from the support and guidance of both the Embassy Friends of Road Safety Alliance in Bangkok and the UK Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety. This collaboration has encouraged parliamentarians in Thailand to advocate for changes in the approach to road safety policy and implementation, one that involves working more closely with other sectors such as the police, academia and civil society organizations.

 

The report also shares first-hand accounts of the impact of the Network from parliamentarians themselves, discussing their local context and the support and change the Network has given them.

Lord Robertson, Chairman of the FIA Foundation and Parliamentarian, said: “Parliamentarians have the responsibility, knowledge and means to take action for safer roads and to deliver streets for life. The Network is a vital forum to engage, inform and support legislators as they work to improve road safety at a national level while also contributing to the global advocacy movement. Road safety has risen further up the global agenda over the five years the Global Legislators Network has been active, in large part thanks to the vocal and growing number of parliamentarians who have taken the cause to heart.

 

“The Global Network for Road Safety Legislators has shown how we can collaborate, coordinate, and support each other to make a change at the global and regional level, and has helped to inspire national action. I look forward to the next five years consolidating these successes into widespread and substantive policy change which contributes to saving many lives.”