With a looming 2020 deadline for halving the number of road deaths globally—from 1.25 million to 625,000 per year—2,246 representatives of civil society, academia, the private sector and governments from 116 countries met in Brasilia earlier this week with the common goal of intensifying efforts to reduce the burden of injury, disability and mortality due to traffic injuries.
Brasilia, 20 November 2015 (PAHO/WHO) — With a looming 2020 deadline for halving the number of road deaths globally—from 1.25 million to 625,000 per year—2,246 representatives of civil society, academia, the private sector and governments from 116 countries met in Brasilia earlier this week with the common goal of intensifying efforts to reduce the burden of injury, disability and mortality due to traffic injuries.
One of key questions that arose at the conference was: how would these efforts be financed? Who will pay to keep road safety at the top of the agenda worldwide? Several public and private sector experts convened for a panel discussion, "Financing Road Safety," to address the issue on the second and last day of the 2nd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety.
Primarily the financing must come from domestic sources, noted World Bank Chief Financial Officer Bertrand Badre as panel chair in his opening remarks. "Well performing road safety countries use dedicated financing schemes such as fuel taxes, insurance levies, road enforcement collections, and general capital expenditure on major works to ensure the road maintenance system and affiliated agencies have the resources they need to meet targeted fatality reductions."
The experts discussed the need for innovative funding mechanisms for road safety. One of the panelists, United Nations Secretary General Special Envoy for Road Safety Jean Todt, announced the formation of a high level panel to create a United Nations fund as a symbolic instrument to tie financing together.
So how do we get from here to there? asked Christian Friis Bach, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission in Europe (UNECE). "We'll need to leverage, be flexible, focused and fast. To mobilize quickly, we'll need a strong commitment by member states. And naturally, we'll need to establish a governance model and a board."
Badre warned that every dollar invested in road safety must be selectively applied. The funds must be used carefully to leverage and raise more money. "The real issue," Badre said, "is the collection and usage of money, leveraging it at four dollars earned for every one spent rather than simply one for one. Managing the process is easy; collecting and leveraging it is much harder."
The World Bank's Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) partners are committed to continue helping client countries, like Brazil and others, meet the road safety Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target by working in close collaboration. But in order to make dramatic progress, government commitment to financing road safety must be a major priority, added Badre. "Programs like the Global Road Safety Facility leverage $43 in government road safety commitments for every 1 dollar invested by our donors."
The Global Road Safety Facility's seed funding and technical assistance, for example, played a significant role in the World Bank's road safety lending increase of nearly $239 million in FY 2015, which is up more than 300% compared to 2006 when the GRSF was established.
With some of this financing, GRSF helped assess more than 40,000 kilometers of high-risk roads in 13 countries. This exercise alone has the potential to save 280,000 lives over a 20-year period, Badre noted.
A panelist representing the UNECE proposed includomg the creation of a fund in a resolution for the next United Nations General Assembly in spring 2016. A representative of AXA Insurance suggested, along with UNECE, that the private sector should be actively involved in the decision making if such a fund is created.
How can the private sector be engaged? Jean-Laurent Granier, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AXA Insurance, France, suggested that the insurance industry is a natural fit with respect to measuring risk while driving to set the insurance rates. How risky is your driving?
"Tools can be embedded in products and services as incentives for better driving behavior, said Granier."Social media can be leveraged to make comparisons; alliances with governments to create partnership programs and educate people."
While it is a natural fit for public-private partnership, the private sector must be approached in partnership mode, Granier added.
Engaging the private sector can be done in several ways, notably with loans to concessions to build better roads, points out Nester Roa, Transport Division Chief at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
For the partnership to truly be effective, philanthropic foundations will ask if the idea can be scaled. "Can we measure it?" asked Kelly Henning, Director of Global Health Programs, Bloomberg Philanthropies. "It is therefore incumbent upon researchers and practitioners to maintain sustainability for road safety initiatives."
Matthew Jordan-Tank, Head of Infrastructure Policy, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, United Kingdom, warned that while there is more awareness among governments about data, "the level of demand from governments for road safety projects is not there. If it is perceived as an extra, it won't be sustainable by the private sector."
UN Special Envoy Jean Todt pointed out the need for other alternative solutions. "We need to involve car and tire manufacturers to raise funding for road safety. It is simply unacceptable that it is not taken as seriously as funding for malaria and other diseases. A dollar or two surcharge by the manufacturers would reap millions more for road safety initiatives."
Argentina, for example, established its lead road safety agency ANSV, which receives 1% of all collected vehicle insurance fees as core funding.
A recent FIA Foundation study supports Todt's statement: in 2013 development assistance for health was around $31 billion, yet noncommunicable disease/injuries received only around US$377 million.
While financing is hard, it's not the first priority, Badre maintained. "If you do the right thing, you find the money. Focus on good projects. Agree on what we want to do and how and then go raise the money. Priorities first, financing second, and then innovation."
Simply put: Countries must scale up action if road safety progress is to be accelerated in the poorest and most-affected countries.
Links
— Political will and strong leadership key to reducing road traffic deaths by 2020
— Brasilia Declaration on Road Safety"
— 2nd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety
http://www.who.int/roadsafety/events/2015/brasilia_conference/en/
http://www.roadsafetybrazil.com.br/en
http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_traffic/Brasilia_Declaration/en/
