The Brazil PAHO/WHO Country Office convened a National Stakeholders Meeting on Road Safety on 9 and 10 June 2022, in preparation for the High-Level Meeting (HLM) to be held at the UN General Assembly on 30 June and July 1, 2022, under the theme “The 2030 horizon for road safety: ensuring a decade of action and deliveries”.
The event brought together around 60 participants to discuss challenges and opportunities for road safety in the country. Participants included government officials, representatives of WHO, Bloomberg Philanthropies, academics, technical officers and managers in the areas of health, transport, sustainable mobility, public safety, urban planning, data management, as well as Non-Governmental Organizations, professional associations, representatives of development banks, researchers and professionals in the areas of social communication. The event was broadcast live on PAHO TV, where the meeting can be accessed in the original audio (day 1, day2); Portuguese (day 1, day 2) and English (day 1, day 2).
The two-day meeting featured dialogued panels and presentations of good practices based on the priorities established in the two main national programmatic frameworks for the decade the National Plan for the Reduction of Traffic Deaths and Injurie 2021-2030 (PNATRANS); and in the Strategic Action Plan to Combat Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries in Brazil 2021-2030 (The DANT Plan) - ; as well as the Global Action Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030. It also addressed topics of particular relevance in Brazil, such as speed management, data management, road infrastructure, land use planning, and the increasing traffic crashes involving motorcycle users.
The panels were complemented by the presentation of good practices focusing on concepts such as vision zero and the systems approach in road safety. Case studies included the design of the Municipal Plan of Fortaleza, enforcement actions in the State do Pará, and urban design interventions in Brazilian cities that participate in Bloomberg´s Initiative for Global Road Safety.
Lastly, the content of the discussions reflected the paradigm shift marked by the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference (Stockholm, 2020), and the Global Plan for the present decade, that is, a stronger connection to the Sustainable Development Goals and the broader context of macro transportation policies and urban planning the. This broader approach was explicitly explored in the Transport Planning and Inclusion panel, which looked into the topics of mobility, gender and race. Speed and the increasing circulation of motorcycles were also addressed from the perspective of the environments and values that boost risks, rather than focusing exclusively on the behaviors of road users.
Key priorities identified at the meeting include improving the inter-federative pact for traffic management in the country; enhancing data interoperability to guide preventive actions through joint actions by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Health; improving education and communication strategies- and promoting effective investments in infrastructure and urban design in favor of active mobility and vulnerable road users. The meeting also identified actions aimed at saving lives equitably, by taking into account issues such as race and gender.
In addition to promoting a timely multisectoral dialogue, and identifying challenges and opportunities, the event provided key inputs for the Brazilian delegation that will be present at the HLM at the United Nations.
This meeting contributes to similar efforts in the region in preparation for the upcoming HLM, such as the virtual meeting “Facing together the challenges of the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
