Road accidents are a leading cause of death worldwide, causing 1.19 million fatalities each year. More than 90 percent of these fatalities occur in low and middle income countries. And more than half of fatalities worldwide are among pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. Another 20-50 million people suffer from traffic injuries each year, with many of those injuries resulting in disabilities.
This year’s Transforming Transportation conference in Washington, D.C. focused on new strategies to improve safety for all people — pedestrians, cyclists, public transit users, and motorists. Co-hosted by the World Bank and World Resources Institute, the two-day event explored ambitious efforts to roll-out safe and sustainable networks of complete streets, bicycle infrastructure, bus rapid transit, and electric vehicles worldwide.
“Strengthening national road safety policies saves lives,” said Kelly Larson with Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Since 2007, Bloomberg has made road safety a top priority.” Larson said their advocacy has helped save 312,000 lives worldwide. “We’ve also strengthened 100 policies that protect more than 4 billion people. We are focused on making streets for people, not cars.”
Bloomberg Philanthropies aims to reduce vehicle speeds through “hard-driving media campaigns” and new infrastructure, enhanced data collection, and improved traffic enforcement.
According to Marie Eugenia Martinez Donaire, with the City Council of Madrid, Spain, complete streets, which provide safe and accessible sidewalks, bike lanes, and car lanes, are key to reducing traffic accidents. The city is also tracking accidents via radars and cameras to identify problematic areas and make improvements that reduce injuries.
Safer streets also enable schoolchildren to get to school, said Mamta Murthi with the World Bank. A road safety program in India has led to increased attendance and exam completion rates. Better quality roads, with sidewalks and separate bike lanes, enables more students to walk or bike to school. Campaigns aimed at teenagers also encourage safe biking.
Jean Todt, Special Envoy to the UN Secretary General for Road Safety and a former race car driver, said there has been progress on traffic fatalities worldwide. “50 years ago, France saw 18,000 fatalities per year; last year, there were 3,000.”
But he said much greater progress needs to be made, particularly in developing countries. He thinks public education is essential. Awareness campaigns can encourage governments to set national road safety agendas that bring together transportation, health, and police departments.
The UN is also working to expand access to highly safe, ventilated helmets for two- and three-wheel motorcycles that can sell for $20. The riders of these vehicles account for 30 percent of total traffic deaths each year — more than 357,000 people.
The UN’s goal is for developing countries to require a safe helmet like the one developed by the UN with TotalEnergies and then provide subsidies to include a helmet with each new motorbike sale. “We want 500 million of these helmets produced.”
Another conversation focused on how to encourage safe biking. With high-quality infrastructure, this form of transportation offers so many benefits: increased health and well-being and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion, noise, and pollution.
According to Kristian Hedberg with the European Union (EU) delegation to the U.S., the EU invests billions each year in cycling infrastructure, including protected bike lanes. Many major European cities already act as hubs for broader cycling networks, but the EU now requires smaller cities of 150,000 people or more to also develop sustainable urban mobility plans and expand the benefits of safe cycling infrastructure to more communities.
The Netherlands, perhaps the world’s cycling leader, has created a cycling embassy to bring its transportation planning knowledge and resources to developing countries. Their goal is to create 10,000 cycling infrastructure experts in the developing world within the next 10 years, said Lucas Harms with the Government of the Netherlands.
Cities in the developing world are also investing in active mobility. Chennai, India, has an ambitious plan to make 80 percent of its main roads safer complete streets that are pedestrian and bike friendly in just over a decade. Lima, Peru plans to develop more than 600 kilometers of protected bike lanes by 2030. A recent $150 million investment from the World Bank will support 50 kilometers of new lanes.
Despite the clear benefits of safe biking infrastructure, it still remains a low priority on the global climate agenda. Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros with Climate Lead, said “biking is not on the radar of global climate policy makers, even with the health and clean air benefits.”
Other sessions explored how climate change is complicating investments in transportation infrastructure. Rising seas and increased flooding means new roads need to be built higher and older roads need to be elevated and more green infrastructure is needed.
Zambia in Sub-Saharan Africa is investing in green infrastructure to “prevent flood damage to roads,” said Charles Milupi, Minister of Infrastructure in Zambia. “Climate change is real — elevating roads and [green infrastructure] is a must for flood-prone communities. We must change our infrastructure accordingly.”
And the Kingdom of Bhutan, a mountainous country between India and China, is building a new Mindfulness City with “mindful infrastructure” that is designed to adapt to melting glaciers and increased river flow, said Tashi Penjor, managing director of the new city in Gelephu. The city and its transportation networks, which are designed by landscape architects at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), will privilege walking and improve community health and resilience. “We conceptualize projects to be green, clean, safe, and happy.”
Electric vehicles are another important climate and health solution. In Lahore, Pakistan, air pollution can be ten times higher than safe levels. Poor air quality has led to flight cancellations and school closures. “We have a smog season now — that’s fog plus smoke,” explained Imran Sikandar, Transport and Mass Transit Department with the Government of Punjab, Pakistan. Electric vehicles are seen as a way to reduce pollution from cars, trucks and two- and three-wheelers. Efforts are underway to switch to electric buses, develop bus rapid transit lines, and incentivize the replacement of 30 percent of fossil fuel-powered vehicles with cleaner and cheaper electric ones.
Other organizations and cities are taking on the challenges preventing the expansion of electric vehicles in cities. These include “range anxiety” due to the lack of convenient urban charging stations and the lack of universal charger standards. In dense cities like New York, the goal is to put more chargers on streets where people live and in parking garages.