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About the Safe Roads | Safe Kids Road Safety Campaign
Safe Kids Worldwide initiated the Safe Roads I Safe Kids road safety campaign to reduce preventable deaths and lifelong injuries resulting from traffic collisions involving children.
Traffic deaths are at epidemic levels around the world, killing more than 1.2 million people each year. These tragedies are expected to multiply as the number of vehicles grows rapidly and urbanization accelerates. In fact, by the year 2030, traffic crashes will kill more people than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Children are among the most vulnerable road users. Every day, more than 500 children are killed in a road traffic collision, and tens of thousands are injured, often suffering lifelong disabilities. Unless we take action now, millions of children will be at risk. We have an urgent responsibility to do more to respond to this deadly epidemic.
You can help make the world's roads safer for children -- and for all of us -- by joining the Safe Roads I Safe Kids campaign. You can commit to the 2020 Action Agenda which calls on our leaders for strong action that will halve road deaths in the next five years and #SaveKidsLives. Action is needed on five key priorities, right now! And you can participate in the 2016 Safe Roads | Safe Kids Summit, scheduled to take place in Washington, DC on December 8-9, 2016.
All of these critical actions are part of the Safe Roads | Safe Kids campaign, which draws together partners at all levels, including international organizations, governments, NGOs, foundations, researchers, the private sector, first responders, law enforcement, health care workers, families and children to fight back against a killer that must be stopped. As part of this campaign, Safe Kids will continue to:
- Conduct Research: Bring forward new evidence-based research on global road safety for children and fight to improve the quality of data collection;
- Generate Widespread Awareness: Raise this issue on the international agenda in the same way as other health epidemics, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria;
- Accelerate Advocacy: Advocate for tough laws and enhanced enforcement that will radically reduce the number of children who are harmed; and
- Expand Programs: Expand impactful road safety programs that make a difference in saving kids’ lives.
Now is our chance to make a difference and save the next generation from this deadly epidemic. We can make rapid progress on global road safety if we come together in a broad coalition demanding swift progress for children. Please join us in the Safe Roads I Safe Kids campaign, a historic effort to make our roads safe for kids today and for future generations.