[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 183 (Tuesday, December 8, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2912-E2913]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           FIRST GLOBAL MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON ROAD SAFETY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ROBERT WEXLER

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 8, 2009

  Mr. WEXLER. Madam Speaker, as a founding co-Chair of the 
Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety, I rise today to praise the 
highly encouraging efforts and outcomes of the First Global Ministerial 
Conference on Road Safety, which took place in Moscow, Russia, on 
November 19 and 20, 2009.
  This important conference was the result of a five-year effort by a 
global community of stakeholders from multilateral and bilateral 
institutions, from governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and 
from academia and civil society. These groups are dedicated to raising 
international awareness and to mobilizing a global response to 
advancing road safety.
  Hosted by President Dmitry Medvedev and the Russian Federation, this 
conference brought together transportation ministers, health ministers, 
non-governmental organizations, and experts from across the globe and 
reflected a growing understanding among nations to seek opportunities 
to cooperate on tackling one of the world's most severe problems 
today--the epidemic of road crash deaths and injuries.
  The statistics for this epidemic are staggering: 1.3 million people 
are killed annually on the world's roads and 50 million more are 
injured. The number of deaths each year is the equivalent of 10 jumbo 
jets crashing every day, and the toll is continuing to increase 
dramatically. At the current rate of growth, road crashes will be the 
fifth leading cause of death overall by the year 2030, and the first 
leading cause of death for children aged five and older by 2020, 
rivaling the top and often more well-known global health epidemics.
  Road crashes do not discriminate by age, class, gender, race, or 
nationality. Nor do they respect the bounds of geography. In the United 
States alone the death toll is an estimated 44,000 people annually, and 
road crashes have become the leading cause of death among Hispanics 
under 34 years of age. Meanwhile, in some African countries, up to half 
of all hospital surgical beds are occupied by road crash victims, while 
in others the fatalities rank second only to HIV/AIDS.
  Along with the unfathomable human cost of road crashes, there are 
also grave economic costs to individuals, families, and communities. It 
is estimated that road crashes cost $518 billion globally each year. In 
developing countries, road crashes have a dramatic impact on their 
fragile economies, costing an estimated $100 billion, and often 
exceeding the total amount received by these countries in development 
assistance. Furthermore, road crashes place a preventable strain on 
first responder services, health care services, and health insurance 
services, as many victims require extensive, and expensive, critical 
care, as well as follow-up care and rehabilitation. In countries where 
a primary bread-winner is killed or injured, or must care for the 
injured, this can destroy livelihoods and devastate communities.
  The First Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Moscow addressed 
each of these issues, as well as many other key components of the road 
safety epidemic, in an intensive two days of plenary sessions and panel 
discussions during which high level delegates from various nations and 
organizations shared experiences, ideas, and best practices.
  I would like to commend the U.S. delegation, which included 
representation from the Department of State, the Department of 
Transportation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 
other partner state and federal agencies, for its robust participation 
and high level representation throughout the Conference. As the first 
global forum for road safety, this conference was truly an historic 
event. I am pleased that the U.S. delegation took a strong leadership 
role in addressing U.S. road safety goals and objectives, as well as in 
working constructively with the Conference to establish new benchmarks 
for best practices and road traffic injury prevention, as announced in 
the Moscow Declaration.
  The Moscow Declaration reinforces governmental leadership and 
guidance on road safety, sets regional casualty reduction targets, and 
offers a new framework for international cooperation on global road 
safety. It declares the decade 2011-2020 as the ``Decade of Action for 
Road Safety'' with the goal of stabilizing and reducing the forecast 
level of global road deaths. Finally, the Declaration encourages the 
U.N. General Assembly to assent to the goals and policies it proposes.
  I would like to acknowledge the hard work of all those who helped 
make the First Ministerial Conference on Global Road Safety a success. 
I applaud the Russian Federation for taking the initiative of hosting 
this critical conference in Moscow. I would also like to congratulate 
the U.S. delegation and other participants from around the world for 
having demonstrated a promising commitment to the important goal of 
reducing road deaths on a global scale.
  I and the rest of the Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety look 
forward to maintaining a fruitful dialogue with the Russian Federation, 
other governments, the international NGO community and other 
organizations, with the aim of finding further ways to improve road 
safety, and I am hopeful that the Congress as a whole will continue to 
do so as well. Finally, I encourage the Obama Administration and the 
American delegation to continue their strong leadership in ensuring 
that

[[Page E2913]]

the casualty reduction targets and the road safety initiatives detailed 
in the Moscow Declaration are accomplished, both at home and abroad.

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