Road traffic injuries can be prevented.

Recognizing also that road traffic injuries are a preventable and treatable problem,

Road traffic injuries have become an ever more serious public health problem.

However, the higher number of deaths from road traffic injuries receives comparatively much less attention.

Convinced that road safety requires partnerships, bridging many sectors of society, to promote and facilitate efforts to prevent road traffic injuries,

However, as rightly pointed out by the WHO World report on road traffic injury prevention, road traffic injuries can largely be prevented and controlled through rational analysis and counter measures.

Thirdly, it invites Member States to implement the recommendations of the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention and to establish national agencies to develop a national action plan to reduce road traffic injuries.

Convinced that road traffic injuries are a major public health problem requiring concerted multisectoral efforts for effective and sustainable prevention,

Road traffic injuries are a major public health problem and a leading cause of death and injury around the world.

Establishing the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration is an attempt to bring together a diverse but complementary group of agencies with a common commitment to reducing road traffic injuries.

Fatalism is our biggest problem, causing individuals to look at road traffic injuries as just accidents acts that are unpredictable and therefore unpreventable.

In 2004, there were 567,753 road traffic accidents in China, causing 99,217 deaths, 451,810 injuries and 2.77 billion yuan in direct property losses.

As a result of economic development constraints, developing countries tend to suffer far greater losses due to road traffic injuries than do developed countries.

The global economic costs of road traffic injuries amount to approximately 518 billion per year, of which 110 billion is borne by developing countries.

Within the United Nations system itself, a number of agencies have used this momentum to initiate or accelerate programmes aimed at reducing road traffic injuries.

The Convention on Road Traffic, commonly known as the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, is an international treaty designed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by establishing standard traffic rules among the contracting parties.

The resolution on road safety and health also called upon Member States to prioritize road safety as a public health issue and to take steps to implement measures that are known to be effective in reducing road traffic injuries.

Affirming the need for a worldwide effort to raise awareness about the health impact and social and economic costs of injuries caused by road traffic accidents,

The two day forum was also attended by members of the Shura Council and the Royal Oman Police, which is responsible for implementing road safety regulations and for the prevention of road traffic injuries.

Nevertheless, over the past year, there has been increasing consensus around the globe on the need to address road traffic injuries as a global public health problem.

Reducing road traffic injuries is important to the successful achievement of several of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly those related to poverty, child mortality reduction and environmental sustainability.

Such grim statistics definitely demand urgent attention and concerted efforts by the international community aimed at tackling and reversing the situation, as road traffic injuries are largely preventable.

Mobilizing resources remains a concern for many organizations involved in global and national road safety efforts, as the level of funding targeted at reducing road traffic injuries is far from commensurate with the scale of the problem.

According to the same report, if appropriate action is not taken, by 2020 road traffic injuries will climb to become the world's third leading contributor to disease and injury.

Similarly, experience in many countries has led to the conclusion that the creation of a lead agency on road safety and an accurate assessment of a country's road safety situation are important steps that need to be taken to effectively tackle road traffic injuries.

As such, it serves as both an advocacy tool and a technical document, including six major recommendations on what countries can do to address the problem of road traffic injuries.

In addition to the enormous economic and social costs to individuals, families and communities, road traffic injuries place a heavy burden on national health services, in particular those of developing countries.

We need to support research that illuminates both the causes and consequences of road traffic injuries in low and middle income countries and we must share the information that we generate.

In addition to the enormous economic and social costs to individuals, families and communities, road traffic injuries place a heavy burden on national health services, in particular those of developing countries.

The Working Party on Road Traffic Safety of the Economic Commission for Europe is currently revising the consolidated resolutions on road traffic and on road signs and signals.

The numbers are rapidly getting worse, and the World Health Organization has predicted that by 2020 road traffic deaths and injuries will exceed HIV AIDS as a burden of death and disability.

Road traffic accidents are predictable and therefore preventable.

However, we note also that mobilizing resources remains a concern for many organizations involved in global and national road safety efforts, as the level of funding targeted at reducing road traffic injuries is far from commensurate with the scale of the problem.

It is very disturbing to be reminded that road traffic injuries continue to pose a major public health problem and are a leading cause of death in many countries, especially in the developing world.

Road traffic accidents, and road fatalities in particular, remain a chronic problem in our world today.

Lastly, it is unfortunate that road traffic deaths and injuries are not treated as seriously as other disasters and, sadly, the victims do not receive the same respect and compassion as other victims of violence.

Fiji has a programme in place to resolve road safety problems which we hope will address the factors that have been identified in the Secretary General's report as reducing the risk of traffic related injuries.

The European Federation of Road Traffic Victims and RoadPeace are working to establish a World Day of Remembrance for Road Crash Victims in recognition of road traffic victims and their family's loss and suffering.

My delegation also notes with appreciation the efforts of the Economic Commission for Europe Working Party on Road Traffic Safety to revise the consolidated resolutions on road traffic and on road signs and signals.

The Chinese Government attaches great importance to road traffic safety.

As a result, many Governments have declared their support for road safety initiatives, a number of non governmental organizations have launched or strengthened their activities in this area and there has been an increase in the financial resources targeted at efforts to reduce road traffic injuries.

The international community needs to build on the efforts and momentum of last year's World Health Day, which was dedicated to road safety, and accelerate our collaborative efforts to reduce traffic accident related injuries and deaths.

According to WHO projections, unless effective measures are taken, by 2020 road traffic injuries could rank third among the threats to human health, with serious economic and social consequences for all nations, particularly the developing countries.

This conference also produced the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which complements this legislation by standardising international traffic laws.

Its Road Traffic Safety Act came into force on 1 May 2004.