CAF and OISEVI Stress Importance of Safe Roads

(São Paulo, October 2013).-CAF-development bank of Latin America-and the Ibero-American Highway Safety Observatory (OISEVI) recently hosted a forum addressing road safety for motorcyclists  in São Paulo, Brazil, to analyze the scope of motorcycle use across the region and ways to reduce the number of accidents. The event also identified successful policies that have reduced accident rates involving motorcyclists at the national, regional and municipal levels in Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. 

This forum formed part of CAF's broader road safety program that strives to implement the Latin American objectives set forth in the United Nations 2011-2020 Global Road Safety Plan. CAF recognizes that to decrease the number of roadway fatalities and injuries in Latin America, particular emphasis must be placed on ensuring the safety of motorcyclists, the most vulnerable motorists facing increasingly grave statistics such as the number of fatalities and permanent injuries involving younger males. 

The challenge lies in finding a safe coexistence in increasingly reduced road spaces, where a convergence of different users - pedestrians, bicyclists, cars, trucks and buses operate with a growing number of motorcyclists. Reducing the negative impacts associated with this growth requires countries to take both medium- and long-term shock measures. 

During the Forum, evidence and arguments illustrated the need to recognize the motorcyclists' behavior and the root causes of accidents involving motorcyclists in order to develop and promote accident prevention programs. 

During the forum participants addressed planning topics such as education, control and awareness. Other issues addressed included vehicular and infrastructure safety measures, post-accident response practices, accident-related data collection and analysis, motorcycle maintenance and the media's role as well.