Today through a telephone conversation with Dr. Mark Rosenberg, the Executive Director of the Task Force for the child survival and development, I learned that Sweden is leading the field of road safety in the world.
Have you ever heard that Sweden argue that Road Traffic Injuries can be eradicated as Smallpox was in 1980. Smallpox was eradicated because we wanted to do that, we spent a lot of thoughts and funds, we developed different vaccination strategies, we worked with communities, we learned from failures and likely only human was involved in the process of the disease. RTIs are also a human based problem; you can not find any mosquito or worm that contributes in the process of the problem. Yes this is a field that you can count on it, if you think you have responsibility to reduce suffers especially among people who live in the developing countries.
In 1997, Sweden’s parliament adopted Vision Zero, a bold new road safety policy based on four principles:
1. ethics: human life and health are paramount and take priority over mobility and other objectives of the road traffic system;
2. responsibility: providers and regulators of the road traffic system share responsibility with users;
3. safety: road traffic systems should take account of human fallibility and minimize both the opportunities for errors and the harm done when they occur; and
4. mechanisms for change: providers and regulators must do their utmost to guarantee the safety of all citizens; they must cooperate with road users; and all three must be ready to change to achieve safety.
Sweden did it; they reduced the child mortality rate significantly and dramatically in Road Traffic injuries. Now we need brave public health practitioners to lead the Global Eradication of the Road Traffic Injuries
Filed under: Blogroll, Road Traffic Injuries | Tagged: Mark Rosenberg, road safety, Road Traffic Injuries, Smallpox, Sweden, Vision Zero
