Traffic accidents are not accidents that happen by chance, but the result of systemic errors in the triangle man - road - vehicle and can only be prevented through joint action and a systemic approach of society. Speed is at the very heart of the traffic safety problem," said the head of the World Health Organization, Mina Brajović.
She spoke at the meeting Speed or Life, organized by the Government of Montenegro and the United Nations System in the country, as part of the Global Traffic Safety Week.
In the joint announcement of the Government and the UN, it is written that the gathering in the UN Eco Building in Podgorica brought together all relevant actors in the field of traffic safety, including high-ranking representatives of the Government, the Assembly, the civil sector, international organizations, academia, the private sector and local authorities, in order to jointly identified concrete ways to overcome the growing problem of traffic safety.
"The Ministers of Internal Affairs, Health and Transport in the Government of Montenegro expressed the strategic commitment of the state to the further improvement of road traffic safety, which is articulated in the Road Traffic Safety Improvement Strategy for the period 2010-2019," the announcement reads.
Interior Minister Mevludin Nuhodžić said that the strategy envisages actions aimed at reducing the number of people killed in traffic accidents by 50 percent and the number of serious injuries by 30 percent.
"The Ministry of the Interior will intensify preventive and repressive activities of increased control," announced Nuhodžić.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Kenan Hrapović, said that the ministry is particularly focused on establishing a stable system for issuing and monitoring medical certificates, improving the information system for emergency medical assistance, as well as developing tools for monitoring progress in the field of road safety.
The Minister of Transport and Maritime Affairs, Osman Nurković, pointed out the importance of infrastructure development as a prerequisite for improving traffic safety:
"Montenegro is strongly in line with the global strategic commitment from the Decade of Action for Traffic Safety 2011-2020. Investments in safe infrastructure are a prerequisite for the realization of this vision," he said. Professor Milan Vujanić from the Faculty of Traffic, Communications and Logistics in Budva said that 1.250.000 people die in traffic in the world every year.
"Which is an average of 3.000 people, including 500 children, every day," he said.
At the meeting, Vujanić presented a scientific analysis of the state of traffic safety in Montenegro and an analysis of deep causes and secondary consequences.
"By 2020, traffic accidents will be the fifth leading cause of death in the world. Speed is a key factor in traffic safety," he said.
According to data from the World Health Organization, half of the victims are pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists.
The younger population is especially vulnerable, bearing in mind the fact that traffic accidents are the leading cause of death globally for the population between 15-29 years of age. Driving speed plays a crucial role.
The WHO estimates that reducing the average speed by only 5 percent would result in a reduction in traffic deaths by as much as 30 percent.
"The above data obliges joint efforts and multi-sector cooperation in order to provide an effective response of society to this complex challenge", said the coordinator of the UN System in Montenegro, Fiona McLooney.
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