Agenda 2030
The Global Sustainable Development Goals and traffic safety
Agenda 2030 is the most ambitious set of sustainability goals ever adopted by the UN member states, and road safety is included both directly and indirectly in several of the goals. The goals are absolute and indivisible, which means that the work with different goals such as road safety, gender equality, poverty and climate change must take place in parallel. SAFER wants to continue to be proactive and contribute to Agenda 2030 through its research. We believe that broad collaborations and knowledge transfer are keys to success. The goals are inseparable and therefore several actors need to target the challenges provided by the goals, at the same time.
For us to succeed in our research, there must be funding opportunities for this new approach and we need to learn from inspiring examples of how to do this in practice. The long-term perspective is also still important, as is evaluating results; what works and what is less useful.
Transport connects societies, individuals, services and goods and has a great opportunity to contribute to a sustainable transformation of the society at the same time as the transport systems also must undertake considerable changes to be more sustainable. We indirectly contribute positively to many goals since safe transport often is a prerequisite for successful goal fulfillment, e.g. enable access to health care and food distribution. There is also a specific sub-goal for road safety; 3.6. “Reduce road injuries and deaths”.
KEY AREAS AND SUCCESS FACTORS FOR SAFER’S FUTURE RESEARCH
Sweden hosted the third global ministerial conference on road safety in Stockholm in February 2020 and this major event resulted in “The Stockholm declaration”, a strategic agenda and recommendations to achieve the global sustainable development goals and halve the number of fatalities in traffic between 2020 and 2030. The Stockholm declaration was adopted into a UN resolution in August 2020. In conjunction to the conference, the book “Saving lives beyond 2020 – the next steps”, developed by the conference’s Academic Expert Group, led by Prof. Claes Tingvall, was also launched. The book presents a new way of thinking on how road safety can be addressed in a much broader perspective. That, in turn, can open up great opportunities to even better utilize SAFER’s road safety research, find new partners and start taking big steps towards a more sustainable transport system. The book will continue and inspire us in our research activities ahead.
Below we present an overall summary of the assessment of our traffic safety research and how we aim to approach the global SDGs.
3. GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Goal 3 is about ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for everyone. Good health is a fundamental prerequisite for people’s ability to reach their full potential and to contribute to the development of society. Human health is affected by economic, ecological and social factors and goal 3 includes all dimensions and people of all ages. SAFER’s vision is that all road users should travel safely in the transport system and our project portfolio support this bold vision with a wide range of projects that will lead to more know- ledge on how to design a safe and sustainable transport system, for all.
5. GENDER EQUALITY
Gender bias is undermining our social fabric and devalues all of us and it is a tremendous waste of the world’s human potential. By denying women equal rights, we deny half the population a chance to live life at its fullest. Political, economic and social equality for women will benefit all the world’s citizens. SAFER has a strong focus on developing traffic safety solutions that are equal for all people. We work with injury protection for all, while the vehicle safety assessments of today are mainly based on men. Our human body models represent the entire population, men and women, young and old, in all sizes.
9. INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
A functioning and resilient infra- structure is the foundation of every successful community. To meet future challenges, our industries and infra- structure must be upgraded and we need to promote innovative sustainable technologies. Knowledge building and collaborative activities to support access to safe, affordable and sustainable transport systems for all, are the foundation of SAFER’s research. We also work on development of various forms of collaboration and connect to other actors to put traffic safety in a broader context.
11. SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
Goal 11 is about making cities and settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. This in turn requires new technology and cooperation between several sectors. An important component of a sustainable society is safe transport. This is also the basis of our research; to contribute with knowledge and facts to build a sustainable road transport system. We cooperate together with other actors to plan for future mobility and produce knowledge that can form the basis for new products and services that contribute positively to fulfillment of this goal.
Key areas and success factors for SAFER's future research
Sweden hosted the third global ministerial conference on Road safety in Stockholm in February 2020 and this major event resulted in “The Stockholm declaration”, a strategic agenda and recommendations to achieve the global sustainability goals and halve the number of fatalities in traffic between 2020 and 2030. And the Stockholm declaration was adopted into a UN resolution in August 2020. In conjunction to the conference, the book “Saving lives beyond 2020 – the next steps”, developed by the conference’s Academic Expert Group, led by Prof. Claes Tingvall, was also launched. The book presents a new way of thinking on how road safety can be addressed in a much broader perspective. That, in turn can open up great opportunities to even better utilize SAFER’s road safety research, find new partners and start taking big steps towards a more sustainable transport system. The book will continue and inspire us in our research activities ahead. Read more about the book here: 200113_final-report-single.pdf (roadsafetysweden.com)
We have identified many new, also several cross-cutting, topics and research questions, in which we in the traffic safety research community will be able to contribute. For example, support the understanding of which technologies for increased road safety that will be most effective in the future, also taking into account future scenarios, as well as other societal needs, such as the environment and health as well as costs and conditions in different countries and regions. Becoming even better at technology transfer also has a large traffic safety potential, such as even deeper look into how protection systems and preventive safety systems that are currently found in cars, can be used for two-wheelers.
Knowledge transfer is another important issue - how do we ensure that the knowledge in road safety that already exists becomes available and accessible for everyone, in different parts of the world? How can we truly democratize road safety?
Reliable data, and data that really creates added value and is useful, is another key to success. How do we ensure that we can collect, store and share data between different countries in an efficient way?
Everyone who loses their life in traffic is a victim of someone's value chain. This way of thinking can provide entirely new ways of looking at responsibility. If each company or organisation starts to regularly report its footprints for traffic casualties in the same way as for example climate impact, there will be an increased focus for improvement, for example with regards to requirements for procurement, actions and follow-up. Reporting and systematic follow-up is hence another important area that has huge impact on global road safety. In this work there are several new research questions we can support, e.g. the safety performance evaluation of various kind of road safety index and how to priorities different initiatives for improved road safety.
SAFER wants to continue to be proactive and contribute to Agenda 2030 through its research. We believe that broad collaborations and knowledge transfer are keys to success. The goals are indivisible and therefore many actors need to target the challenges provided by the goals, at the same time. For us to succeed in our research, there need to be forms of funding that support this, and we, like others, need to show inspiring examples of how to do this in practice. The long-term perspective is also still important, as is evaluating results; what works and what is less useful. Join us in this challenge!