In February 2020, the Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety will be held in Sweden. Previous ministerial conferences have acted as catalysts for governments to take action on road safety.
In Iran, Road Safety Pioneers (RSP) has made it one of their UN Global Road Safety Week demands to ask a government minister to attend the Ministerial Conference. It was able to get a meeting with the office of the Deputy Minister for Transport and Roads to discuss its road safety demands. Among these, RSP asked the Deputy Minister to talk to the Minister, Mr. Mohammad Eslami, about taking part in the Ministerial Conference. RSP also had a fruitful discussion with Minister’s advisor, Dr. Morteza Bagheri, who requested a one-page briefing about the Ministerial Conference to demonstrate the importance of the event and why the Minister should attend. Dr. Bagheri is committed to ease the process of legislation for child seats and school buses and have requested RSP’s support to raise the public demand on these necessary issues. RSP also hope to use their contacts at the Health Ministry to convince the Health Minister to attend the Ministerial Conference too. RSP are working on a plan to support Iranian delegates through technical support and proposals.
RSP’s demand for their government to attend the Ministerial Conference is highly relevant. The government’s attendance will be a strong signal that it is serious about strategic road safety.
Ali Zayerzadeh of RSP says, “”Successful #SpeakUp needs a defined goal, detailed implementation plan, effective use of media and, of course, hard work. #SpeakUp takes time and energy, but it works. Be consistent and persistent and believe in your goal!”
RSP have a number of other activities planned for UN Global Road Safety Week including a petition for safer cycling in Mashhad. The petition has 3 parts, at the top are demands, in the middle are signatures, and at the bottom, the decision maker’s pledge to set higher priority for road safety. Read more about RSP’s campaign HERE.
