World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, I rise in recognition of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
This Sunday around the world, millions will pause to remember those who have died or been injured in road crashes. Every year, the list of those injured and suffering as a result of road crashes grows. This tragedy is increased by the fact that many of these deaths and injuries could have been prevented. This is a growing global epidemic predominantly impacting young people. More than 40 percent of all road traffic deaths occur among individuals under 25 years old and road crashes are the second leading cause of death for young people aged 5-25 years.
Promoting global road safety requires a focus on education, advocacy and support for targeted road safety projects in low and middle income countries where the problem is more prevalent. That is why I have been a long supporter of the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT).
ASIRT encourages governments in developing nations to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries through dialogue, research and advocacy. ASIRT encourages and promotes U.S. government involvement in road safety abroad by emphasizing the importance of sharing U.S. technical assistance and injury treatment expertise with other nations and international organizations. ASIRT also works closely with the Congressional Global Road Safety Caucus to raise awareness among members of Congress about this urgent problem and with U.S. embassies abroad to promote road safety initiatives in host countries.
I want to congratulate ASIRT for being selected to participate in the new Bloomberg Global Road Safety Initiative. This initiative will devote $125 million over five years to fund road safety interventions in 10 target countries around the globe. ASIRT is the only non-governmental organization among the Bloomberg partners on this project. ASIRT will work to strengthen NGO capacity in target countries through grassroots programs and is currently working on programs in Egypt, Kenya, and Turkey with plans of expanding to other countries.
World Remembrance Day is a time for the public to think about the devastating loss and suffering that still occurs because of road crashes and reminds us of how much more we must still do to bring this suffering to an end.
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