Road traffic injuries are not accidents. They are preventable.

On 2018 World Day of Remembrance for Victims of Road Traffic Injuries, Minister of Interior of Montenegro Mevluding Nuhodžić reminded that every year more than 1 million people die in car accidents around the world.

“Montenegro is no excuse - 39 people died on our roads this year. The state will put an end to irresponsible driving behaviours, more rigid traffic controls and stronger sanctions can be expected”

Minister of Interior of Montenegro Mevluding Nuhodžić

According to WHO every 6 minutes someone dies on the roads of the WHO European Region. It makes 230 people each day or 83 000 people every year. Same source tells us that road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for those aged 5-14 and the second leading cause of death for those aged 15-29.

Head of the WHO Office in Montenegro, Mina Brajović said that deaths from road traffic injuries are just the tip of the iceberg with millions more people injured, many with life-long consequences. “Road traffic injuries are not just ‘accidents’. They have risk factors, predictors and determinants and are therefore preventable,” said Brajović noting that road safety is a shared responsibility.

WHO addresses road safety through the ‘’Safe Systems Approach” a method which recognizes that the human body is highly vulnerable to injury and that humans make mistakes. Safe Systems Approach envisages a set of complementary interventions to create safer roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds and safer road user behavior work together to accommodate driver error and mitigate the risk of death and injury.

“As a public health agency, major focus of WHO’s work within the Safe System is user behaviour on road. One or more major behavioural risk factors such as speed, alcohol, and the non-use of helmets, seat-belts and child restraints, are associated with half of all road traffic fatalities”

Mina Brajović, Head of WHO Office in Montenegro

Key to achieving safe road users are comprehensive road safety legislation and stringent enforcement. Road infrastructure is also crucial to national development and economic strengthening but can contribute to either the road safety problem or its solution.

Recognizing its public health and international development priority, road safety is a key target under the Sustainable Development Goals, with a 50% reduction called for by 2020.

World Day of Remembrance for Victims of Road Traffic Injury (WDoR) was established 25 years ago by the NGO FEVR.  It is marked on the 3rd Sunday of November each year.  It provides an opportunity to reflect on those who have been lost or irreversibly impacted by road trauma, including families, friends and communities, and to put the human side of road safety forward. The theme for WDoR in 2018 is ‘Roads have Stories’ highlighting that roads are more than just physical connections from point A to point B. 

“World Day of Remembrance for Victims of Road Traffic Injury should be marked in November but respected and remembered every day,” concluded Ms. Brajović.

On this year’s World Day of Remembrance for Victims of Road Traffic Injuries, the United Nations Team in Montenegro initiated participatory initiative for addressing road safety which aims to include experts in this field and to mobilize young people to jointly work on creating solutions for reducing traffic incidents.