On 18 November 2020, the Special Envoy participated in the webinar “Road Safety in South Asia – Rethinking Urban Mobility amid COVID-19” organized by the World Bank.
The event brought together the Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs of the Government of India, the Vice President of South Asia Region at the World Bank Group, the South Asia Director of the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy, the Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation of Bangladesh, the Strategic Communications Manager at Adfactors PR of Sri Lanka and the Director of Health & Road Safety at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, to discuss strategies for urban areas to keep moving safely in the aftermath of COVID-19 and laid out actions, plans and initiatives to leverage this window of opportunity for long-term change towards safe, inclusive and sustainable urban mobility.
The Special Envoy contributed to the discussion by sharing about the road safety targets by 2030 as well as highlighting that COVID-19 crisis has been an opportunity for many cities to review urban street design policies and to test new mobility systems.
Lastly, the Special Envoy elaborated on the key needs for countries in South Asia to achieve the new targets. Among others, Mr. Todt mentioned the importance for the Government to commit collecting and sharing strong data as well as participating in the Road Safety Observatory being established in the region, and the requirement for adequate financing from national, regional and international institutions to fund national and regional plans.
Click here for the full video of the webinar.