What moments do you live for in your daily life? We all have precious moments that we cherish. Unfortunately, every 24 seconds at least one person has those moments taken away because of a road traffic injury. In 93% of the cases, that person lives in a low- or middle-income country.

The UNRSF's new campaign "#moments2live4" encourages everyday road users – you, me, friends and family – to reflect on and share those simple moments that matter much more than moments wasted on poor road safety behaviour.

With more than 1.3 million deaths worldwide each year and nearly 50 million serious injuries, traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for children and young people between 5 and 29 years old.  Road crashes are a global health issue that incites loss of livelihoods and feeds cycles of poverty. Estimates indicate that road crashes cost low- and middle-income countries 3-5% of their gross domestic product (GDP).

UNRSF’s #moments2live4 campaign will raise awareness on the importance of investing in better road safety performance within low- and middle-income countries. From November to June, every year during the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-2030), the campaign will actively engage everyday road users to share campaign messages and post a photo and/or 24 second video of the moments in life that inspire them to believe in the importance of safe roads everywhere.

With a goal to reach 1 billion people by 2030, notably through impressions on social media, the campaign will actively communicate about road safety in a mix of the world’s 24 most populous countries – comprising some of the most affected by road crashes – as well as in some of the strongest  champions for, the issue of financing road safety in low- and middle-income countries.  Each month, 3 countries will be highlighted, with Brazil, Russia and Vietnam in the spotlight in December.

Advocacy for investments in road safety is vital to help mobilize and channel resources to the communities and regions of the world which have the greatest road crash toll. Referring to the global goal of halving the number of victims of road crashes as targeted in United Nations General resolution A/RES/74/299, Mr. Jean Todt, the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Road Safety, highlighted that "to achieve this goal, the United Nations encourages countries to promote road safety knowledge and awareness among the population through education, training and publicity campaigns, especially among youth. Furthermore, the resolution invites countries to invest in road safety and to support the UN Road Safety Fund."

"We do not want a world where being safe on the roads is reserved only for a few privileged countries. One of the main objectives of this campaign is to demonstrate that road safety is truly a global development challenge that affects every country and everyone; but that some countries have less available resources to substantially curb road traffic deaths and injuries than others, which not only harms their citizens and tourists but also weakens their health systems and economies" explains Ms Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary of the UNECE.