Road Safety in South Asia - Opportunities for Shared Regional Initiatives

Trends in road crash fatalities over the past four to fi ve decades show clear differences between high-income countries and low and middle-income countries, and between regions of the world, though historical data for this are limited and subject to varying regional classifications. Since the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank Group (WBG) jointly published the World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention in 2004 the focus of global road safety initiatives has been at the country level (Peden et al. 2004). However, the importance of regional contexts and country relationships within regions is generally well acknowledged. This is most apparent in transport infrastructure investment programs and regulatory considerations arising within integrated regional trade blocs and logistics chains. There is also an increasing recognition that policy initiatives at the regional level, in vehicle and infrastructure safety for instance, can complement and strengthen country road safety strategies and programs. This report considers these strategic issues in the context of the South Asia region and addresses related regional road safety challenges, investment priorities, opportunities for shared regional initiatives, and the way forward over the next decade to 2030.