Streets for Life campaign Calls for 30 km/h Urban Streets to Ensure Safe, Healthy, Green and Livable Cities
The Director General of Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), Hon. Assistant Commissioner (CD) Ir. Ts. Dr. Khairil Anwar Abu Kassim virtually launched the ASEAN Road Safety Week 2021 (ARSW 2021) as part of the regional commitment to support the 6th United Nation Global Road Safety week (UNGRSW) campaign which this year is celebrated between 17th and 23rd May.
“Managing Speed” is the theme of the ASEAN Road Safety Week 2021 as a tribute towards the “Streets for Life” campaign slogan chosen for the 6th United Nation Global Road Safety Week (UNGRSW). Thus, the objective of the ARSW 2021 is to empower the Southeast Asia community to build a safe, healthy, green and liveable area with a speed limit of 30 km/h (20 mph) as the norm for areas where pedestrians mix with road traffic.
The ASEAN Road Safety Week 2021 is organised by MIROS under its capacity as the ASEAN Road Safety Centre, and is therefore a combination of collaborative effort and support from local, regional and international strategic road safety partners. The seven-day program is to be conducted virtually and expected to provide an opportunity for the community to take heed of the global movement towards implementing the 30 km/h speed limit in an effort to reduce road fatalities and road crashes within their localities.
“It is my great honour to welcome all participants to the ASEAN Road Safety Week 2021 and I urge all fellow ASEAN communities to take action. ARSW 2021 serves as a platform to strengthen coordination with various relevant agencies in the implementation of road safety initiatives and to intensify regional cooperation in improving road safety. This aligns with the goal of ASEAN, which is to continuously advance road safety cooperation among the Member States,” says Ir. Ts. Dr. Khairil Anwar.
A series of webinars will be broadcasted online throughout ARSW 2021 focusing on joint areas such as speed management technology, pedestrian protection technology, and micro-mobility. These sessions are to be delivered and participated by policymakers, eminent speakers, road safety experts and advocates from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), representatives of government, World Health Organisation and various private organisations.
Special highlights for the Malaysian chapter in ARSW 2021 include a virtual live forum session which will discuss sensational motorcyclist safety issues in Malaysia featuring local figures such as Ibni Khalid Jurait, Hezeri Samsuri and Lando Zawawi alongside panellists from the academia and MIROS. An exclusive interview with Senator Datuk Ras Adiba Mohd Radzi regarding her personal experience as a road crash victim is also scheduled to be streamed online, besides a demonstration showcasing innovative technologies in ensuring safer roads in Malaysia.
In conjunction with ARSW 2021, MIROS will virtually re-sign a Centre of Excellence (COE) agreement with the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) on 21st May 2021 towards ensuring Road Assessment Program (RAP) protocols and models continue to benefit from the evidence-based research undertaken by the Institute. This partnership further aims to provide the evidence-based global standard for road infrastructure safety to support the achievement of the United Nations’ Targets 3 and 4 by 2030 to save 450,000 lives globally a year. These two targets relate to ensure existing roads as well as new roads meet at least 3-star safety ratings by 2030.
In addition, MIROS will also virtually sign a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) scheduled on the same day. The MOU between MIROS and UTB will focus on various and diversified areas of international cooperation and collaboration in the field of road safety. These are expected to include education and training, collaboration in research and development projects involving road safety audits and crash data, and capacity building programmes involving crash investigation and reconstruction.
Participants of ARSW 2021 can also create a road safety pledge online throughout the week via the ARSW 2021 website and share their pledge to their social media platforms as a gesture to engage, support and raise awareness on how managing speed on the streets is a great deal of promise to save lives and improve the quality of living for the community. Join the online pledge with the hashtag #Love30 #StreetsforLife #GlobalRoadSafetyWeek and #ASEANRoadSafetyWeek to be part of ARSW 2021 and UNGRSW to call for 30 km/h speed limits as the norm for our streets.
For details on the full itinerary of the ASEAN Road Safety Week 2021, kindly visit http://arsw.miros.gov.my.
