Why Rethink Mobility in the WHO European Region?

Statement by WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, on the occasion of the 7th UN Global Road Safety Week (15-21 May)

Copenhagen, 15 May 2023

Mobility is at a crossroads.

A world emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic offers no better time for governments and their partners to rethink road transport and mobility.

A business-as-usual approach would dictate continuing to build infrastructure and road transport systems that cater most to private motor vehicles, rather than the actual mobility and accessibility needs of people.

It has been well documented that more roads with more lanes equal more cars.  Experience from cities worldwide demonstrates that such expansion is unsustainable.  It leads to death, injury and disability, and contributes to traffic congestion, lengthy commutes, and related stresses as well as non-communicable diseases through poor air quality, noise and reduced opportunities for physical activity, emissions of greenhouse gas that contribute to climate change, soil sealing and land consumption and fragmentation.

A new vision of mobility would demand building or redesigning roads and public spaces for everyone, prioritizing the accessibility and mobility needs of those most vulnerable to the effects of motorized transport: children, women, people with disabilities, and elderly people.  

Governments could achieve this by increasing investments in modes of active transport such as walking, cycling and public transport, along with urban planning that allows accessing services and amenities within distances that could be readily covered on foot or by bicycle.

Yet, this can only be considered if the roads we build, and those that already exist, are made safe.

Today, we continue to pay a tragic cost for our mobility with 70 000 deaths per year and hundreds of thousands more non-fatal injuries due to road traffic crashes in the WHO European Region each year. 

Road traffic injuries kill more children and young people aged 5–29 years in the region than any other single cause. Serious preventable trauma places a major demand on already overstretched health services, while long-term disability, most frequently involving young people, places a high demand on rehabilitation services and welfare systems already struggling to cope.

A prerequisite for reimagining how we move on the roads of the world is to put safety at the core of mobility and urban planning systems. Ironically such a view is already mainstream for aviation, rail and maritime transport, but the fatalistic myth of the road traffic “accident” has led to acceptances and compromises that would never be tolerated in any other mode of transport.

Hence, governments need to act on making vehicles and roadways safe, improving how people assess and respond to road risks and ensuring that in the event of a crash where someone is injured, that they have access to timely, quality, life-saving emergency care and rehabilitation.

The Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030 calls for ongoing action in all these areas.   In addition, the Global Plan highlights that a shift towards people-centered roads and road networks – those that are planned, designed, built and operated to eliminate risks – will save lives.

Such roads consider first and foremost those most vulnerable to injury: children and adolescents; women; people with disabilities; elderly people, who are most often pedestrians; cyclists; and users of public transport.

At its best, safe, sustainable and healthy transportation and mobility can help drive positive social change in many areas of society.

Facilitating more walking and cycling can impact favorably on physical and mental health as well as the environment, allowing people to reap the rewards of being active, breathing cleaner air and reducing carbon emissions.

Along with public transport, walking and cycling can help to promote more equitable societies, where people of all socioeconomic levels have the same degree of access to employment, education, health and other services.

With some 70% of the global population expected to live in urban settings by 2030, there will be an increased demand for public transport to facilitate movement of large and growing populations.

When made safe, buses, trams and commuter trains – which carry more people than private motor vehicles – can be champions for safety, inclusion and prosperity.

The WHO European Region is well placed to facilitate this transformation, for example leveraging the political commitment taken by its Member States through the adoption at the Fifth High Level Meeting on Transport, Health and Environment in 2021 of the Vienna Declaration: Building forward better by transforming to new, clean, safe, healthy and inclusive mobility and transport.

Livable streets are the heart of every community.

We must collectively take advantage of this moment in time to rethink – and redo – mobility, for the well-being of people and the planet, now and for future generations.

eupress@who.int