UNITAR concludes Road Safety Workshop for Local Government Officials in Asia Pacific
8 June 2017, Jeju, Republic of Korea – As part of a collaborative agreement with Diageo, UNITAR delivered its third road safety capacity building workshop scheduled for 2017. The three-day workshop “Strengthening Road Safety in Cities: Asia Pacific” took place in Jeju, Republic of Korea from 31 May to 2 June, briging together representatives from local governments, academia and the private sector.
The countries represented at the workshop included Cambodia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar, Republic of Korea, Nepal and Vietnam. The event provided a platform to raise awareness about road safety and the need of improving road user behavior through advocacy efforts and by increasing awareness of risk factors.
The workshop - organized in close collaboration with UNITAR's affiliated training centre based in Jeju (CIFAL Jeju), was highly dynamic including the development of action plans that included strategies to enhance road safety policies in each of the respective countries. The workshop also included a field visit to learn about the traffic monitoring system in Jeju by visiting the Jeju Traffic Information Center.
The lectures focused on key topics including an overview of road safety in Asia Pacific, the role of local governments in improving road safety, anti drunk-driving strategies and policies to reduce child traffic fatalities. Experiences from the Republic of Korea and Jeju were highlighted, as well as case studies from the Korea Transport Institute, the Hansei University, the Jeju Research Institute, and the Ministry of Public Safety and Security of the Republic of Korea. Local authorities such as the Hon. Madelaine Yorobealfelor, Mayor of Iriga City, Philippines and representatives from the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province highjlighted the importance of enhancing the capacity of government agencies and municipal authorities to develop and implement road safety strategies and plans to raise awareness among road users.
As part of UNITAR's Road Safety Training Initiative, 6 more capacity building activities are scheduled for 2017.
Photo: Participants of the workshop during the inaugural ceremony.