UNITAR, King Prajadhipoks Institute, ESCAP Host Best Practice Sharing Workshop
20 - 21 March 2018, Bangkok, Thailand - UNITAR in partnership with the King Prajadhipok’s Institute (KPI), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the People’s Safety Foundation and in close collaboration with the International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders in the Philippines (CIFAL Philippines) hosted a multi-stakeholder road safety workshop in Bangkok, Thailand on 20-21 March 2018.
The workshop brought together 25 government leaders, experts, academics, advocates, and private sector representatives from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and the Philippines to discuss road safety issues in the Southeast Asian region.
The event was also attended by representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) in Thailand and Thailand’s Vice Minister for Transport H.E. Mr. Teerapong Rodprasert.
The workshop featured a holistic approach to promoting road safety, encompassing effective enforcement, engineering, education through awareness and capacity-building, and evaluation.
Part of the two-day workshop included a session to share best practices on road safety, which highlighted the similar infrastructure related challenges faced by countries from the region. It was noted that across the participating countries, the number of injuries arising from motorcycle driving is a growing concern.
The role of the academia was stressed, particularly in the audit and monitoring of disaggregated data on road safety performance, pursuing technical development and instructive policies to the government both in the execution and legislation on road safety.
The People’s Safety Foundation emphasized the value of cascading the best practices and building awareness at the community level by developing a strong citizenship. The resounding challenge was to work for multi-stakeholder involvement on road safety to localize best practices and to level up the efforts among countries in Southeast Asia.
Photo 1: Participants of the the Best Practice Sharing Workshop: Improving Road Safety for Sustainable Cities held in Bangkok, Thailand