UNITAR
Road traffic injuries claim 1.35 million lives each year with a disproportionate impact on health and development. They are the leading cause among young people aged between 15 and 29 years, costing governments approximately 3% of GDP and 5% in low- and middle-income countries.
UNITAR’s Road Safety Initiative launched in 2017 aims to support governments to help them advance towards the achievement of the Global Road Safety Performance Targets and reduce road traffic deaths and injuries. At the core of UNITAR’s work on road safety is to increase public awareness, strengthen the capacities of law enforcement officers and those who design and implement road safety policies and programmes.
Since 2018, the Institute has been providing training to law enforcement officers in targeted countries to achieve the following key objectives:
- Support governments to have stronger capacity to design and implement High Visibility Enforcement (HVE) campaigns to educate the public and to promote a voluntary compliance with the law.
- Empower police officers through trainings to conduct effective HVE campaigns to tackle drinking and driving.
- To help stabilize and reduce alcohol-related fatalities and injuries in countries with high road traffic death rates.
The overall goal of the training activities is to contribute to advance the Global Road Safety Performance Target 9: “by 2030, halve the number of road traffic injuries and fatalities related to drivers using alcohol."
Between 2019 and 2020, HVE trainings will be conducted in the Dominican Republic, Nigeria, India, Thailand and Brazil. The trainings are delivered in four phases including:
- On-the-ground training for law enforcement officers to strengthen capabilities to run a breathalyzer campaign.
- Study visit to facilitate the exchange of best practices.
- Design of a HVE campaign and public information strategy.
- Run breathalyzer campaigns in pilot locations.
Following this approach, on 26-28 March 2019, UNITAR in collaboration with the Secretary of Public Safety of the State of Yucatan and the Municipality of Merida, with the support of Diageo hosted a three-day in-depth training workshop for law enforcement officers from the Dominican Republic to strengthen their capacities to implement breathalyzer campaigns in the Dominican Republic. 24 Law Enforcement Officers from the Dominican Republic, including officials from the National Institute of Transit and Transport (Instituto Nacional de Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre - INTRANT), the National Safety Agency for Transit and Transport (Dirección General de Seguridad de Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre, DIGESETT) and the National Road Safety School (Escuela Nacional de Educación Vial - ENEVIAL), along with 60 Police Officers representing 40 municipalities from the State of Yucatan, Mexico took part in the workshop.
UNITAR
UNITAR
During 1-3 July 2019, a on-the-ground practical training for police officers will take place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with the objectives of running breathalyzer checkpoints and preparing to deploy a national public awareness campaign. On 9 August 2019, the government of the Dominican Republic will launch their first-ever High Visibility Enforcement Programme aimed at reducing fatalities and injuries related to drinking and driving.
With the support of the UNITAR’s Trustees, upcoming activities will take place in Brasilia, Brazil on 8 August and in Lagos, Nigeria on 26-27 September2019.