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Bloomberg Commits $125 Million To Combat Global Road Traffic Deaths

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Traffic fatalities are one of the world’s leading causes of preventable death, and the number is expected to increase.  To help combat this trend, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a new $125 million funding competition.

The foundation will invite low- and middle-income cities and countries to compete for grants to implement life-saving road safety legislation, infrastructure and practices, part of the new phase of its Global Road Safety initiative to reduce fatalities and injuries from road traffic crashes.

The competition was announced yesterday in Los Angeles.

“Every life lost because of unsafe roads is a tragedy - and most of those tragedies could be avoided with better rules, better enforcement, and smarter infrastructure,” Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement.

(photo taken in Kenya; courtesy of Bloomberg Philanthropies)

“City governments can be especially effective at putting those measures in place, because they are often able to move faster and more efficiently than other levels of government,” he added. “This new funding will be targeted to cities where we can make the biggest difference, that have shown the strongest commitment to taking action, and that have the best ideas for making roads safer. And we'll help those cities work together to share effective strategies - so that even more lives can be saved.”

The program will work at the national level to strengthen legislation and the city level to implement proven interventions, the foundation said. Proposals submitted by the cities are expected to detail plans for how they will address a number of important areas: pedestrian and cyclist safety; laws to combat drinking and driving and speeding; motorcycle helmet, seat-belt and child restraint use; road infrastructure; street design; and public modes of transportation.

Since Bloomberg Philanthropies began working to improve global road safety in 2010, more than 1.8 billion people have been covered by strengthened laws, it said. That funding, in the amount of $125 million, supported efforts in 10 countries (Brazil, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Kenya, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam) representing about half of traffic-related deaths globally.

Most of those countries have passed important safety legislation, including stricter penalties for drinking and driving, compulsory seat-belt or helmet wearing regulations, and speed reduction laws. “In an unprecedented shift,” the group said, “China criminalized drinking and driving in 2011.” And last year in Vietnam, penalties were established for motorcyclists wearing sub-standard helmets.

And those interventions have had a notable impact. According to the foundation:

- In 2011, only 34 percent of cyclists in Ha Nam, Vietnam used helmets; today that number is 76 percent.

- In Thika, Kenya 68 percent of drivers sped; today the figure is 2 percent.

- And in Afyon, Turkey seat-belt wearing increased from 4 percent in 2010 to 43 percent in 2014.

In 2013, Bloomberg Philanthropies distributed $452 million. To learn more about the current project and participating partners, click here.