The political economy of urban road safety Leni Wild, ODI

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1 The political economy of urban road safety Leni Wild, ODI

2 The problem of poor road safety and unsustainable transport

3 Tackling road safety and sustainable transport An ambitious set of global targets: Sustainable Development Goal 11 (11.2): provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons, by 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 3 (3.6): commitment to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from traffic accidents by 2020 Range of initiatives and resources, and a Safe Systems focus: UN Decade of Action for Road Safety ( ) Brasilia Declaration Road Safety Fund Global Road Safety Facility Global Road Safety Partnership Share the Road #SaveKidsLives Initiative for Global Road Safety

4 Tackling road safety and sustainable transport Growing consensus on policy interventions: Improvements in land use and the built environment, improvements in street design Improvements in education, legislation and enforcement of traffic regulations Improved vehicle and safety standards Improved availability and quality of public transport Improved post-collision emergency response and care Improvements in data collection and analysis Improvements in leadership, coordination and capacity A safe systems approach highlights the importance of state capacity and politics: Strong evidence that countries with well-functioning and capable states have lower levels of road traffic collisions, deaths and injuries. But how to support improvements in weaker environments? How to build political momentum to initiate policies to deliver on road safety? How to ensure that regulations and laws are enforced, and policy initiatives are actually delivered on? How to build sufficient capacity for coordination across complex systems?

5 Our research project Literature review on road safety measures, sustainable transport and political economy drivers Collated current evidence on the problem, proposed solutions, and identified political economy and governance factors Use of city-level case studies (Bogotá, Mumbai, Nairobi) to understand : What drives performance at city and national level? What capacities exist for coordination and enforcement and how might these be strengthened? In light of this, what else needs to be included to realise the SDG ambitions? Policy reports and outreach (2017) Targeting select national governments with an interest in road safety and sustainable transport Working with road safety campaigners and networks to take better account of governance and political economy factors (events)

6 Early insights (literature review) Road safety is often not a political priority: Weak incentives at multiple levels, poor data on the problem and focus on large, visible infrastructure Weak capacity to enforce regulations and laws is common: Undermined by a lack of funding, weak personnel capacity, corruption Historically, most interventions focused on preventing injury to car users, while the large proportion of cycle/motorcycle and pedestrian victims are neglected: Car users have more power, influence and visibility There is often weak capacity for coordination and poor data availability: A complex set of organisations have peripheral responsibilities for road safety, with poor mechanisms for coordinating and sharing data There are still big gaps in understanding what really drives reform strategies and how to build capacity in generally weak environments

7 Links to the Global Initiative ODI as a leading think tank and WRI as a leading research institute collectively, we have significant experience in providing policy relevant analysis and working with policy makers and reform coalitions to operationalise that analysis Is there scope to collaborate with the Initiative and partners in target countries/cities? Is there scope for shared events, convening or policy briefs, for instance linking up analysis of politics of road safety and safer journeys to schools advocacy? Is there potential for advice and sharing of strategies on key policymaker networks to target?