Nomination of National Data Coordinators to boost road safety in APRSO member countries

“Evidence-based action” is fundamental to improving road safety globally, says Michael Anyala, Senior Road Asset Management Specialist at the ADB. It will help agencies around the world reduce what amounts to as many as 2,000 deaths a day.

This is why the APRSO is leaning on member countries to appoint National Data Coordinators, as announced during our recent annual meeting. We are now actively reaching out to governments to request nominations for these coordinator positions.

Maria Segui Gomez, Special Advisor for Road Safety at the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), shared that these coordinators will help uphold standards of reporting road crash data. They would be focal points for the country, helping to collect and assess data from various bodies and organisations.

An ideal candidate would be, for instance, a head of the unit or section responsible for analyzing road safety data in the country. They should have sufficient knowledge about the different sources needed for crash, mobility and other road safety information, and will likely need to liaise between traffic police, transport and highway departments, health departments and agencies, insurance companies and more.

By working with National Data Coordinators, the APRSO can achieve its mission of producing robust fatal and serious injury road crash data and analyses. These can positively impact policies and actions for road safety, and help countries reduce preventable deaths and “save lives and suffering through policy implementation”, as ADB’s transport chief Jamie Leather recently said.

Watch this space for more updates. Announcements coming soon.