Laws making seat belt use mandatory in cars have saved millions of lives, UN agencies announced on Tuesday, marking half a century of vehicular safety legislation around the world.

Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death among African youth, so governments across the continent have resolved to drive in a new unified direction, ahead of Road Safety Week, observed 15 to 21 May.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for greater global efforts to achieve the goal of reducing traffic deaths and injuries by half by 2030.

Children and women worldwide, are the most likely to die in road crashes. But Nneka Henry says that doesn’t make road safety only an issue for youth or gender - it’s a development challenge for all of society.

Ms. Henry is the Head of the United Nations Road Safety Fund. UN HOPE Fellow, Diedra Sealey, spoke with her just ahead of the first ever High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Improving Global Road Safety, taking place in New York this week

Road traffic accidents claim nearly 1.3 million lives each year, cost some countries up to three per cent of their annual GDP, and are the biggest killer of five to 29-year olds globally, the UN General Assembly President told a High-level Meeting on Improving Global Road Safety on Thursday.

Every 24 seconds someone is killed in traffic, making safety on the world’s roads a global development challenge for all societies, especially for the most vulnerable, a senior UN official has said, ahead of the first ever High-level General Assembly Meeting on Improving Road Safety.