Around 70 participants from the government, private sector, civil society organizations, academia, and development partners discussed a framework and priority actions of a Tajikistan national strategy on reducing road crash deaths and injuries during a workshop organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on 25-26 April in Dushanbe.
The discussions focused on safer road infrastructure, vehicles, and road users, as well as post-crash care and road safety management.
“The lack of road safety is a major issue resulting in about 1.25 million deaths and up to 50 million injuries in road crashes annually worldwide,” said Kamel Bouhmad, Transport Specialist at ADB’s Central and West Asia Regional Department. “In making a commitment to road safety, Tajikistan is investing in a safer and more prosperous future.”
Road crashes have significant social and economic costs. Road crashes are estimated to cost up to 5% of gross domestic product for low and middle income countries. This represents about $350 million annually for Tajikistan.
Tajikistan has made a commitment to improving road safety under the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Road Safety Strategy endorsed in October 2016. The strategy aims to reduce number of road crash fatalities on the CAREC road corridors by 50% by 2030, as compared to 2010. Annually, the strategy aims to save 23,000 lives and prevent 250,000 serious injuries.
