A/RES/57/309 United Nations Distr.: General 29 May 2003 General Assembly Fifty-seventh session Agenda item 169 Resolution adopted by the General Assembly [without reference to a Main Committee (A/57/L.77 and Add.1)] 57/309. Global road safety crisis The General Assembly, Noting the rapid increase in road traffic deaths, injuries and disabilities globally, Recognizing the disproportionate fatality rate in developing countries, Taking note of the negative impact of road traffic injuries on national and global economies, Affirming the need for a worldwide effort to raise awareness of the importance of road safety as a public policy issue, especially through education and the dissemination of information, Convinced that responsibility for road safety rests at the local, municipal and national levels, Affirming that the road safety crisis has multiple dimensions requiring collaborative efforts at all levels, including through appropriate public health education programmes, 1. Welcomes the efforts of the World Health Organization to designate “Safe roads” as the theme of World Health Day 2004, to be observed on 7 April of that year, and to undertake the development of a world report on road traffic injury prevention, to be issued in April 2004; 2. Encourages Governments and civil society to raise awareness of the widespread problem of preventable road traffic deaths and injuries, targeting especially the young in educational establishments; 3. Urges all Governments to promulgate and to continue to enforce existing traffic laws; 4. Requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly on the global road safety crisis, through the appropriate United Nations body, taking into consideration the views expressed by Member States and the relevant organs and agencies within the United Nations system, for consideration by the Assembly at its fifty-eighth session. 86th plenary meeting 22 May 2003 02 56191