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https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinero/2026/07/21/the-us-alone-votes-against-a-road-safety-declaration/>
"Many experts feel that reducing the number of people killed in traffic should
be uncontroversial. Indeed, yesterday the United Nations’ General Assembly
passed a near-unanimous declaration of this, following a two-day meeting on
improving global road safety.
It was near unanimous because while 162 member states voted in favor, there was
one holdout. The U.S. was the single country to cast a vote against. Even
Argentina, which has followed the U.S. lead in attempting to pull out of the
UN’s World Health Organization, voted for the declaration (while delivering a
caveat about national sovereignty).
The declaration reiterates a global goal: to at least halve road traffic deaths
and injuries between 2021 and 2030. It also calls for governments to assign and
fund a lead agency for coordinating road safety, to improve public transport
systems, and to make other pledges for safer roads (48 in total). The document
draws attention to the people who are most exposed to traffic violence,
including those walking, wheeling, cycling, working, and heading to or from
school on the roads.
Dan Negrea, a U.S. representative to the UN, had harsh words for the assembly.
Negrea sought asylum in the U.S. after leaving Romania, where he had been a
government official; he then spent decades on Wall Street. At the UN General
Assembly yesterday, he charged that this type of global road-safety effort was
being mixed with climate action.
Yes, cutting down on traffic, for instance through clean-air zones, will reduce
both lives lost on the roads and lives lost due to air pollution. In this case,
what’s good for the environment is also good for our health. But just on public
health grounds alone, the world shares a motivation to make the roads
safer—though that motivation isn’t always turned into action."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
