The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Spanish Road Association (AEC) today were awarded the 2012 International Road Federation (IRF) Global Road Achievement Award in the Road Safety category.
The IDB Road Safety Strategy in Latin America and the Caribbean project, developed by the IDB, is aligned with the five pillars of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020. The strategy includes a few joint IDB-AEC road safety projects.
The strategy’s primary goal is to reduce the number of road accident fatalities in Latin America and the Caribbean by 50 percent by 2020. Specifically, the Bank seeks to incorporate road safety components into all transportation operations and place road safety as a priority on the political agenda of the region’s governments, among other actions.
“We’re honored to receive this award, which recognizes our efforts to lead a change process that promotes a social and political culture free of road traffic incidents,” said Esteban Diez-Roux, IDB Principal Transport Specialist. “Working with partners such as the Spanish Road Association and the IRF, we will be able to continue to support governments in strengthening their technical capacities, to realize our goal for a region free of road fatalities.”’
The Global Road Achievement Awards (GRAA) this year honored 10 projects from countries around the world, each leading the way in innovation and excellence in their respective areas. Since 2000, the year in which the awards were created, more than a 100 projects from 30 countries have been recognized for their excellence and innovation with the Global Road Achievement Awards.