The FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety starts Expert Mission in Myanmar

24.11.16

Last week, a team of experts went to Myanmar to assess the country’s road safety challenge, in cooperation with the Myanmar government. This first visit marked the beginning of the expert mission, which was launched last September by the FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety in New York City

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According to the 2015 Global Road Status Report on Road Safety (World Health Organization), the situation in Myanmar is alarming: it is estimated that almost 11,000 people were killed in road traffic crashes in Myanmar in 2013 and that up to 70,000 people were left severely injured. It is in that context that the FIA was invited by the Myanmar State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, to form a team of road safety experts.

Myanmar is rapidly transforming and becoming more motorised but there is a unique opportunity to ensure that correct policy choices are made now to avoid rising fatality numbers in the coming years.

The expert team is composed of 4 university professors: Fred Wegman, Barry Watson, Wong Shaw Voon, Maria Segui-Gomez along with Joseph Fisher, International Development Liaison Officer at the Office of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives from the Suu Foundation, working with local stakeholders on the organisation of the meetings.

During their 1-week stay, the experts met with high level members of the Government, including Mr. Thant Sin, Myanmar Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr. Win Khaing, Myanmar Minister of Construction, Mr. Tin Maung Win, Myanmar Parliament Commission on Transportation Chairman, Ms. Nilar Kyaw, Yangon Regional Ministress of electricity, industry, road Transportation, communications, construction and Mr. Maung Maung Soe, Yangon city Major amongst others.

The group will now prepare short- and long-term recommendations to reduce road fatalities in the country. They will then go back to Myanmar in early 2017 with an action plan for next steps.

 

ROAD SAFETY EXPERTS

  • Fred Wegman, IRTAD Chairman & former Managing Director of SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research
  • Barry Watson, PhD CEO Global Road Safety Partnership
  • Maria Segui-Gomez, MD, ScD, FIA consultant & former Managing Director, Traffic Authority Spain
  • Professor Dr. Shaw Voon Wong, Director General, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety