In October 1990 the First Road Safety Week in the UNECE Region was organized enabling UNECE member countries to launch simultaneous road safety campaigns with a common target and under a common slogan. This was followed in April 1995 by the Second Road Safety Week in the UNECE Region which targeted Young Road Users.

In view of the usefulness of these campaigns for many ECE member countries, the UNECE Inland Transport Committee, on the proposal of its Working Party on Road Traffic Safety (WP.1), decided to launch the Third Road Safety Week in the UNECE Region, to be held from 1 to 7 May 2000.

This time the common target chosen is Vulnerable Road Users, which includes children, the elderly, the disabled, pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and other road users who are highly exposed to the risk of road accidents. The common slogan of the Third road Safety Week is "Partnership on the Road Increases Safety". This is to indicate that the improvement of road safety in general and more particularly the safety of vulnerable road users requires the concerted action of all concerned, be it Governments, national and international public and private organizations, road users themselves or the public at large.

I should like to invite all ECE member Governments, international and national organizations and other partners to take an active part in this Third Road Safety Week in order to take up the challenge of reducing substantially the number of people who are killed or injured every year on our roads.

José Capel Ferrer
Director