The week of 1 to 7 May 2000 has been designated as the Third Road Safety Week in the UNECE region.

During that week, member countries of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will organize simultaneous road safety campaigns with the aim of improving the safety of vulnerable road users.

Vulnerable road users include pedestrians, cyclists, moped riders, motorcyclists and passengers of these two-wheelers. Among these groups of road users, children, the elderly, the disabled and young people are particularly vulnerable.

Vulnerable road users are more exposed to the risk of accident than other road users, and when accidents occur they have much more serious consequences for vulnerable road users than for others. Out of the approximately 150,000 people killed in road accidents in the UNECE region per year, an estimated 30 per cent, i.e. approximately 45,000 are vulnerable road users.

The objectives of the Third Road Safety Week are to promote:

• partnership between public administrations, private sector organizations and road users themselves with a view to jointly addressing problems of road safety and, in particular, improving the safety of vulnerable road users;
• more responsible behaviour towards and by vulnerable road users;

• greater commitment on the part of national administrations, private sector organizations (associations of transport operators, touring clubs, etc.) and associations of vulnerable road users towards the enactment of effective measures aimed at the improvement of the safety of vulnerable road users.