On 1-2 April 2008, the 8th meeting of the UN Road Safety Collaboration was hosted by WHO at UN headquarters in New York. During the welcome session, His Excellency Fuad Mubarak Al-Hinai, Permanent Representative of the Sultanate of Oman to the UN - who spearheaded the adoption of the UN General Assembly resolution "Improving global road safety" A/62/L.43 on 31 March 2008 - commented on the process and thanked the UN Road Safety Collaboration members for their support. One of the most important action items in this resolution is the one which welcomes the offer by the Government of the Russian Federation to host the First Global High-Level (Ministerial) Conference on Road Safety to be held in 2009.
During the meeting participants reviewed progress made since the last meeting of the UN Road Safety Collaboration in October 2007: progress in countries such as adoption of the helmet law in Viet Nam; progress in regions such as the hosting of the Ministerial Meeting on Injury and Violence Prevention in the Americas; celebration of the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims; hosting of regional consultations to develop the Global status report on road safety; and launch of the new good practice manual Speed management: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners, among others.
In addition, the UN Road Safety Collaboration and its Operating Framework were further discussed. The document will be refined before the next meeting of the UN Road Safety Collaboration. Participants also shared ideas on the form and content of the First Global High-Level (Ministerial) Conference on Road Safety and working groups addressed next steps in implementing the good practice manuals and in fleet safety.