The need to establish coordinated measures for the reduction of road accidents in Latin America and the Caribbean

This edition of the FAL Bulletin approaches road safety and the need for urgent, coordinated measures to be established between the public and private sectors and civil society in order to prevent the rapid increase in deaths and casualties in road accidents in Latin America and the Caribbean, an issue which is threatening the sustainability of regional development.

Road Concessions in Latin America: Achievements and Challenges

Concessions have become an important mechanism in Latin America for attracting financing and private management to the highway sector. Highways are one of the areas of transport infrastructure in which this concept in long-term investment in road conservation and management has been widely applied and the concession-holder's costs are recouped through tolls and other complementary mechanisms.After a brisk start in the 1990s, the pattern of road concessions has proved to be less dynamic in the current decade. Nevertheless, highway concessions have expanded significantly and now account for 1% of the total inter-city road network. The international seminar entitled "Concessions for the provision of transport infrastructure: challenges for Latin America" was organized jointly by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Agency for the Promotion of Private Investment of Peru (PROINVERSION) and held in Lima, Peru, on 13 and 14 November 2003.

Progress of road maintenance in Latin America

Road maintenance work has gradually been increasing in Latin America. Existing contracts in Argentina, Chile, Guatemala and Uruguay - 210 overall - account for a total of 20,212 kilometers of public roadways by level of service. In Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, 26 contracts are now in the pipeline for the maintenance of 7,700 kilometres of roadway. This issue of the FAL Bulletin presents a survey of the status of road maintenance considered at the second Seminar of the Americas of the Road Maintenance Training Programme (Provial), held in Lima, Peru from 18 to 21 October 1999 and which examined the type of financing used in road maintenance as well as contracts, institutions and interaction between the public and private sectors.

Safety and security in road freight operations

The purpose of this FAL Bulletin is to provide a comprehensive analysis of safety and security in road freight operations.

Road safety: a priority issue for the United Nations

This issue of the Bulletin deals with road safety, which has become an urgent worldwide problem. Given the fact that road accidents are increasing, that they affect the planet's most vulnerable population (namely the lowest income groups in developing countries) and that this is becoming a genuine public health crisis, the United Nations has decided that it is urgent to address the matter. The World Health Organization (WHO) has therefore dedicated the World Health Day 2004 to road safety.Given the urgent need for action, the Chiefs of Transport of the five Regional Economic Commissions of the United Nations held a meeting in Geneva (September 2004), where they agreed to reinforce the studies and projects carried out in this area.Below is a summary of various information sources and initiatives adopted to assess and tackle this modern epidemic and offers a pessimistic outlook for 2020, when road traffic crashes will constitute the third cause of death unless serious action is taken from today.

Road Safety in Latin America and the Caribbean: Recent Performance and Future Challenges

This issue of the FAL Bulletin examines road safety performance in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2000 and 2010. It also sets out the need for road safety measures to be incorporated into an integrated and sustainable mobility policy.

Road safety and public health: the cost of treating and rehabilitating the injured in Chile, Colombia and Peru

This issue of the FAL Bulletin examines the implications of road safety for the health-care system. It focuses on the economic cost of treating and rehabilitating road traffic injury victims and, for the sake of better public policy, proposes policy changes aimed at improving data collection as well as coordination among government agencies.

New approaches by highway agencies in dealing with road users

The context in which society develops has changed. The principles of democracy and human rights, in addition to the explosive development of communications, have encouraged citizens' desire for involvement in many areas which formerly had been the preserve of the State. This is also reflected in the attitudes of public utility customers, who are no longer prepared to accept mediocre service from the bodies responsible; on the contrary, they are increasingly putting pressure on those bodies, demanding better service in return for the charges they pay. Road agencies are no exception. They can no longer maintain their traditional isolation from the public and from users in areas such as decision-making or accountability for results achieved. Furthermore, it is no longer enough to provide road networks; these must be managed in such a way as to ensure improved levels of service, acceptable to users who are more and more demanding. This is why conventional styles of highway management have become unsatisfactory and new approaches are developing. There is a gradual increase in openness to the interests and views of users, who are increasingly considered as partners and participants in management. There are numerous examples in various countries, including those of Latin America, of this significant change; it is likely to cause a major transformation in the way in which public highways are managed. The innovations are recent, many of them still at the embryonic stage. A wide variety of concrete measures have been proposed or tried out. It is not yet possible to predict the size or scope of these changes, or which of them will ultimately become normal practice, but the changes have begun. The purpose of this article is to outline the principal changes which are being observed and the new outlook for road users.

International experiences with comprehensive and effective road safety campaigns

This issue of the FAL bulletin analyses the main characteristics of public policy and of the design of road safety campaigns, using six international (Latin American and European) experiences.

Road maintenance, funds and fund management

This edition of the Bulletin deals with road maintenance, funds and fund management. Among other things, it emphasizes, the need to manage road funds in accordance with clear performance rules which seek to minimize maintenance costs and ensure that the road network is maintained in an appropriate condition.

Road maintenance and international competitiveness

The present and subsequent editions of the Bulletin will deal with the issue of road maintenance, its close connection with transport costs and its impact upon the international competitiveness of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. When roads are in poor condition, vehicle operating costs increase by 30 to 50% or even more. Autonomous, adequate and regular funding contributes to effective road maintenance and, consequently, to reducing vehicle operating costs.

Rail, urban transport and road maintenance: current trends and prospects

This edition of the FAL Bulletin provides an account of recent developments and trends in rail and urban transport and road maintenance in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Performance of Latin America and the Caribbean during the first years of the Decade of Action for Road Safety

This issue of the FAL Bulletin examines the performance of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean during the first years of the decade of action for road safety. This document is part of the activities being undertaken by ECLAC as a United Nations regional commission in preparation for the Second Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety, which is to take place in Brasilia on 18 and 19 November 2015.