An official of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) has been elected as the deputy chair of the Asia Pacific Road Safety Observatory (APRSO), an international group that aims to ensure the protection of human life on roads across Asia and the Pacific.
In a Facebook post on Friday, the DOTr said Undersecretary for Road Transport and Infrastructure Mark Steven Pastor was elected by the 23-member countries of the APRSO during its annual meeting at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Headquarters on Thursday.
Pastor said his new role will help effectively carry out the DOTr’s various road safety initiatives and boost its efforts to promote safer travel to all road users.
“Through the Deputy Chairmanship, we endeavor to provide our full support to the activities of the APRSO, as we deem this very significant in terms of strengthening our current initiatives on road safety and in developing other mechanisms to minimize road crashes through proper interventions,” Pastor said.
The APRSO annual meeting was held following the Global Regional Road Safety Observatories Dialogue on Powered Two-Wheeler (PTW) Safety.
During the event, the APRSO discussed sustainable practices, regulations, road systems, as well as infrastructure designs, to ensure the safety of PTW drivers and pillion riders, which has seen a rapid increase in number in Asia and the Pacific in the past decade.
The APRSO was established by the ADB, the World Bank Group, Federation Internationale de I’Automobile, the International Transport Forum (ITF), and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UK Aid through the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF).
It aims to promote road safety across the Asia Pacific by bringing together the various road safety stakeholders to significantly reduce road traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
Source: Philippines News Agency
