Road safety is a growing concern in Bhutan as more number of vehicles gets registered every year increasing the number of accidents. To address this issue Bhutan recently launched a document on Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011- 2020.
According to the draft Decade of Action for Road Safety document, as of December 2010, there were more than 50,000 vehicles registered with an average growth rate of nine percent annually.
In the last five years, 319 people died while 2,648 people were injured in road accidents.
The goal in the ten year plan is to reduce road accidents related deaths. This will be done by focusing on education, traffic rules enforcement, engineering and design of roads, and post accident response.
It is an initiative to improve Bhutan’s commitment to improve road safety following the UN general assembly resolution in 2010 proclaiming the decade of action of road safety 2011 -2020.
Therefore various stakeholders responsible for the implementation of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011- 2020 met to discuss the draft document.
The leading agencies responsible for the implementation of the road safety plans for the decade are Road Safety and Transport Authority, Department of Roads, Department of Urban Development and Engineering Service under the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement, Royal Bhutan Police, Department of Public Health and many other relevant ministries and agencies.