The Global Road Safety Partnership welcomes a new member: Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop, the producers of the global educational brand, Sesame Street, joined the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) in a move to contribute its educational media expertise to the worldwide effort to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities among children and families.

Sesame Workshop became the 35th member of the GRSP - partnership of business, civil society and governmental organizations dedicated to improving road safety conditions in low- and middle-income countries. As the newest member of GRSP, Sesame Workshop has been charged with utilizing its expertise in evidence-based education to create content and distribute materials that will create positive behavior changes in road safety among young children and their families. "For over 40 years, Sesame Workshop has had an amazing ability to create and deliver on a global scale media content that has proven results in achieving behavior change," said Andrew Pearce, Chief Executive Officer of GRSP. "By coupling this with the road safety expertise available within the Global Road Safety Partnership, we believe there is the potential to make a new and considerable contribution to improving road safety outcomes." Road traffic injuries are a major but neglected public health challenge. According to the World Health Organization's "Global status report on road safety" (June 2009), every year, road crashes kill nearly 1.3 million people and injure between 20 and 50 million more. Worldwide, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 29, and the second cause of death for those aged 5 to 14. Road traffic injuries rank ninth among the leading cause of deaths for children aged 1 to 4 year. Five hundred children die every day in road crashes. In 1998, more children died in Africa from road crashes than from the HIV/AIDS virus. Raising awareness and knowledge of road safety behaviors is the key to reversing the alarming statistics on the roads. "We, as an organization, recognize the immensity of this worldwide crisis," said Gary E. Knell, President and CEO of Sesame Workshop. "Over the years, Sesame Workshop has harnessed the power and popularity of our Muppet characters to make a meaningful and measurable difference in critical issues facing children and families. We look forward to working with GRSP and our worldwide network to communicate important road safety messages to local communities, families, and children," hew said. The announcement comes on the heels of a historic UN General Assembly resolution proclaiming 2011-2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The resolution was co-sponsored by 90 member states who, along with business, donors and civil society institutions, commit to support actions to address the global road safety crisis including increased use of seatbelts, child restraints and helmets and promoting road safety education.