Experience from high income countries has shown that road traffic injuries are not a fatality and that it is possible to reduce their number significantly by engaging the necessary countermeasures.

Figure: Road traffic injury statistics in mainland France from 1953 to 2010

Source: National Interministerial Road Safety Observatory - ONISR (2010)

The French example above shows how road traffic mortality can be decreased significantly, despite a concurrent ten fold increase in the number of vehicles.

Based on the aforementioned observations, the Renault Foundation and Saint-Joseph University, Beirut have joined forces to set up a regional academic and research Chair in road safety management to reinforce local capacity by forming a national and regional network of experts able to catalyse and then manage a road safety policy.