In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly issued resolution 72/271 “Improving global road safety”, which established the United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF), with a view to joining forces and consolidating action to achieve safe mobility targets. The fund aims to finance high-impact projects to increase road safety, with the ultimate goal of mitigating and, ideally, eliminating road traffic injuries. To achieve its objective, the Fund conducts a meticulous selection process that prioritizes broad participation by actors including government, civil society and the private sector, always under the management and guidance of the United Nations Focal Points set up by UNRSF. The projects that are prioritized support countries in their activities to achieve the road safety objectives defined in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030, and also in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

In this context, UNRSF financed the implementation of a project titled “Strengthening road traffic enforcement in the State of Pará in Brazil”, managed by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and implemented with support from the Traffic Department of the State of Pará. The project has enabled Pará State to expand the training of traffic agents and thus strengthen enforcement actions and interventions on the roads, all with the ultimate goal of reducing deaths and injuries in traffic accidents. This issue of FAL Bulletin shows how the adoption of appropriate road safety measures has not only contributed to reducing the number of traffic-accident fatalities and injuries in the Brazilian State of Pará, but has also become a road safety benchmark for other entities and countries. It is also worth noting the leading role played by the approach to road safety in Australia, as a guide and key to the successful implementation of the project in Brazil.