Professionals from as far afield as Cyprus, Hong Kong and Nigeria, as well as from around the UK, are joining the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to look at how tackling the deficit will affect road safety.

Tom Mullarkey, RoSPA's chief executive, is giving the keynote address at RoSPA's Road Safety Seminar. He will focus on the event's overriding theme - road safety in a time of reduced public spending - as well as touching on the more positive aspects of road safety that have emerged recently.

The Department for Transport is now committed to publishing a strategic framework for road safety by April this year; and the launch of the UN's Decade of Action for Road Safety on May 11 shows that casualty reduction on the roads will remain a global priority.

Tom Mullarkey said: "With 1.3million people killed in road accidents around the world, and tens of millions injured, Britain must play its part in the Decade of Action. RoSPA intends to continue improving the UK's accident and injury rate and we look forward to sharing our expertise and experience with other countries - as well as learning from their successes.

"In the light of reduced public spending, it is more important than ever that road safety is undertaken efficiently and effectively, and I hope that the seminar will provide road safety professionals with plenty of ideas to take away and put into practice."

Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS) will be among the speakers.

Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA, said: "We hope that the seminar will enable people to go back to their organisations feeling positive about what they can do to improve road safety in their areas, in spite of reduced budgets across the board."

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