Han

Why do we need the UN to act on road safety? Here's a reason: Han.

LeXuan Han should have been celebrating her ninth birthday today. But she died three weeks ago.

She was riding on a motorcycle with her dad, mum and little sister Nhu. The parents were wearing crash helmets. The children were dressed for a party and didn't want the helmets to mess their hair. They were hit by another motorcycle and crashed. Nhu had concussion. Han died.

We're in Vietnam with movie star Michelle Yeoh, a global ambassador for the Make Roads Safe campaign. Today Michelle met Nhu and her mum. Nhu, a sweet little six year old, should have been at her sister's birthday party. Instead she played in a park while her mother talked about loss, grief, guilt and the pain of continuing. Han's mother is utterly devastated. Han's father is still in hospital with serious injuries and won't be working to support his family for some time. Nhu doesn't really understand yet that her sister won't be coming back.

One family torn apart. But a thousand families are riven in this way every day, losing a child or a young adult. Children like Han are dying because of speed, drink driving, badly designed roads and sometimes from simple mistakes: Vietnam introduced a new helmet law in December, rigorously enforced, which brought adult compliance rapidly to 99%. But the law covering children was badly drafted and unenforceable, so parents simply haven't bothered to protect their children or, in the case of Han, tragically lapsed for one short trip one Sunday morning because they were going to a party.

How does this connect to the UN General Assembly debate and or demand for UN action? Because if road safety has a higher profile, if people better understand the causes and consequences of road injuries, if countries share experiences and lessons, then fatal mistakes - at every level - of the kind that killed Han will be less likely to happen.

What better reason could there be?