FIA President joins Global Road Safety WeekFIA President Max Mosley will join UK road safety organisations for the launch of the first UN Global Road Safety Week on 23 April 2007.
Globally, road crashes are now the leading cause of death for 10 to 25-year-olds, with
over a thousand young people killed on the roads every day, according to the World Health Organisation. In the UK, 70 children – the equivalent of two full classrooms – are still being killed or seriously injured every week.
Mosley was joined at the launch by
Michael Schumacher, Chairman of the Commission for Global Road Safety Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, and UK Road Safety Minister Stephen Ladyman MP. They were present to help launch the ‘Make Roads Safe’ campaign’s global petition which is calling for a UN conference on global road safety, a demand endorsed by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The international 'Make Roads Safe campaign,' organised by the FIA and FIA Foundation, officially launched its petition today calling for the UN to act on road deaths, and aims to secure at least 1.2 million signatures – the number of people killed on the roads each year – by the time the UN General Assembly debates road safety in November.
Max Mosley, FIA President
“Road deaths are an ongoing tragedy that must be addressed.
This is why the FIA has given its full support to the first UN Global Road Safety Week, a campaign which will initiate numerous road safety activities around the world. We must take strong action to deal with the growing epidemic of road deaths worldwide.”
Michael Schumacher “Road crashes kill on the scale of Malaria or Tuberculosis, yet the international community has not woken up to this horrific waste of life. That is why I strongly support the Make Roads Safe campaign and the proposal that the United Nations organise a first ever UN ministerial conference to tackle this preventable loss of life."
Franco Lucchesi, FIA Deputy President for Mobility
“Every year 1.2 million people die and over 50 million are injured on roads worldwide. This is unacceptable both from a moral and economical point of view. We can no more watch passively and blame these tragedies on sheer fatality. We all know that most accidents can be avoided and therefore we must take action right now.”
Source FIA
