Ban has issued a report which highlights the Make Roads Safe campaign achievements and places road safety firmly on the UN’s agenda.

In his report, Ban noted that Make Roads Safe had received support from high profile figures such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Prime Minister Tony Blair. He accepted the campaign’s key message - that the international community must now act on road safety. “Despite increased awareness of the issue, there is a pressing need for greater effort and resources to be directed towards the problem,” Ban said in the report.

Earlier, the Russian government had added its strong support to the Make Roads Safe campaign’s call for the Ministerial Conference after a high level meeting and effective auto club lobbying. Chairman of the Commission for Global Road Safety Lord Robertson of Port Ellen held talks with Russian Ambassador to London Yuri Fedotov in order to discuss hosting the UN Ministerial. Alongside this, Victor Kiryanov President of the Russian Automobile Federation (RAF) held discussions with Prince Michael of Kent, the Patron of the Commission for Global Road Safety.

Russia becomes the third G8 country, after the UK and Italy, to support the Make Roads Safe campaign’s proposal for a UN conference. FIA clubs are being encouraged to step up their campaigns for the UN Ministerial and international action on road safety ahead of a UN General Assembly debate on the subject which is now likely to be held in March 2008.

This is hoped to give auto clubs further time to collect signatures for the Make Roads Safe campaign, to run awareness raising events and to lobby their governments. So far, hundreds of thousands of signatures have been collected worldwide in support of the campaign aims.

As with Russia, Austria’s auto club OEAMTC has been effective in calling on its government to support the UN Ministerial. After a meeting with the club, Austria’s foreign minister, Ursula Plassnik, said: “Every day 3000 people, 500 of them children, are killed in accidents all over the world. Such a high number of victims are unacceptable. We must do everything we can to improve road safety and people's quality of life.” 

Other clubs have continued with some high profile activities. At the end of September, the Automovil Club de Costa Rica once again stepped up its Make Roads Safe campaign. Transport Minister Karla González, who is working closely with the club’s President Carlos Macaya on the issue, held a follow up press conference involving a group of 400 school children. After the press conference, the Minister attached a reflective sticker with the words Seguridad Vial (Road Safety) to every child’s school bag.

Make Roads Safe Costa Rica toured the province of Guanacaste and held a series of school visits. In a campaign coup, the Costa Rican government officially designated the road traffic police to accompany the automobile club’s campaign team on its petition collecting tour. The club has succeeded in collecting over 100,000 signatures.

Italy’s ACI club collected signatures during the Monza Grand Prix in September. The event followed a newspaper campaign calling for Make Roads Safe support. The club has also succeeded in capturing the signature of Finnish Formula One driver Mikka Häkkinen who pledged his support on 2 October at ACI’s Autodrome near Rome.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian club ATCE has now gathered 50,000 signatures for the campaign. It has written to Safwat Al Sherif who is head of the upper chamber of the Egyptian Parliament to help organise a media campaign in support of Make Roads Safe.

The Make Roads Safe campaign is organised by the FIA Foundation. To sign the petition and get further information visit www.makeroadssafe.org