Mosley commented: “This is the first time that all of the FIA member motoring clubs have joined together to sign up to an all-encompassing road safety agenda. The Declaration represents a dynamic way forward for the FIA to play a leading role in the continuing development of road safety around the world.”

Endorsed by the World Council for Mobility and the Automobile at its May meeting in Zagreb, the Declaration lays out a broad agenda of future road safety activities for FIA members. This agenda includes supporting major road safety initiatives such as the 2007 United Nations Global Road Safety Week and the FIA Foundation’s ‘Think Before You Drive’ campaign.

The Declaration covers all areas of road safety policy from funding and development to campaigning and lobbying.

It encourages all FIA member clubs to participate fully in activities associated with the 2007 United Nations Global Road Safety Week, especially the theme of the event, which is the safety of young road users and children. It endorses the recommendations of the recent World Health Organisation / World Bank report on road traffic injury prevention and welcomes the establishment of the World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility, which promotes greater investment in road safety in low and middle income countries.

The Declaration also encourages participation in road safety awareness campaigns such as ‘Think Before You Drive’ and other similar initiatives designed to promote key road safety messages such as seat belt, helmet and child restraint use. And it promotes motoring organisations in their pioneering role as developers of independent consumer safety rating systems both for new cars and for roads through New Car Assessment Programs such as the EuroNCAP and the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP).

The major recommendations of the Declaration will feature in a special policy seminar on global road safety during the next FIA Conference Week, which will take place in May 2007 in Cape Town, South Africa.

The FIA General Assembly also endorsed the FIA Foundation’s 'Make Roads Safe' campaign which was launched following the publication of the recent report of the Commission for Global Safety. Chaired by Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the former secretary general of NATO, and involving both FIA Foundation chairman Rosario Alessi and the seven times Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, the Commission has proposed key recommendations for a global road safety action plan and a revolution in the way safe road infrastructure is funded.

With the full backing of the FIA General Assembly, ‘Make Roads Safe’ will continue its lobbying campaign to try to ensure that world leaders at the G8 meeting in Germany next June and at the United Nations next October give much needed attention to the rising tide of avoidable fatalities occurring on the world's roads.

To download the full ‘Declaration on Global Road Safety’ please click here.