Next year will be especially important for efforts to raise road safety on the international agenda. The first UN Global Road Safety Week will be held on 23-29 April 2007. The theme of the Week is ‘young road users’ and the Make Roads Safe campaign, led by the FIA Foundation and supported by many FIA clubs.

The FIA Foundation will use this high profile opportunity to raise awareness of key campaigning issues:

• Five hundred children are killed every day on the world’s roads, with many thousands more injured;
• For young drivers, the highest risk road user group in industrialised countries, road crashes are the number one killer;
• For young men, road crashes are second only to HIV/AIDS as a global killer.

David Ward, FIA Foundation Director General, commented: “Young driver safety and child safety are both priorities for many FIA clubs. This UN Global Road Safety Week and the theme for the Week of young road users were both ideas originally proposed by the FIA Foundation. The Week could provide a platform for automobile clubs to demonstrate their commitment to road safety for young road users and also to call for greater action at the international level by highlighting the Make Roads Safe petition.”

Also in late 2007, the UN General Assembly in New York will debate the ‘global road safety crisis’ and discuss a new UN resolution on the issue. The Make Roads Safe campaign’s UN petition aims to increase the pressure on UN members to take road safety seriously and agree a strong resolution mandating substantive action.

Despite road crashes causing death and injury on the scale of Malaria, Tuberculosis and, for some age groups, HIV/AIDS, the level of international interest or action on road safety is comparatively very low. The Make Roads Safe campaign is calling for new and reallocated funds to tackle the problem.

To sign the Make Roads Safe petition, or for more information, see www.makeroadssafe.org

To read more about 'Young Drivers: The Road to Safety' Please click here.