FIA President Jean Todt today received the Safe Kids Worldwide Road to Safety Award, created to “recognize outstanding leaders who have worked tirelessly to advance innovative road safety solutions”.

President Todt stressed the important role being played by the 236 FIA motoring clubs in 141 around the world: “Over the past three years, the FIA, with the support of the FIA Foundation, has given millions in grant funding to over 100 projects around the world: education campaigns in schools, drink-driving campaigns; helmet campaigns; pedestrian safety campaigns; speed limit campaigns, and the list goes on. Next year they will be mobilised again for the UN Week on Road Safety for Children. We need to raise a powerful call for action, and encourage political leaders sign up to the Child Declaration for Road Safety.”

The Safe Roads | Safe Kids Global Road Safety Summit brought together leaders from more than 30 countries across the world from international organizations, governments, corporations, foundations, nongovernmental organizations, families and children, to significantly enhance the visibility of global road safety on the international health and development agenda and to reduce morbidity and mortality for children. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx delivered the keynote address.

Every day around the world, more than 500 children are killed on or around roads, and tens of thousands are injured, with many suffering lifelong disabilities. Children living in poorer nations are most at risk as more than 90 percent of child road traffic deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. The third UN Road Safety Week to be held in May 2015 will be dedicated to children’s safety.

“I am delighted to be here in Washington with Michelle to support the Safe Kids Worldwide Global Road Safety Summit,” said Jean Todt, who launched FIA’s Action for Road Safety campaign in May 2011 to support the UN Decade of Action. “I am full of admiration for people who are committed to ending the global scourge of road accidents. We know that 500 kids are killed on the road every single day and that thousands more are badly injured. The Safe Kids event is drawing much needed attention and awareness to this daily tragedy.”

He also praised the role carried out by the FIA’s sporting ambassadors: “Our sporting ambassadors allow us to connect with children and teenagers in a way that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. When their heroes – who understand the risks on the road better than anyone else - tell kids to be careful, obey the rules, and to never drink and drive, they listen up.”

President Todt called on politicians to commit to no more child fatalities in school zones. He cited the example of South Korea, where there has been a 95% reduction in child fatalities on their way to or from school annually since the 90s following the imposition of school zone 30 kmph speed limits, speed bumps and surveillance cameras; mandatory safety education, and a doubling of the penalty and criminal prosecution for drivers who crash in school zones. 

A new campaign called #SaveKidsLives was launched at the summit. The campaign calls on everyone who has a stake in global road safety to put measures in place to ensure that Global Road Safety Week in 2015 will have maximum impact in terms of building awareness and accomplishing essential advocacy goals. To join the campaign, visit www.savekidslives2015.org