FIA President and Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Road Safety Jean Todt attended the launch of the UNHCR’s Safe Road Use campaign in Geneva on Wednesday 10 June.

The event was attended by senior officials from UNHCR, and Jean Todt was welcomed by the High Commissioner of the agency, Antonio Guterres.

Safe Road Use is a campaign launched by UNHCR in support of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety that aims to bring the number of road crash casualties in or by UNHCR vehicles to zero.

This is a crucial matter of safety for UNHCR, as it has the largest fleet of the UN system with more than 5,000 vehicles in service in 123 countries. Last year, 15 people lost their lives due to road crashes in which the organisation's vehicles were involved. By setting up a “Vision Zero Plan”, UNHCR acknowledges that road crashes are preventable and will work towards implementing well-known and efficient solutions.

The campaign will include a widespread awareness-raising initiative focused on the 9,300 UNHCR collaborators dispatched around the globe, as well as workshops on road safety.

During the event, Jean Todt and other officials pledged their support to the “Vision Zero” goal and congratulated all those working on the project.

Jean Todt said: “The zero goal may seem ambitious, but with real action, it can be achieved.”

Observing that the UNHCR’s project was set to debut in selected developing countries, he added: “Road accidents cost some 500 billion USD a year, according to the World Health Organisation, and developing nations are bearing the brunt of the cost and the highest number of deaths.”

The FIA and the UNHCR share a common vision pertaining to road safety and are looking forward to working together on the matter in the near future.