FIA President Jean Todt, who also serves as the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Road Safety, opened his speech with key figures on global road traffic fatalities. 1.25 million people die on the world's roads every year and that road crashes are currently the main cause of death for 15-29 year olds around the world.

He called for further global efforts on road safety if we are to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goal to halve road fatalities and injuries by 2020. International organisations such as the IRU can play a crucial role in helping to ensure safer roads for all.

Jean Todt highlighted the main initiatives being led by the FIA to reduce the loss of lives on the road. This included the #3500LIVES road safety campaign, which conveys key road safety to road safety to road users. The campaign has been displayed in over 75 countries and more than 900 cities.  

The FIA President also hailed the active support of the IRU to the FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety (HLP). The HLP is an unprecedented coalition of leaders from the business community, international institutions and NGOs gathered to raise awareness and funding on road safety and to help stakeholders coordinate and deliver the most appropriate action on the ground.

While 80 to 90% of crashes involving commercial vehicles are caused by human error, he emphasised that commercial road transport operators and associations can act as multipliers for road safety initiatives and could deliver important messages through training initiatives. 

To conclude his address, he said, "Your activities throughout the world and strong global network of associations mean that the IRU can play an important role not only in making road safety a global priority, but also in leading the way towards implementing a true safety culture in commercial road transport internationally. In areas such as vehicle standards or getting road safety on the regional and national agenda, your support could help make a difference."