JEAN TODT PARTICIPATES IN THE 73rd ITALIAN MOBILITY CONFERENCE IN GENOA

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30.11.18

Today, in Genoa, FIA President Jean Todt, who also serves as United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, took part in the 73rd Italian Mobility Conference, organised by FIA Member Club Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI).

Bringing together policy makers, experts and academia on the theme of safe and sustainable mobility, the conference focused this year on the need for appropriate maintenance programmes for the secondary road network. In particular, the discussions highlighted how important it is to establish higher safety standards for these roads.

According to a study produced by ACI, more than 20,000 road crashes occur every year on the secondary road network, resulting in 1,000 deaths and more than 33,000 injured people. Each km requires, on average, €46,000 of maintenance, but currently the allocated budget only covers 8% of the whole secondary road network.

ACI President Angelo Sticchi Damiani called on governments at local and national levels to find the necessary resources to fund maintenance programmes for the secondary road network and thus increase safety on these roads.

FIA President Jean Todt declared “Frequent road maintenance interventions help keeping our roads safe. Like car safety, road efficiency is assessed by independent international bodies and the secondary road network must reach 3-star minimum scores in the iRap-EuroRAP classification as soon as possible. This is the only way to reduce the tragic number of road crashes by 30%. It will help save lives and generate significant economic benefit for the local communities.”

The Italian Mobility Conference took place in Genoa where, on 14 August 2018, a major section of the highway bridge, Ponte Morandi, collapsed, causing the death of 43 people.  Following the conference, Jean Todt visited the premises of the tragedy, in his capacity as United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, along with ACI President Angelo Sticchi Damiani, the Director of National Traffic Police Force and a representative of the City of Genoa. They all expressed their sympathy to the victims of this tragedy as well as their families.