FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety
On 11 November, 2015, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) launched a High Level Panel for Road Safety at the United Nations in New York with the support of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, marking a major step forward in global road safety.
Bringing together an unprecedented coalition of senior decision makers in policy, business and public health, the FIA’s High Level Panel engaged both the public and the private sectors to raise funding and political awareness in response to the road safety crisis, and to remobilize support for the goals of the Decade of Action and for the new Sustainable Development Goals, which were approved at the latest UN General Assembly, and through which governments committed to halving road traffic fatalities by 2020.
Jean Todt, High Level Panel for Road Safety Chairman, who is also the President of the FIA and the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, said: “The FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety is a unique initiative supporting an exceptional objective – a 50% reduction of fatalities on the world’s roads in the next five years, a target recognized under the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. The panel members, all of them leaders in their field, will work toward this goal through raising the necessary funds and awareness to stop and reverse the tragic loss of life on our roads.”.
Michelle Yeoh, Spokesperson for the Panel, said: “The focus of the High Level Panel is on practical action to improve road safety in those countries where the need is most urgent. The Panel brings together a network of leading individuals, from a range of fields of experience. Combined they can substantially raise awareness of the global road safety challenge and the need to mobilize new funds for this cause.”.
The panel of global leaders includes Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). GRSP CEO Dr Barry Watson has been appointed to the Advisory Group, and former CEO and current GRSP Africa Adviser Dr Pieter Venter has been appointed to the Experts Group. With such strong representation, GRSP is looking forward to contributing to the deliberations of the panel and identifying new approaches to help achieve the ambitious road safety targets.
