Road safety topics raised in Davos-Klosters

25 January 2016

For the first time in the history of the World Economic Forum, road safety topics have been included in the official agenda of the Davos meeting, which indicates an ever-increasing awareness of the road safety problem within the international community.

During the Road Safety – New Challenges session, the participants discussed innovative ways of road safety development. The day before the session, the FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety, with participation of General Victor Kiryanov, had held the meeting on its 2016 agenda.

The session was moderated by the Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer, Bertrand Badré, and was held with the participation of the FIA President and UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, the President of the Inter-American Development Bank and member of the World Economic Forum's Foundation Board, Luis Alberto Moreno, the Chief Executive Director of the Sensity Systems company, Hugh Martin, and others.

According to the data presented during the session, almost 1.25 million people are killed in road accidents every year, which means that every 30 seconds one person dies in a road accident. Costs of road accidents amount to 500 billion USD a year.

Jean Todt, the FIA President, highlighted the role of F1 and other leading world motorsport series as workshops of road safety encouraging development of innovative safety technology subsequently set to be used in conventional vehicles. He added that the level of safety on the roads can be greatly increased through the introduction of innovative measures: "We need to be open to new possibilities, for example, automated technology that can significantly lower the number of road accidents caused by human error. We need to make technologies generally accessible and available".

Jean Todt noted that today, as we are in the middle of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, it is time for businesses, governments, and public to join their efforts for the cause of improving road safety. In order to do so, it is important to analyze the present situation in every country and to determine key actions necessary to tip the scales and save lives.

In an effort to consolidate global efforts, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) has formed the FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety, engaging leading politicians, entrepreneurs and social activists from all over the world. The HLP aims to find innovative solutions that will reduce road death and injury rates.

Natalia Agre, the Road Russia Presidents, represents Russia in the Advisory Group to the FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety. The Advisory Group functions to analyze the existing situation with road safety in the world, and to develop proposals for discussion for the HLP.

Share




Comments

So that to post a comment you need to login the web site

News

We recommend to look



Login Register
Login Register