The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is launching the first worldwide outdoor campaign on road safety. Embodied by 13 famous ambassadors, the “3500 lives” campaign is named after tragic statistics: everyday, 3,500 people die in car crashes worldwide, which means 1.25 million every year. The campaign promotes 10 “Golden Rules” which remind us how to behave on the road.
A worldwide public health issue
Statistics about road safety are sobering. Each year, more than 1.25 million people die because of traffic related accidents. In other words, a person dies every 30 seconds due to a car crash, up to 3500 deaths every day. A particularly alarming situation for 15-29 year-olds, for whom traffic related fatalities are the first cause of mortality.
An engaging, optimistic and universal campaign
Facing these disturbing facts, the FIA is speaking up and is taking action through a worldwide awareness campaign. Launched in March, the consciousness video is actually aired in more than 50 countries. The 10 “Golden Rules” are reminders of easy and efficient rules alike “Buckle up”, “Don’t text and drive” or “Stop when you’re tired”1.
Those messages are embodied by 13 famous ambassadors:
- athletes like Yohan Blake, Haile Gebrselassie, Antoine Griezmann, Vanessa Low, Rafael Nadal, and Wayde van Niekerk;
- drivers like Fernando Alonso, Marc Marquez, Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg;
- artists like Pharrell Williams and Michelle Yeoh, and;
- politicians like Anne Hidalgo.
Together we can save lives
“Through the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety, I sincerely hope that we can save human lives. It is totally unacceptable more than one million people die on the roads and more than fifty million are injured.” Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General
Everyone has a role to play in making safer roads for all. Everyone is invited to sign the ten point FIA manifesto for global road safety (www.fia.com/3500lives) which calls for a better infrastructure, safer vehicles, more effective laws and road safety fund.
Halve traffic deaths around the world by 2020
To reach the ambitious target of reducing those preventable deaths by 50% in just five years, the FIA hopes that this campaign will raise awareness internationally of the urgent need to address the global pandemics of road fatalities, especially in developing countries, and to establish global action plans to obtain concrete results in order to act on road deaths.
Sign the Manifesto here!
1 Obey the speed limit, Never drink and drive, Use a child safety seat, Always pay attention, Buckle up, Don’t text and drive, Stop when you’re tired, Wear a helmet, Check your tires, Stay bright.
