1st October saw a meeting between the new UN special envoy for road safety, M. Jean Todt and non government organisations. (Including of course the FIM). We know M. Todt well because he is also the President of the FIA.
Also attending were officials from the United Nations in Geneva , the World Health organisation and the World Bank. A number of governments were also represented including Russia, France, Spain, Switzerland and Germany. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss fund raising for road safety work. – With 1.3 million people a year losing their lives in road crashes this is urgent.
M. Todt outlined his plans for the next few years. He also agreed to open his diary so that when he is travelling to meet with governments around the world civil society will be informed. This will help coordinate pressure on governments to act.
FIM is very pleased at his appointment as with so many contacts across the globe we are sure that new energy will be injected into road safety work.
In November FIM will attend the UN conference on road safety and the “Decade of Action” to be held in Brazil.
The UN is very open about its work. FIM has been contributing to this since the 1980s. You can read all the details at: www.unece.org/trans
The internet site gets over 3.6 million visits every year and thousands of experts from organisations such as FIM contribute to this work.
John Chatterton-Ross