F1 cars will showcase road safety campaign

Formula 1 cars will feature Make Roads Safe branding beginning with this weekend’s Australian GP, the FIA announced today.

The Make Roads Safe campaign is a UN initiative, the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.

“I am pleased that F1 teams are putting their full backing behind this campaign,” FIA President Jean Todt said in a release. “Following the recent Decade of Action for Road Safety declaration by the UN General Assembly, the FIA is developing a ten-year international action plan to support the initiative. This strong support by F1 teams and the commercial rights holder will help take the road safety message from the top level of motor sport to the wider motoring public, and will set the stage for further participation of other motor sport competitors in the UN Decade of Action.”

Even Bernie Ecclestone is on board.

“Displaying the Make Roads Safe logo on all of the F1 cars is a powerful means to raise awareness and will go a long way in helping to promote the campaign to a global audience,” he said. “This is the first time such an initiative has been supported by all of the teams in this way and I applaud the FIA and the FIA Foundation for making it possible.”

The Make Roads Safe campaign is an initiative of the Commission for Global Road Safety. It was spearheaded by the FIA Foundation, a charitable organization established with funds from the sale of F1’s TV rights.

The goal of the campaign is to cut in half the number of road deaths over the next 10 years. According to the FIA, road deaths are expected to double in the coming decade. The initiative intends to save 5 million lives.