WTCC backs UN decade of action

The World Touring Car Championship held a number of events today, to support the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, prior to the start of the Marrakech round of the championship.

Drivers from the championship participated in a Make Roads Safe photo call with FIA President Jean Todt. The photo call forms part of a wide range of initiatives by the championship, such as the branding of its safety car which has been running this season with liveries displaying the WTCC’s support for the Make Roads Safe campaign and Global Road Safety.

These initiatives follow on from similar actions which have taken place in the Formula One World Championship and other FIA World Championships this year.

FIA President, Jean Todt said: "I am glad that WTCC is taking action to back the Decade. It is important that a production vehicle based sport acts to raise awareness of the millions of people killed every year on the road. The FIA is committed to playing an active role in implementing the UN’s Decade of Action for Road Safety. The solutions to Road Safety are known, governments around the world must act to implement the UN’s Action Plan for Road Safety and save five million lives over the next 10 years."

Marcello Lotti, WTCC promoter said: "WTCC hopes that with initiatives such as the Make Roads Safe branded Safety Car, we will help focus the world’s attention a preventable killer that claims more lives than AIDS or Malaria."

The Make Roads Safe campaign is an initiative of the Commission for Global Road Safety. As a direct result of the Make Roads Safe Campaign and the work of the Commission for Global Road Safety, this March the United Nation proclaimed 2011-2020 a Decade of Action for Road Safety. With road deaths currently predicted to double in the next 10 years, this landmark resolution will pave the way to halve the deaths over the next decade saving five million lives.