Shoichiro Toyoda signed up to the ‘Decade of Action’ proposal
The FIA Foundation has promoted the Make Roads Safe and ChooseESC! campaigns at the ITS World Congress from 17 to 20 November 2008 in New York. More than 8500 transportation officials and industry leaders from 45 countries participated in the event.
Delegates at the Congress signed up to support the Make Roads Safe campaign’s call for a ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety’. High profile figures from the transportation sector including Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda, honorary Chairman of the Toyota corporation, signed up to the Decade of Action campaign demand.
He was joined by Mark Rosenker, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board who visited the FIA Foundation stand and offered his support to both campaigns. Mr Rosenker has previously been promoting ESC with the aim of supporting the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in its effort to make ESC mandatory in the US.
Jacob Bangsgaard, FIA Foundation Director of International Relations, presented the ESC campaign activities in a special session on global safety activities together with experts involved in safety initiatives from Japan and the US. The presentation was well received and participants praised the important role the campaign has in spreading the ESC message.
Irina Patrascu of eSafetyAware, the coalition supporting ChooseESC!, moderated a session on the role of ITS on environmental issues. The session gathered experts from the field discussing the worldwide efforts of involving ITS technologies in reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
The ChooseESC! dummy was a major attraction at the event and has been featured in the ITS Daily News magazine, in an article stressing the importance of ESC in saving lives on roads worldwide.