Michelle Yeoh with the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Michelle Yeoh with Carlos Slim of Mexico
Michelle Yeoh with Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB)
Make Roads Safe campaign ambassador Michelle Yeoh has met with former US President Bill Clinton to launch a $10 million scheme to help the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) improve the safety of road infrastructure in developing countries.
The ten year commitment by the FIA Foundation, made at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting in New York aims to identify road safety improvements that could prevent 1 million road deaths and serious injuries each year. The FIA Foundation committed the funds to iRAP to provide ‘vaccines for roads’ - working with developing country partners to assess the safety performance of road networks, making technical recommendations to governments and providing cost/benefit analysis for fixing the road infrastructure design flaws that contribute to the global road death epidemic.
iRAP’s approach is in line with the proposal for a ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety’ which is on the agenda of the first ever global Ministerial conference on road safety due to be held in Moscow this November. iRAP would be one key initiative contributing to the Decade of Action by ensuring that key safety measures become an integral part of road infrastructure building.
Announcing the iRAP commitment, Michelle Yeoh said: “Thousands of people are killed or injured every day in developing countries because essential safety measures are left out of road infrastructure projects. We must do more to protect all road users. It’s often just a simple case of putting a crossing point in to help children get to school or ensuring that cyclists and pedestrians are separated from busy traffic.”
Michelle was joined in New York by Lord Robertson, chairman of the Make Roads Safe campaign. He said: “Road infrastructure is without doubt vital for economic development in low and middle income countries and essential for improving access to education and health care. However, these efforts are entirely undermined when that infrastructure fails to protect those using it. Through this important commitment iRAP can ensure that roads are made safer for all.”
During the CGI Michelle Yeoh met with a wide range of international leaders from government and business, including the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, the Mexican entrepreneur Carlos Slim and the President of the InterAmerican Development Bank, Luiz Alberto Moreno.
Road deaths and injuries are predicted to increase over the next decade to almost 2 million a year by 2020 unless action is taken. They are forecast to be the number one cause of disability and premature death for children aged 5-14 in developing countries by 2015, according to World Health Organization projections. The iRAP commitment marks the CGI’s first road safety project.
iRAP is a not for profit organisation which is dedicated to saving lives by promoting safer road design. Roads and express highways are primarily built for economic objectives and the needs of vulnerable road users, often poor communities bisected by new or upgraded roads, are left out of the equation. iRAP works with a range of partners in Africa, Asia and Latin America to encourage implementation.
Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI members have made more than 1,400 commitments valued at $46 billion, which have already improved the lives of 200 million people in 150 countries.
For further information on iRAP visit www.irap.org
Details on the vaccines for roads commitment can be found at www.clintonglobalinitiative.org