Michael Schumacher wearing his race helmet featuring the Make Roads Safe logo
The Make Roads Safe logo also features on the Williams FW32 racing car
Michael Schumacher has marked his return to the track with a new addition to his race helmet – a Make Roads Safe logo.
Schumacher, who has been a member of the Commission for Global Road Safety since 2006, and has been a leading advocate for the Make Roads Safe campaign, will carry the campaign’s distinctive ‘zebra crossing’ logo on his race helmet for the duration of the 2010 Formula One season.
He is joined in supporting the campaign by the Team Principal of the rival Williams F1 team, Sir Frank Williams, whose Williams FW32 racing cars will run for the 2010 season with a livery displaying prominent Make Roads Safe branding. Sir Frank, whose own serious car crash in 1985 left him confined to a wheelchair, will also wear the Make Roads Safe logo on his team uniform.
And the distinctive silver Mercedes Safety Car and Medical Car, a permanent feature at every F1 race, will also carry the Make Roads Safe logo and web address as part of their liveries.
Michael Schumacher and Sir Frank Williams joined Make Roads Safe Global Ambassador Michelle Yeoh and the FIA’s President, Jean Todt, to announce their support for the Make Roads Safe campaign at the first race of the new Formula One season, in Bahrain.
Michael Schumacher, seven time World Champion and member of the Commission for Global Road Safety, said:
“Road crashes have already overtaken malaria as a major killer in developing countries. A staggering total of 1.3 million people die every year in road traffic crashes and this figure is set to rise to almost 2 million by 2020. I am proud of the achievements of the Make Roads Safe campaign to date, the UN has backed our call for a Decade of Action and now I look forward to working with the many stakeholders in our motor sport to make our contribution to this vitally important cause.”
Frank Williams, Williams F1 Team Principal, said:
“Every year 1.3 million people are killed in road accidents across the world. Williams F1, and I personally, am committed to raising awareness of the Make Roads Safe campaign and working with the FIA in the implementation of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.”
FIA President, Jean Todt, said:
“I am delighted to see that Mercedes and Williams F1 are helping to promote the Make Roads Safe campaign message. Formula One is ideally placed to reach millions of viewers across the world and in doing so can help us raise awareness of the global, but often invisible tragedy of road casualties. Safety in Formula One has improved enormously over the last ten years, in the next ten years our sport can help focus public attention on improving safety on our roads.”
Michelle Yeoh, Global Ambassador for the FIA Foundation-led Make Roads Safe campaign, who recently addressed the UN General Assembly as it approved the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, said:
“This highly visible support will help the Make Roads Safe campaign reach millions of people worldwide, raising awareness for the forthcoming Decade of Action, and spreading our message that much more must be done to combat global road deaths – making road safety a political priority, designing safer roads and safer vehicles, tackling drink driving and inappropriate speed, encouraging use of seat belts and helmets. It is great that our campaign has achieved its objective of securing a Decade of Action, but now the real work begins. The Make Roads Safe campaign will be working to ensure that the Decade is action, and that the international community, and everyone with a stake in this issue, meets the challenge”.