UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has appointed FIA President Jean Todt as his Special Envoy for Road Safety at a meeting held today in Paris.

In this capacity, he will assist the UN Secretary General in mobilizing sustained political commitment towards road safety. Mr. Todt will also advocate and raise awareness about the United Nations road safety legal instruments, and share established road safety good practices, through his participations in global and regional conferences on road safety. In addition, the Special Envoy for Road Safety will generate funding for advocacy efforts through strategic partnerships between the public, private and non-governmental sectors.

FIA President Jean Todt said: "The road safety challenge is too often ignored, but road injuries are the number one killer of young people aged 15-29. That being the case, it deserves much more attention on the global political agenda." adding "This appointment will bring greater visibility to efforts to tackle this health and development crisis, as well as new leadership and renewed momentum.

"In my position as FIA President, with the backing of our members, road safety has become a key priority. I have been committed to bringing together all stakeholders fighting for this cause. This new role will help build an even stronger coalition for road safety worldwide," he said.

Road fatalities account for almost 1.3 million deaths every year with a further 50 million left seriously injured. 90 per cent of fatalities take place in developing and emerging countries, despite only accounting for half the world's vehicles. The UN Road Safety Week which begins on 4 May draws attention to the 500 children that lose their lives every day on the road. At the end of the year, Brazil will host the Second Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety on 18-19 November to review progress in the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Ro, 03/05/2015 21:49

"When I said "a frenchman voting for a frenchman" I meant he voted for himself....who the hell cares anyway ?"

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2. Posted by testa rossa, 02/05/2015 18:36

"Of course saving lives of kids is more important than to govern a bunch of nuttets in F1
But maybe the Fia should reinstate a kind of Fisa as in the old days to steer F1."

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3. Posted by REV77, 02/05/2015 15:13

"He already doesn't do much of anything for F1. Now it will be even less. He'll spend all of his time in New York attending cocktail parties..."

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4. Posted by Stitch431, 02/05/2015 13:41

"Well it sure isn't for his accomplishments to an exciting F1. Can he please leave and take a (non executive) seat at the UN? "

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5. Posted by SideGlance, 02/05/2015 9:54

"Honestly, what does F1 have to do with road safety ?? Road safety is important, but how does ANY racing form factor into road safety?

I can ONLY imagine that Drag Racing can be directly related to Street Racing but I do not think a Rocket powered or Nitro powered supercharged 4000HP car relates too much to road safety ? Only high speeds in non high-speed roads is very dangerous, not a F1 thing again.

A little confusing if you think about it. Effective ??"

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6. Posted by petes, 01/05/2015 4:50 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 01/05/2015 9:17)

"This comment was removed by an administrator as it was judged to have broken the site's posting rules and etiquette."

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7. Posted by Canuck, 01/05/2015 2:05

"@Ro - somehow I do not think Ban Ki-moon is French. He may have an accent but it is not french.

I agree in that I do not believe Jean Todd deserves any honours, but the FIA has promoted road satety for some time, even using F1 drivers to broadcast the message. Remember when Lewis got pulled over for speeding and screeching tires? The apology he had broadcast?

So I do not think it is Todd getting the honour, but the FIA president - who ever that maybe"

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8. Posted by kiwi2wheels, 30/04/2015 18:58

"Actually ' le petit frog ' should be asked to step down , as the U(nified) N(utters) is riddled with climate change scum, which is an antithesis to motorsport.

We are now seeing the ' benefits ' of placating the green lobby with the current F1 rules fiasco , dog slow, scheiss cars and sky high budgets , boring processions and falling attendances and interest.

I'll now go and watch my basil plants grow, at least the result is pleasing to the palate !"

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9. Posted by Ro, 30/04/2015 17:19

"Woooppey! A Frenchman being given a lifetime award, from another Frenchman....Worth about as much as a pair of soiled socks...or a f*RT in a collander!"

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10. Posted by CL, 30/04/2015 12:27 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 01/05/2015 9:17)

"Does this mean he leaves the FIA or not? There is no conflict of interest and some synergy between the roles, so I don't see why he would. Other special envoys seem to carry on with their "day job""

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11. Posted by Hondawho?, 30/04/2015 11:04

"Typical Frenchman, more interested in politics. Let him go and get someone to concentrate on sport (Motor racing is dangerous, yes please bring it on! )"

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12. Posted by Ro, 30/04/2015 8:52

"Maybe he should try and replace Sep Blatter and leave F1 alone, and give it back to someone who really cares about the F1 fan base...."

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13. Posted by charlieahill, 30/04/2015 7:37

"Am I the only one that sees this as an excuse for our glorious leaders to implement more speed limits, more restrictions on driving, and more monitoring, as we endeavour to meet the targets single handedly in the UK and Europe, and the developing world carry on as before? Oh well... at least if the UN is involved, there's finally an excuse for governments to make automatically speed limiting cars a reality. The UN protecting our freedoms of expression and choice my a**e."

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14. Posted by Darvi, 29/04/2015 21:23

"Hopefully he'll get a bit more done in this role than the one he's being paid for. The FIA has never contributed less to its flagship formula, this needs to change."

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15. Posted by kiwi2wheels, 29/04/2015 19:21

"FIA- Federation of International A**holes.

Having anything to do with that corrupt body demeans all of motorsport."

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Todt appointed UN Special Envoy for Road Safety

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