Advocacy Hub launched to support #StreetsforLife

To mark the start of the United Nations Global Road Safety Week, a new €15 million Advocacy Hub for safe streets has been launched by the FIA Foundation to support the policy change needed to limit speeds to 30 km/h (20 mph) on streets where children walk, live and play.

The Advocacy Hub, based within the FIA Foundation’s Child Health Initiative, will support organizations across the world engaged in policy change activities to secure safe, low-speed streets below 30km/h where pedestrians, particularly children and youth, mix with motorized traffic. With an initial fund of €15m over five years, it is intended to deliver on the Child Health Initiative’s Manifesto 2030: Safe & Healthy Streets for Children, Youth & Climate, launched at the Stockholm Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in 2020.

Rafaela Machado, SR4S Global Programme Coordinator said “The Advocacy Hub is a powerful platform for collaboration among leading organisations on child safety to create safe journeys and empower communities and the youth. We are incredibly proud to see SR4S contributing to these efforts as a global metric for advocacy strategies and life-saving road interventions around schools.”

Deploying iRAP’s Star Rating for Schools assessments as a campaigning tool, the Advocacy Hub has a dedicated fund supporting FIA automobile clubs, often working with other partners, to build the compelling case for national or municipal investment in safe footpaths, crossings, cycle lanes and speed limits for the daily journey to and from school take by millions of children every day.

“At the heart of the 2020 Stockholm Declaration for Global Road Safety was a call for 30 kilometre a hour speed limits on urban streets. Why? Because we know that above 30 the risk of death for pedestrians rises exponentially. So, it is a simple equation. If you support Vision Zero, if you believe that no one should die or be maimed in a road crash, then you must ‘love 30’. Our new Advocacy Hub will put money, expertise and single-minded determination behind this objective”, said Rt. Hon. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, Chairman of the FIA Foundation.

Image credit: FIA Foundation