A promising new global initiative “intended to finance programs that would help reduce worldwide crash casualties was announced on Tuesday in London.” (T. Mohn, NY Times Wheels, 4/12).
The Commission for Global Road Safety has created the Driving Safety Initiative, which is “calling on the automobile industry to play a leading role in improving safety on the world's roads through voluntary contributions added to the sale price of each new car.” Although consumers may opt out of the voluntary contributions, the vast majority of consumers are expected to be willing to contribute the equivalent of about two dollars. Bela Dinh-Zarr, the North American director of Make Roads safe, urges consumers to participate in this important cause because “it's just $2, less than a cup of coffee, but could help buy a helmet for a child in some countries.”
According to the Commission's chairman, Lord George Robertson, “car manufacturers and dealers can play an important, visible and positive role in saving lives and preventing disability, and we encourage them to support our proposal for a safety levy.” As a Chicago car and truck accident attorney, I join him in urging car manufacturers to take on this important task to make the roads all around the world safer.
The Driving Safety Initiative is “modeled on similar voluntary fundraising efforts for other public health epidemics, like Lance Armstrong's Livestrong campaign for cancer,” and the initiative is part of the United Actions Decade of Action for Road Safety, which begins on May 11, 2011. As a Chicago personal injury attorney, I fully support this important initiative.
