Road Safety

The FIA Foundation, to which Williams F1 is a financial contributor, is a driving force in pioneering the NCAP vehicle safety standards and more recently promoting the Make Roads Safe campaign.

Formula One is one of the best pre-emptive safety environments of its kind with much of this knowledge transferable into everyday motoring. There are over 1.3 million deaths on the world’s roads every year – more than those caused by malaria. With increasing levels of car ownership in the developing world, this trend is likely to rise alarmingly in the absence of significant and committed action. The UN’s first Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety took place in Moscow in November 2009. Williams supported the publicity around this landmark event, both in Moscow itself as well as helping to drive overseas awareness through events, and TV & radio promotion.

Williams is also progressing its own initiatives. With acute problems in developing countries, the company has focused on Angola. The Williams F1 Team Foundation has been established and is working closely with Angola-based Fundo Lwini and the Angolan Police to launch a road safety awareness campaign aimed principally at young male drivers. Research visits to other countries in the Middle East, carried out with the support of the FIA Foundation, are providing the necessary understanding of road traffic risk factors in order to develop programmes elsewhere in the world. Both the lessons of Formula One and the engagement that racing drivers can uniquely offer to the younger male demographic (who are most at risk on the road) provide a strong basis for Williams to lend its identity and support to education and communication programmes in these areas.