Over one million people die as a result of road accidents every year, with 80% of these deaths occurring in developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) expects road accidents to be the third highest cause of death by 2020.
Road safety is a pressing issue for BP, but not one we can tackle alone. In 2003 BP participated in a number of initiatives designed to highlight driving safety issues or promote safety standards – working in partnership with other businesses, local community organizations and government agencies.
Global Road Safety Partnership
The GRSP, a global partnership involving business, civil society and governments, is dedicated to achieving a sustainable reduction in road crashes in developing and transition countries. BP plays an active part in GRSP – helping to create and strengthen links between partners in order to increase awareness of road safety issues; working hard to encourage common ownership of actions and initiatives.
FORD/FIA foundation
As sponsors of the Ford Rallye Sport team, BP worked closely with Ford and the FIA Foundation throughout the 2003 World Rally Championships – supporting action to stress the importance of safe driving behavior and the use of seatbelts.
European Transport Safety Council
We support the ETSC’s new three-year project, ‘The SEC Safety Belt’. The overall aim of the project is to achieve sustainable improvements in transport safety in the Southern, Eastern and Central countries of Europe (SEC countries) where road safety standards are generally lower than in Northern European states.
UK Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety
BP supports, and has provided support to PACTS – a registered charity and associate Parliamentary Group. Its objective is ‘to promote transport safety legislation to protect human life’. The Council advises and informs members of the House of Commons and House of Lords on air, rail and road safety issues; it brings together safety professionals and legislators to identify research-based solutions to transport safety problems.