The FIA Foundation coordinated eSafety Challenge promoting life-saving eSafety technologies, has received a €1.6 million contribution from the European Commission to support its campaigning activities. eSafety technologies are crucial for helping drivers make the right decisions in emergency situations and have the potential to save thousands of lives on the roads around the world. The next eSafety Challenge will take place on 13 July 2010 at the UK’s Millbrook vehicle testing centre.
Some of the world’s best drivers are supporting the eSafety Challenge, to help promote and highlight the life-saving potential of eSafety technologies.
Formula One stars Michael Schumacher, Heikki Kovalainen, Robert Kubica, Timo Glock, Giancarlo Fisichella, six-time Rally World Champion Sebastien Loeb, eight-time 24 Hour Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, and German Touring Car series star Susie Stoddart have all supported the eSafety campaign by demonstrating eSafety technologies at events throughout Europe.
Michael Schumacher, Seven-time Formula One World Champion, said:
"I am proud to be associated with this campaign. I am convinced that these technologies are critical in our collective bid to improve road safety. We must continue to raise awareness of their benefits in order to achieve our goal of reducing the numbers of people killed on the roads."
David Ward, Director General of FIA Foundation, said:
“New cars today are much safer than they were 10-15 years ago thanks to improved crash test standards, crumple zones, seatbelts, and air bags which help protect occupants in a crash. But annually at least 1.2 million people are killed in traffic and more than 50 million are injured worldwide. We’ve seen that safe cars protect passengers in an accident, but with these new vehicle safety technologies we can prevent an accident happening in the first place. We need to make sure that people know about these technologies when they select their next car.”
Each of the promoted safety systems has the potential to save lives by addressing the root cause of some of the most common accidents. Estimates for Electronic Stability Control (ESC) alone show that in Europe it could save 4,000 lives and prevent more than 100,000 injuries if fitted to all cars.
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