Young children are so vulnerable on the roads of Asia.
As the East races to enjoy the benefits of our globalised world, hundreds of thousands of people are driving cars for the first time and the plain truth is that in many places, the standards of driving and vehicle care are not yet what they are in the West.
In China alone, it is estimated that 100 children are killed or injured on the roads every day as a result of traffic collisions. Often they are merely walking or cycling to and from school - young lives snuffed out almost before they have begun; casualties of this race to grasp the future.
In Asia as a whole, where the new economics of business and social life are changing virtually before our eyes, this terrible toll of carnage on the roads is being exacted as a bi-product of the path of progress.
The United Nations, whose experts are tasked with keeping a record of these things, estimates that 440,000 people will die in traffic-related collisions across the roads of Asia this year. As a comparison in the UK, this is the equivalent of wiping out the entire population of a city like Leeds in a single year. Or Leicester. Or Bristol. Or Portsmouth.
It is an appalling cull of life; unacceptable surely on any humanitarian scale. And to make matters worse, it is largely preventable.
The difficulty is that it takes time to catch up with progress. Seatbelts, pavements, crash helmets, speed limits, driving proficiency, vehicle road-worthiness …all of the things which we take for granted while driving in the West, are evolving more slowly in Asia. There are 32 nations on that Continent and many of them are at very different stages of development. But time, of course, waits for no one.
Something has to be done by the West and others to bring this grim and forgotten harvest into the world’s domain – to raise awareness of these issues, to share the benefits of our own experience, and to help reduce this suffering in any way that we can.
Our journey, driving the first car to cross the full extent of the new Asian Highway network of roads from Tokyo to Istanbul (and then to London), is our contribution towards that effort.
Thanks to Aston Martin, who are providing one of their world-famous cars, the regional commission of the United Nations, and our many other sponsors and supporters, we are wanting to drive home the message of the ‘Make Roads Safe’ and ‘Safety is No Accident‘ campaigns.
They are demanding that a higher priority is given by the world’s great organisations and national authorities in tackling the causes of death and injury on the roads.
Whenever someone dies prematurely in a traffic collision, the consequences will usually be far-reaching. When it is a child, that hurt can only be worse. In Asia, where the victim may often be the bread-winner, the impact on their family and community can be devastating.
We are proud, in our small way, to be joining in the effort of focusing attention on these difficult problems – and in a practical way too; by raising money to pay for cartoon-style books that will help to educate children on the dangers they face on the roads.
For their sake, and in the cause of common humanity, we believe that every driver will understand our aim of making the world a safer place, and we thank you for sharing that concern.
Richard Meredith, Team Leader – Driving Home Road Safety 2007