The FIA Formula E round held in Mexico this Saturday 12 March – the first ever to take place in the country – represents an opportunity for international and local stakeholders to showcase their commitment to road safety, one of the key priorities of the FIA, the world’s governing body for motor sport and the leading federation of road users’ organisations.

On Friday 11 March, an FIA delegation led by the President and UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, and José Abed, Vice President for Sport and President of OMDAI, an FIA member, met with the Mayor of Mexico City, Miguel Angel Mancera. Altogether with senior Mexican officials, they signed an agreement aiming at implementing training courses for public transportation vehicle operators across Mexico City through OMDAI’s programmes.

In parallel, the Municipality agreed on launching a communications campaign promoting its Vision Zero policy announced in 2015, with the support of the Slim Foundation – chaired by FIA Senate Member Carlos Slim Domit, who is also the CEO of Grupo Carso and Telmex.  Vision Zero is a comprehensive strategy that originated from Sweden and based on the principle that no loss of human life from road crashes is acceptable.

Mayor Mancera was then invited by the FIA President to attend the preparatory stages of the FIA Formula E ePrix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. He notably visited the stand jointly organised by the FIA, the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and the Red Cross in the Formula E eVillage, with the support of the local FIA member clubs - OMDAI, ANA and AMA. The stand is mainly dedicated to raising awareness on the importance of seat belt wearing and child restraint systems and is offering first-aid training to visitors until Saturday evening.

Michelle Yeoh, Global Road Safety Ambassador and FIA High Level Panel Spokesperson, Carlos Slim Domit, José Abed, Fernando Suinaga Cardenas, President of the Mexican Red Cross, Christopher Reh, Global Director for Safety & Environmental Sustainability of the Coca-Cola Company, and Pieter Venter, former CEO of the GRSP and advisor of the FIA High Level Panel for road safety also attended the visit.

Miguel Mancera, Mayor of Mexico City said: "This agreement is meant to boost a new culture of mobility and road safety, whose main goal is to save lives."

Jean Todt, FIA President and UN Special Envoy, said: “I am delighted to be here again in Mexico, with our friends from OMDAI. Formula E is about paving the way for tomorrow’s mobility and this includes safer roads for all users. The partnership established between OMDAI and the City of Mexico should produce great outcomes through the improvement of driving standards for municipal operators.”

He added: “Meanwhile, Formula E – a young competition attracting fresh audiences – provides us with a platform to raise awareness on road safety to the thousands of spectators attending, altogether with our partners from the GRSP and the Red Cross. Making significant progress to reduce the number of road crashes’ victims can only be achieved by bringing all stakeholders to take action together, and this weekend we will demonstrate that this is possible.”

Formula E drivers including Salvador Duran, Lucas di Grassi and Jerome D’Ambrosio also dropped by the stand today for first-aid lessons.

"Being able to bring the first aid to the victims of a road crash is very important because each of us can be in a similar situation" - said Team Aguri driver Salvador Duran - "I'm glad I had the opportunity to participate in such an initiative and I would like to thank the FIA and the Red Cross for this opportunity. I believe that we drivers can do much to raise the public awareness about road safety and first aid, especially among the younger generations."

Tomorrow, motor sport fans will be treated to a meet and greet session with Mexican drivers from the “Pilotos por la Seguridad Vial” programme. Guillermo Rojas Nieto (Sports car), Gisela Ponce (Súper Copa), Juan Carlos Carmona Chávez (Nissan GT Academy) amongst others will be in attendance.

The stand and the safety messages are supported by the FIA's Action for Road Safety campaign partners: Coca-Cola, Michelin, Nissan and Petronas.

Note to the editors

About road safety in Mexico

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Mexico suffers from the highest traffic crash and fatality rates and accounts for the largest number of child road deaths for children aged 5 to 9. And with no mandatory legislation on seat belts, seat belt wearing rate in Mexico is only 36% for front seat and 13% for rear seat.

The Mexican government has recognised an urgent need to improve the road safety situation and put an end to detrimental social and economic losses. Various government institutions are engaged in halving the road death toll by 2050. International organisations including the FIA, iRAP, Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and WHO are also involved in various programmes and initiatives to strengthen road safety performance. In this context, the FIA supports a project on road safety data in partnership with the International Transport Forum (ITF) allowing Mexico to benefit from accurate road safety data.

About the FIA

The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) is the governing body for world motor sport and the federation of the world’s leading motoring organisations.

Founded in 1904, with headquarters in Paris and Geneva, the FIA is a non-profit making association. It brings together over 235 national motoring and sporting organisations from more than 140 countries on five continents. Its member clubs represent millions of road users and their families.

On issues such as safety, mobility, the environment and consumer law the FIA actively promotes the interests of all road users at the United Nations, within the European Union and through other international bodies.

As part of the FIA Action for Road Safety campaign, the FIA and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have a long-standing partnership to support the implementation of grassroots post-crash care response programmes at the global level.