YOURS recently featured a story that highlighted the collaboration of Irish Motorsport drivers and road safety campaigners who have agreed to wear the Decade of Action Tag in an effort to promote the Decade’s mission to reduce road crashes. Now, Kenyan Athletes have plegded to do the same.
Our recent article about Irish Motorsport Drivers supporting the Decade of Action is testament the tag will become the universal symbol of road safety accross the world.
Now, Kenya’s star athletes will wear the United Nations’ new official Safety Decade Tag for a 10-year period in an effort to save millions of lives on the roads.
In a joint initiative between Athletics Kenya and the UN Decade of Action, launched in Nairobi on Wednesday, the national athletics teams will give their backing to a global effort to improve road safety and reduce the death toll from road crashes which claim over 1.5 million fatalities annually.
Kenya’s star competitors will wear the yellow road safety tag when competing at international events beginning with the 2010 World Cross Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain, on March 6.
“The world is facing a crisis in road casualties of endemic proportions which require a global response. The aim is to save millions of lives over the next decade, and as ambassadors for this cause, Kenya’s athletes are leading the way,” said Head of Public Affairs of Commission for Global Safety, Avi Silverman.
Silverman, made the disclosures in Nairobi at a function to name the teams to represent the Kenya during the World Cross Country Championships and the African Cross Country Championship scheduled for March 16 in Cape Town.
Athletics Kenya Secretary General said the gesture is a tribute to those have suffered under road carnage and pointed out that Kenyan prominent athletes have been killed or injured in road crashes.
“We will wear the Decade Tag with pride. We want to send the message loud and clear that with the support and action around the world, lives can be saved.”
In Kenya each year, at least 3,700 people are killed and tens of thousands are injured as a result of road accidents. Prominent Kenyan athletes have suffered their share of this tragedy, a fact that Okeyo said as made Athletics Kenya to endorse the move fully.
In 2010, sensational 800m runner David Lelei died in a road crash while traveling from Nairobi to the Western Kenyan town of Eldoret.
Early this year five-time World Cross Country Champion Paul Tergat suffered severe leg injuries while also driving on the same road.
YOURS promotes the use of this tag to drive awareness for global road safety and the mission of the Decade of Action for Road Safety.
Orginal credit for this story goes to: People Daily