His Holiness Pope Francis has given his support to the global #SaveKidsLives campaign, which draws attention to the 500 lives of children lost in road traffic crashes each day and urges action to reduce this preventable toll.
Fifty million people are injured on the road every year, and 1.5 million die. Every day, 500 kids are killed, and 20,000 are injured. These are some of the statistics that representatives from the United Nations shared with Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican. They came to build support for global road safety initiatives. The Pope posed with a sign that read #SaveKidsLives and took photos with the group. His Holiness the Pope joined the #SaveKidsLives campaign.
Pope Francis received in a private audience, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, accompanied by UNECE Executive Secretary Christian Friis Bach on 14 January 2016.
Jean Todt and Christian Friis Bach outlined today’s road safety challenge and the need for governments and communities to prioritise road safety, beginning with implementing the UN Road Safety Conventions and putting in place effective traffic regulations. They presented to Pope Francis, a film directed by Luc Besson entitled “Save Kids Lives” in support of the #SaveKidsLives campaign, which draws attention to the 500 children killed every day on the world’s roads and encourages the public to sign the Child Declaration on Road Safety. His Holiness Pope Francis showed great interest in the cause and signed in support of the campaign.
Take part in the #SaveKidsLives campaign!