Marco Tronchetti Provera and Jean Todt promote road safety in New Delhi

Road safety as a fundamental right and a shared responsibility amongst institutions, businesses and citizens.

This is the message at the heart of the meeting that took place today, 22 October, in New Delhi between Marco Tronchetti Provera, Executive Chairman of Pirelli, and Jean Todt, Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Road Safety, on the sidelines of the launch of the 2027 Pirelli Calendar in India.

The meeting took place at a particularly significant time for the Asian country, which is stepping up its focus on the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users. This issue lies at the heart of the global #MakeASafetyStatement campaign, promoted by the United Nations and recently launched in India.

“Every innovation that helps make mobility safer,” said Marco Tronchetti Provera, “creates value for society as a whole. Road safety is an essential component of a country’s development and growth, and requires the joint commitment of institutions, businesses and citizens.” For his part, Todt highlighted how road safety represents “a veritable silent pandemic affecting the whole world. The figures presented are dramatic: every year, 1.2 million people lose their lives and around 50 million are seriously injured, with a devastating economic and social impact”. To tackle this emergency, Todt emphasised the need to implement “a rigorous approach based on education, compliance with the law, and improvements to the quality of vehicles, infrastructure and emergency services”.

The main objective remains to drastically reduce the number of casualties, with the aim of “making high safety standards compulsory in every country and for all modes of transport, from cars to motorbikes and electric bicycles”.