Michelin : How is it possible to meet the challenge of safer mobility?

«Mobilising young people around road safety» : a major issue to meet the challenge of safer mobility, according to Florent Menegaux, CEO Michelin Group.
Comments from Florent Menegaux, as member of the « FIA High Level Panel for Road Safety*. »

Why involving youth is a priority for Michelin when it comes to road safety activities?Every year, road crashes are responsible for 1.35 million deaths and 50 million injuries worldwide. We realise the terrible fact that more than 227,000 young people under the age of 20 die from road crashes. It is the leading cause of death among
17-29 year olds.

Safety is at the heart of everything we do at Michelin. We believe it is our responsibility to make mobility safer all over the world. Safe mobility is essential as it helps to make mobility better and more accessible to all. The involvement of the young generation is essential to meet the challenge of road safety.

Involving young people means benefiting from their experience and their energy to imagine new solutions to make mobility safer everywhere in the world. Mobilising young people around road safety also means raising awareness among future drivers and being by their side.

" Safety is at the heart of everything we do at Michelin "

Road CRASHES

• Key figures

• 1.35 milliondeaths worldwide

• Key figures

• 50 millioninjuries worldwide

How does it translate practically?

Our commitment to safe mobility goes far beyond the quality of our products and services. We have been involved for many years in various road safety awareness and training actions on road hazards. We are taking concrete actions through working with many other partners on the ground around the world. For example, since 2011, throughour partnership with the FIA, we have launched road safety actions in eight countries around the world with our employees, distributors, customers, as well as with younger generation to raise awareness and to make them more aware of the importance of road safety in their daily lives. Always to support young people, ten years ago, Michelin joined forces with the WHO to create YOURS, an NGO dedicated to young people from developed and developing countries.

The Michelin Foundation has also joined forces with the Total Foundation and, with the support of the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), they have developed a global road safety education programme called VIA for 10-18 year olds. What is different about the programme is that young people are put in a real situation, around their school, in order to make them experiment with new behaviours and make them actors of their own safety. From an early age, we raise awareness among schoolchildren who will become future road safety ambassadors. Our employees are also our best ambassadors! This year, during the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm, we invited three employees of the Group to participate in the 2nd World Youth Assembly For Road Safety.

They were then able to share their experience upon their return to their respective countries: Thailand, India and Brazil.

Finally, Movin'On, the world summit on sustainable mobility created and inspired by Michelin, also gives the young generation the opportunity to contribute to discussions with the various international players and thus transform certain common ambitions into concrete actions. Safe mobility is a sine-qua-non for sustainable mobility.

Michelin Corporate Foundation site

What message would you like to convey to the HLP community?Acting for safer mobility is above all a collective act! The mobilisation of public and private actors is essential, and not only those in the automotive sector. There is still a lot to do but I am sure that with the commitment of the highest possible number of stakeholders we can make major progress. It is our responsibility to give young people the opportunity to be heard. It is everyone's business and raising awareness from an early age is key to making mobility safer for all.

" It is our responsibility to give young people the opportunity to be heard "