UPS, a global leader in logistics and supply, is the latest major company to become a Global Supporter of the Decade of Action for Road Safety.
Eduardo Martinez, Director of Philanthropy at the UPS Foundation (left), presents a donation cheque to Saul Billingsley, Director of the Road Safety Fund.
The $150,000 donation by the UPS Foundation to the Road Safety Fund was announced during the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City. The UPS funding will be earmarked for fleet safety, supporting an initiative led by Fleet Forum and North Star Alliance to provide driver safety training for truck drivers and humanitarian fleets in Africa and India. UPS aims to complement its financial backing for the initiative with technical and logistics support from its network of facilities around the world.
Globally, 1,300,000 people are killed and between 20 to 50 million more are injured each year in road crashes, a toll predicted to double by 2030 unless action is taken. Ninety per cent of these casualties occur in middle-income and low-income countries. To respond to this epidemic the United Nations has launched the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with the goal of stabilising and then beginning to reduce global road fatalities by 2020, saving up to 5 million lives. Corporations are being encouraged to support this initiative by donating to the Road Safety Fund, the global fund for the Decade of Action.
UPS is a company with a strong tradition in safety management. The drivers of its 65,000 strong liveried delivery fleet receive regular driver safety training. More than 5000 UPS drivers have a 25 year record of crash-free service. Bringing this expertise in fleet safety management to assist poorly trained, low-income truck drivers in Africa and India, negotiating some of the most dangerous roads in the world, could prove invaluable in helping to prevent death and injury.
Saul Billingsley, Director of the Road Safety Fund, said: “This collaboration between UPS, Fleet Forum and North Star Alliance is a great example of the partnerships we are now building at the Road Safety Fund. By bringing together North Star Alliance’s existing infrastructure for HIV/AIDS awareness raising with truck drivers, and Fleet Forum’s experience of driver training and fleet management in challenging environments, with the financial support and professional expertise of UPS, this initiative will have a measurable impact on HGV safety, protecting both drivers and vulnerable road users alike”.