The meeting was held under the Presidency of Mr Jean Todt, President of FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile – International Automobile Federation), and the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety.
Mr Todt reminded the audience that this festival hosted by the UNECE had been organised in the framework of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the UNECE Inland Transport Committee (established in 1947). There are 58 inland transport conventions aiming to improve safety of road users, vulnerable users and to make transport of dangerous goods safe.
He first addressed the audience of over 100 people on road safety and introduced the event that took place at the Palais des Nations with participants from 61 countries: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, Vietnam, Yemen.
Over 260 films were received from 41 countries (15 of which were new countries) among which 232 films were pre-selected by the Selection Committee:
The film competition was divided into four different categories:
- Communication (most films on the use of mobile phones, seat belts)
- Education (under which ILCAD 2016 video was submitted)
- etc.
He welcomed the High-Level Jury of this festival:
- Christian Friis Bach, Executive Secretary & Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
- Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (CIO)
- Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
- Michelle Yeoh, Actress, Jean Todt’s wife and Goodwill Road Safety Ambassador
- He mentioned the film on road safety “Save Kids Lives to advocate for road safety” produced by Luc Besson, Film director, screenwriter and producer who sent his apologies for not attending the event due to professional duties in Los Angeles.
This High-Level Jury was supported by the Selection Committee when choosing the best road safety films for projection at the festival:
- Robert Trottein, President of LIFE, organising the film festival:
- Eva Molnar, Director of UNECE Sustainable Transport Division
- Joop Goos, General Manager of the Global Festival, Former President of Prevention Routiere Internationale (PRI) (International Road Safety Organisation)
- Luciana Iorio, Chair of the Working Party on Road Traffic Safety (WP.1)
- Bentley Jenson, Associate Information Officer, Sustainable Transport Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
- Sophie Corret, President of The European Youth Forum for Road Safety (EYFRS) European Commission, President General Delegate of LIFE
- Other members: http://www.roadsafetyfilmfestival.org/jury
UIC had submitted the ILCAD video 2016 “Do not overestimate your abilities near railway tracks” co-produced with LDz (Latvian railways):
Isabelle Fonverne, UIC, Member of UNECE WP1 and the Expert Group on level crossing safety had the opportunity to explain to the audience the reasons for such a video.
The following ILCAD partners had also submitted a video on level crossing safety under the same category “Education”:
- Commission of Ireland, Irish Rail, RSA
- University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Science, Croatia
that submitted the following educational video “Safe with Andrew on the Way to School” dedicated to children in primary school. It shows how children should behave around traffic using the example of how they can get to school safely. The character “Andrew” advises the children on what to look out for, what is dangerous in traffic and how to behave around traffic. The video was produced within the project “Implementation of measures to increase the safety of the most vulnerable road users at level crossings.” The project is part of the National Road Traffic Safety Programme of the Republic of Croatia 2011-2020. It is also a joint work of the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences and HZ INFRA (Croatian Railways) plus students from the faculty who were involved in making the video.
Her Excellency Madam Violetta Bulc, European Commissioner for Mobility and Transport and Miss Sophie Corret, President of the European Youth Forum for Road Safety (European Commission) and President General Delegate of LIFE presented the award to Danijela Baric, from the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences of the University of Zagreb, Croatia, winner of the best European Union film “Safe with Andrew on the way to school”
For the complete list of winners at the festival:
https://www.facebook.com/roadsafetyfilmfestivalgeneva2017/?__mref=message_bubble
