Tuesday saw Williams F1 Founder and Team Principal Sir Frank Williams speak about the important issue of road safety in front of an audience of students, journalists, policy makers and sports business professionals at the inaugural Doha GOALS sports business forum.
Frank was joined on stage by FIA President Jean Todt and Road Safety campaigner Michelle Yeoh to talk about his experiences as a high profile victim of road safety and the ways in which Formula One is able to use its technology base to address the problem. Hosted at the Aspire Zone Academy Doha GOALS – or the Gathering of All Leaders in Sport – saw government officials, athletes, NGOs, federation heads, CEO’s and urban developers gather to tackle the most pressing social issues through plenary sessions, debates and focused taskforces.
Williams is playing a key role in adapting Formula One technology for road safety applications, with its Technology Centre in Qatar developing advanced road safety simulators that are being used to train and certify regular road users to reduce the number of deaths on Qatari roads and reduce carbon emissions by improving driving technique.
As President of the FIA, Jean Todt is responsible for the FIA’s Action for Road Safety campaign, which is trying to address the 1.3 million road deaths per year by getting people to pledge to be a safer diver by following a list of 10 golden rules. Todt made a visit to the Williams Technology Centre in Qatar later that day to learn more about the ways Williams is adapting its technology for societal benefit and the links between the FIA’s road safety initiatives and those of Williams.
Commenting on today’s panel discussion, Sir Frank said: ”Road safety is an important issue for me and for Williams as an organisation. I was delighted to be speaking alongside Jean and Michelle today and help raise awareness about this crucial issue. My own story can hopefully teach others the long term consequences of speeding. It was also an opportunity to speak about the role Formula One can play with the advanced technology produced. Hopefully our road safety simulators can help reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on Qatari roads in the future.”
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