16 September 2021, Singapore – According to the World Health Organization, more than 3,500 people die on the world’s roads every day. In Singapore, between 2017 to 2020, there were a total number of 28,594 road accidents resulting in injuries.

To tackle this challenge, the Automobile Association of Singapore (AA Singapore), together with Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), has partnered with an outdoor advertising company, JCDecaux, to launch the latest visual of the #3500LIVES campaign. Through a concrete and positive approach, the #3500LIVES campaign encourages all road users to adopt simple, easily applicable, and efficient road safety rules. Since 2017, the campaign has taken place in more than 1,200 towns and cities in over 80 countries every year.

Translated into 33 languages, the #3500LIVES features 20 world-famous ambassadors from the worlds of Entertainment (Patrick Dempsey, Michael Fassbender, Pharrell Williams, and Michelle Yeoh), Motor Racing (Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Marc Márquez, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, and Mick Schumacher), Sports (Julian Alaphilippe, Yohan Blake, Didier Drogba, Haile Gebrselassie, Antoine Griezmann, Vanessa Low, Rafael Nadal, and Wayde van Niekerk), and Politics (H.S.H. Princess Charlène of Monaco and Anne Hidalgo) who aim to raise awareness on key risk factors such as speeding.

The theme of the #3500LIVES campaign this year – Share the Road, depicts the importance and responsibilities of sharing roads amongst all road users. It is vital that all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, play a part in sharing the road; it is the duty of each road user to adopt behaviours to enhance everyone’s safety. The #3500LIVES campaign is now being promoted in Singapore, with visuals displayed at various bus shelters. AA Singapore’s President, Mr Bernard Tay, together with JCDecaux’s Business Development Director, Ms Jennifer Lee, started this year’s campaign with an initial launch at a bus shelter at Buangkok Drive on 16 September 2021.

With the visuals on display, AA Singapore will be running online campaigns to leverage and maximise the exposure of the Share the Road message. The campaign will be promoted on AA Singapore’s social media platform to showcase videos and road safety advocacy tips following the launch of the visuals. To generate interest in the online sphere and create an ongoing conversation for the public, AA Singapore will be launching a Spot-and-Tag contest, where Members of the public who spot the #3500LIVES visuals at the bus shelters, can take a photo with it and tag AA Singapore on both Facebook and Instagram. In addition, to better advocate the meaning behind Share the Road, AA Singapore invites Members of the public to promote a safer road environment for all commuters through a TikTok Road Safety Jingle Challenge via the hashtag, #3500LIVES. Attractive prizes will be given out to the top 3 posts of each contest with the most ‘Likes’.

Following the online campaign, AA Singapore is also planning for a series of road safety activities starting with a ‘Share the Road’ seminar and road safety event involving cyclists and motorists. We aim to bring across the road safety message that it is important for all road users to share and co-exist in order to keep our roads safe.

FIA President Jean Todt, who also serves as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, said “1.4 million people die each year on the world’s roads. Young people are particularly affected as road crashes are the main cause of death for 5 to 29-year-olds. This is an alarming trend and together with our #3500LIVES campaign partner, JCDecaux, we are on the front line in tackling this crucial challenge. In this fight, the support of our 245 Member Organisations is essential as they help us bring safety messages to the road users on the ground.”

AA Singapore President Bernard Tay shared “Driving is more than just speed and getting to your destination. It is about getting there, safely. The #3500LIVES campaign drives to instill the right attitude to all road users and help them to be safe on roads. We hope that by advocating road safety through various channels, we can better equip all road users with tips and knowledge, and for them to play a part to make roads safer. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank FIA President Mr Jean Todt for all the good work he has done for the motoring community, the #3500LIVES campaign is one of the projects he has put in place, in view of shaping better global road safety for all.”

“We must all take action to tackle the devasting level of road traffic accidents, both collectively and individually. At JCDecaux we are proud to contribute by broadcasting safety messages that encourage people to take care and to stay safe – we cannot accept that so many lives are lost and so many futures destroyed. As part of our numerous social impact commitments, this initiative enables us to deliver billions of impressions each year, taking this vital message to people around the world in more than 80 countries and in thousands of cities.” explained Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux.

“With 1.4million people killed and many more injured in road accidents each year, road safety is a real public health issue. As a key global player in urban travel and mobility, JCDecaux Group is committed to help make cities safer and to enhance the lives of citizens around the world. Since the start of our global partnership with the FIA in 2017, we have broadcasted road safety messages in 80 countries on more than 139,000 JCDecaux panels globally. Through the billions of impressions, we deliver worldwide daily, we hope to change peoples’ mindset and behavior for the better. Even though Singapore’s road accident fatality rate is relatively lower compared to many other countries, every life is precious.  The theme “Share the Road” is especially relevant in space-challenged Singapore especially where our government is advocating Active Mobility encouraging Singaporeans to walk and cycle more.   Through this initiative, we hope to encourage all road users including pedestrians and cyclists to play their part in making our roads even safer. We are definitely proud to be able to contribute to this meaningful public cause.” shared Jennifer Lee, Business Development Director of JCDecaux.