|
|
 |
|
|
Two Britons are driving a factory-prepared Aston Martin from Tokyo to London on an epic journey along the newly completed Asia Highway bringing world attention to road safety awareness and raising money to help save children from deaths and injury on the roads.
Aston Martin is supporting two British teachers ? Richard Meredith and Phil Colley ? who are driving an Aston Martin V8 Vantage from Tokyo to London. On 22 July the drivers stopped at InterContinental hotel in Tashkent on their route and met with local journalists to share their impressions.
"I have dreamed of making this journey for two years. In Aston Martin I have found a partner with the confidence and enthusiasm to subject their car to a very public trial in the name of road safety and the effort they have put into this has been simply terrific," Richard Meredith said.
Richard (58) is a father-of-two from Newport Pagnell, Bucks. His co-driver Phil Colley (42) is from Kennington, South London. The pair first met in 2004 when they planned to navigate the full length of the Yangtze river across China but had to abandon the project when the tsunami struck South-east Asia.
According to Dr. Ulrich Bez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aston Martin, the company's cars meet the highest standards of active and passive safety and their driver training courses promote responsible driving. This initiative takes their commitment further by helping to educate children on all aspects of road safety. Commenting on the challenge, Dr. Bez said: "Richard, Phil and the V8 Vantage face a tough journey ahead but I have every confidence that they will succeed."
They will cover over 10,000 miles along the newly completed new Asia highway and European highways. They will pass through 15 countries en route including Japan, South Korea, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. This is the first car to cross the full extend of the new Asia Highway network of roads. If successful they will earn a place in the record books. The journey is supported by InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Bridgestone, E2V, I.M. Kelly Automotive, Ontime Automotive, Autotext and Eurowatch.
Starting with a press conference at the ANA InterContinental Tokyo (Japan) on 25 June the drivers have planned stops/press conferences at InterContinental Financial Street Beijing (China) on 6 July, Ceylan InterContinental Istanbul (Turkey) on 6 August, InterContinental Paris Le Grand (France) on 10 August, and InterContinental London Park Lane (Britain) on 13 August.
Richard and Phil are driving the same car that in June 2006 marked the celebration of the company's 30,000th production car ? where employees completed 30,000 miles in 30 days. This durability test car has gone on to accumulate 100,000 miles and is now set to become the first car ever to cross the full extent of the new Asia Highway network of roads, arriving in early August in Trafalgar square, London. Much of the highway, which was first mooted 50 years ago and was completed last year, consists of improved roadways, but there are sections in central Asia which will test both the car and drivers to the full. The car has received minor modifications to allow it to contend with the expected road conditions. These include a strengthened sump guard, raised suspension and a full size spare wheel. The car will run on standard 18" wheels clad with Bridgestone tyres.
The trip pursued the following main objectives: promote road safety in collaboration with the United Nations, who are promoting the "Road Safety Is No Accident" and the "Make Roads Safe" campaigns; raise 100,000 euros to provide Chinese children with educational books on road safety to help save children from deaths and injuries on the roads (charity is UNICEF); and the endurance story of an Aston Martin.
Richard Meredith, Team Leader ? Driving Home Road Safety 2007, said:
"Young children are so vulnerable on the roads of Asia.
As the East races to enjoy the benefits of our globalised world, hundreds of thousands of people are driving cars for the first time and the plain truth is that in many places, the standards of driving and vehicle care are not yet what they are in the West.
In China alone, it is estimated that 100 children are killed or injured on the roads every day as a result of traffic collisions. Often they are merely walking or cycling to and from school - young lives snuffed out almost before they have begun; casualties of this race to grasp the future.
In Asia as a whole, where the new economics of business and social life are changing virtually before our eyes, this terrible toll of carnage on the roads is being exacted as a bi-product of the path of progress.
The United Nations, whose experts are tasked with keeping a record of these things, estimates that 440,000 people will die in traffic-related collisions across the roads of Asia this year. As a comparison in the UK, this is the equivalent of wiping out the entire population of a city like Leeds in a single year, or Leicester, or Bristol, or Portsmouth.
It is an appalling cull of life; unacceptable surely on any humanitarian scale. And to make matters worse, it is largely preventable.
The difficulty is that it takes time to catch up with progress. Seatbelts, pavements, crash helmets, speed limits, driving proficiency, vehicle road-worthiness ?all of the things which we take for granted while driving in the West, are evolving more slowly in Asia. There are 32 nations on that Continent and many of them are at very different stages of development. But time, of course, waits for no one.
Something has to be done by the West and others to bring this grim and forgotten harvest into the world's domain ? to raise awareness of these issues, to share the benefits of our own experience, and to help reduce this suffering in any way that we can.
Our journey, driving the first car to cross the full extent of the new Asian Highway network of roads from Tokyo to Istanbul (and then to London), is our contribution towards that effort.
Thanks to Aston Martin, who are providing one of their world-famous cars, the regional commission of the United Nations, and our many other sponsors and supporters, we are wanting to drive home the message of the 'Make Roads Safe' and 'Safety is No Accident' campaigns.
They are demanding that a higher priority is given by the world's great organisations and national authorities in tackling the causes of death and injury on the roads.
Whenever someone dies prematurely in a traffic collision, the consequences will usually be far-reaching. When it is a child, that hurt can only be worse. In Asia, where the victim may often be the bread-winner, the impact on their family and community can be devastating.
We are proud, in our small way, to be joining in the effort of focusing attention on these difficult problems ? and in a practical way too; by raising money to pay for cartoon-style books that will help to educate children on the dangers they face on the roads.
For their sake, and in the cause of common humanity, we believe that every driver will understand our aim of making the world a safer place, and we thank you for sharing that concern."
|
Date: Jul 23, 2007
Source: Uzreport |
  |
| | 
|
|
