COMO, ITALY?OFTEN turning heads at the annual FIA Conference Week in this beautiful lakeside town one hour north of Milan is Michelle Yeoh, the glamorous star of ?Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.?

Ms Yeoh, the Make Roads Safe Campaign Ambassador of the FIA Foundation, is the better half of Jean Todt, the former Ferrari racing director who now heads the Paris-based Federation Internationale de l?Automobile. The FIA not only governs all four-wheel motor sports worldwide (Formula One, World Rally Championship, GTI World Championship, Paris-Dakar Rally, etc.) but also promotes road safety, energy conservation and environment-friendly mobility together with the interests of motorists at the United Nations, the European Union and other international institutions.

Flying to Manila

After this conference which is being attended by officers of some of the 228 national motoring and sporting organizations of 132 countries affiliated with the FIA including the Automobile Association Philippines (AAP), Ms Yeoh will fly to Manila to distribute 1,000 free crash helmets to public schoolchildren under the Global Helmet Vaccine Initiative (GHVI) of the FIA Foundation?s Make Roads Safe campaign. The beneficiaries will be young students who ride tandem on motorcycles with their parents on schooldays.

AAP is organizing the May 26 GHVI event with the help of the Department of Education. The helmets, manufactured by Protec, bear the AAP logo. Before the distribution of helmets, Ms Yeoh will be the guest speaker at the Asian Development Bank, which is co-launching the GHVI in the Philippines together with AAP, the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP) and the FIA Foundation.

At the UN

Speaking before large and distinguished audiences is not new to Ms Yeoh, who has been traveling all over the world in her international road safety advocacy effort. Recently, she addressed the UN General Assembly which last March 2 declared 2011-2020 the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The UN Decade translates into coordinated and sustained road safety programs to be initiated by international donors working together with national agencies in the countries worst affected by poor road safety.

Michelle Yeoh starred in the 2009 ?Turning Point? road safety documentary produced by the FIA Foundation, which spearheaded the Commission for Global Road Safety and the call for a Decade of Action aside from the Make Roads Safe campaign. After the GHVI distribution at the DepEd compound, Ms Yeoh will head to the University of the Philippines Diliman campus for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the proposed Road Safety Park that will be developed by AAP and the UP in partnership with Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation.

Helmet campaign

Johnny Angeles, AAP vice president and road safety committee chairman, said that Michelle Yeoh was originally expected to arrive in Manila last March before the school year ended, but had to postpone her visit due to a conflict in schedule. The GHVI was launched in November 2009 by the AIP Foundation, FIA Foundation and World Bank Global Road Safety Facility with the aim of promoting and establishing sustained helmet campaigns, combining advocacy for legislative change and political action with public awareness and distribution of helmets across the world.

Indeed, in developing countries like the Philippines the motorbike population has increased tremendously and in many cases, the motorcycle or scooter has become a family transport. Children traveling with a parent to school by motorbike without a helmet is a common sight. Michelle Yeoh?s starring role in the distribution of free crash helmets, while AIP safety experts explain the correct fitting and use procedures, will surely raise public awareness of the importance of safety measures to all road users. We all look forward to her arrival in Manila next week.

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