2020 Premier Award Winner: Towards Zero Foundation #50by30 Campaign.

16 December 2020

The 2020 Prince Michael International Road Safety Premier Award Winner is the Towards Zero Foundation for the #50by30 campaign.

Each year His Royal Highness presents his Premier Award to the initiative which he considers has had the most impact on road safety. In 2020 this prestigious accolade has been given to the Towards Zero Foundation for their successful #50by30 campaign.

The #50by30 campaign was one of the central advocacy collaborations in the lead up to the United Nations Resolution on Improving Global Road Safety. Designed and led by the Towards Zero Foundation, the campaign pushed for inclusion of a target to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 50% by 2030 in the resolution. #50by30 is a multi-stakeholder partnership which seeks to bring together public and private stakeholders aligned to the key road safety objectives of the campaign.

The campaign was officially launched at the Sixth Global Meeting of Road Safety NGOs in Crete in April 2019 where many road safety stakeholders announced their support of the #50by30 objectives. The campaign launch was followed by a series of events in 2019 and 2020 that were strongly underpinned by the #50by30 message, culminating in it being supported by The Stockholm Declaration and subsequent adoption by the UN General Assembly in its 2020 Road Safety Resolution.

The remarkable success of the #50by30 campaign was underpinned by the energy and passionate commitment from the TZF team, in which the late Alex Ward played a key role. Alex was delighted to see #50by30 included in the Stockholm Declaration and would have been very proud to see it included in the new UN resolution. Sadly, Alex died from Motor Neurone Disease in July 2020, before the resolution was adopted.

The success of the campaign and the ongoing lifesaving work it facilitates mark a significant and enduring legacy for Alex. One of which he would rightly be very proud.