FIA President Max Mosley will join UK road safety organisations for the launch of the first UN Global Road Safety Week today.

The Week, which is focussing on young road users, will involve hundreds of road safety initiatives taking place around the world.

Globally, road crashes are now the leading cause of death for 10- to 25-year-olds, with over a thousand young people killed on the roads every day, according to the World Health Organisation. In the UK, 70 children – the equivalent of two full classrooms – are still being killed or seriously injured every week.

FIA President Max Mosley said: "Road deaths are an ongoing tragedy that must be addressed. This is why the FIA has given its full support to the first UN Global Road Safety Week, a campaign which will initiate numerous road safety activities around the world. We must take strong action to deal with the growing epidemic of road deaths worldwide."

President Mosley was joined at the launch by seven-time FIA Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, Chairman of the Commission for Global Road Safety Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, and UK Road Safety Minister Stephen Ladyman MP. They were present to help launch the 'Make Roads Safe' campaign's global petition which is calling for a UN conference on global road safety, a demand endorsed by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Michael Schumacher said: "Road crashes kill on the scale of Malaria or Tuberculosis, yet the international community has not woken up to this horrific waste of life. That is why I strongly support the Make Roads Safe campaign and the proposal that the United Nations organise a first ever UN ministerial conference to tackle this preventable loss of life."

The sentiment was echoed by FIA Deputy President for Mobility Franco Lucchesi, who has made road safety his number one priority both in his post at the FIA and as President of the Automobile Club d'Italia.

Mr Lucchesi said: "Every year 1.2 million people die and over 50 million are injured on roads worldwide. This is unacceptable both from a moral and economical point of view. We can no more watch passively and blame these tragedies on sheer fatality. We all know that most accidents can be avoided and therefore we must take action right now."

The international Make Roads Safe campaign, organised by the FIA and FIA Foundation, officially launched its petition today calling for the UN to act on road deaths, and aims to secure at least 1.2 million signatures – the number of people killed on the roads each year – by the time the UN General Assembly debates road safety in November.