26 May 2021
Max Mosley, one of the world’s leading advocates for road safety, has died at the age of 81. Mr Mosley had been suffering from cancer.
He was President of the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) from 1993 to 2009. During that time he oversaw many important developments in the regulation and safety of international motor sport and road safety. He was a pioneer of the ‘safe systems’ approach in motor sport safety.
Mr Mosley was also the founding Chairman of the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP) which set high standards for the crash testing of new cars and was described by the European Commission as the most cost-effective road safety initiative of the last 20 years.
He was President and spokesperson of ERTICO Intelligent Transport Systems Europe, which encouraged the introduction of electronic systems to improve road safety and traffic mobility. During his presidency of the FIA, the FIA Foundation for the Automobile & Society was instituted to campaign for safer cars, safer roads and cleaner emissions. Max negotiated the funding of $300m which allowed the Foundation to be able to offer continuous support for a wide range of safety initiatives.
He was the inaugural chairman of Global NCAP in 2011, which serves as a platform for co-operation among new car assessment programmes worldwide, promoting new vehicle safety technologies and funding vehicle safety testing in Latin America, Malaysia, India and South Africa. In 2019 Global NCAP, under Max’s leadership, became a major program in the Towards Zero Foundation, which promotes a range of activities supporting the ‘Vision Zero’ approach to road safety internationally.
In a recent tribute ACRS Past President and current Chair of the Towards Zero Foundation Lauchlan McIntosh said; “Without his leadership I doubt EuroNCAP would have ever been established in 1997. His commitment to working with the then Australasian NCAP led to the excellent cooperation and collegiate relationship between the two organisations for over 20 years. ANCAP and hence Australian and New Zealand new car buyers have benefitted considerably with safer vehicles, saving hundreds of lives and injuries.”
Mr McIntosh continued “The results of Max’s leadership in improving safety in Formula 1 motor sport, the establishment of the FIA Foundation, by far the largest road safety foundation in the world, and the Global NCAP program, the Towards Zero Foundation as well as his donations to those programs are unlikely to be ever matched. So many worldwide are alive and uninjured today as a result. I have been honored to know and work with him. Vale Max.”