Former race driver and current race event organizer David McLaughlin this month took a road safety message from the Mall at Marathon to the United Kingdom’s famed Silverstone Formula One Circuit, home of some of the world’s most celebrated racing events, including the British Grand Prix.
The 3,000-mile journey was part of a worldwide effort to curb speed, fight distracted driving and save lives.
“This is the fourth year that the United Nations has backed FIA Road Safety Week but the first time The Bahamas has participated,” said McLaughlin, the first FIA director for The Bahamas and Caribbean.
“So we were very proud to interact with some of the most accomplished and respected race drivers in the world, all of whom have committed themselves to promoting road safety. In fact, the most popular pledge they took was ‘Race drivers don’t race.’”
Mingling with Formula One and World Rally champions, McLaughlin shared messages from Bahamians who signed online pledges during Road Safety Week, many of them stemming from an information demonstration at the Mall at Marathon in May.
Among those present for that event was Wellington Miller, President of the Bahamas Olympic Association, and volunteers from the popular EduKarting program.
“During that event, little children, some as young and three and four, got to sit in karts and you could see the excitement on their faces even though the karts were stationary,” McLaughlin said.
“Nearly every famous race car driver got his or her start in a kart and no one is more keenly aware of how important good driving habits are than those who make a living going 200 miles an hour and taking hairpin turns at speeds your eyes can barely follow.”
That balance between what is safe on and off the track, he said, is what drives the regulatory body of world motor sport, the FIA, under the leadership of Jean Todt to focus so heavily on road safety. This year’s campaign aims to curtail speed, but McLaughlin says there is also growing concern about distracted driving.
“Last year was the first time in 30 years that the number of road deaths in the U.S. increased and it was largely a result of distracted driving,” said McLaughlin who this year will assist with race events in as many as 10 countries, though his greatest interest lies in the future for racing and recreational circuit driving in The Bahamas.
“Being at Silverstone and seeing so many drivers whose names are household words in the world of motor sport actively commit to road safety and to recognize that The Bahamas played a part in it was extremely heartwarming and rewarding,” he said.
FIA Director for Bahamas and Caribbean David McLaughlin, left, is pictured with Formula One champion Filipe Massa at Silverstone in the UK at the finale of the United Nations-backed FIA Road Safety Week.
David McLaughlin with the 8 Million Man-Monster Man and McLaughlin – Steve ‘Baggsy’ Biagioni, left, the Nissan Turbo drifting driver who makes cars spin like tops on wheels and has a social media following of some eight million, shares a road safety message with David McLaughlin, who headed up The Bahamas’ first entry into the worldwide UN-back road safety week campaign. The pair met up last week at Silverstone, more than 3,000 miles from the Mall at Marathon where McLaughlin got online pledges to slow down and avoid distracted driving. McLaughlin is the first Bahamas and Caribbean director of the FIA, the world regulatory body for motor sport and sponsor of the Road Safety Week Slow Down, Save Lives campaign.
Diane Phillips & Associates
