Dirty Pretty Things back campaign to Make Roads Safe

A tragic car crash on July 1st in which three teenage girls died returning from a Dirty Pretty Things gig has inspired the band to support the Make Roads Safe campaign with a concert in London in September. The campaign is coordinated by the FIA Foundation and RAC Foundation.

The band will play a special gig at The Coronet, in South London, on September 13th in support of Make Roads Safe, an international campaign calling for the G8 to take action on road traffic injuries, which kill more than 1.2 million people around the world, the majority in developing countries. Two hundred pairs of tickets to the concert will be given away free by the Make Roads Safe campaign and Dirty Pretty Things to supporters in a prize draw.

Dirty Pretty Things’ commitment to the campaign is motivated in part by a recent tragedy in which three teenage girls were killed. Two sisters, Claire and Jennifer Stoddart, and their friend, Carla Took, died in a car crash in July while driving home from a concert in Ipswich at which Dirty Pretty Things had performed.

Phil Stoddart, the father of the two sisters killed in the crash, said; "I hope that the Make Roads Safe campaign will help other parents avoid the pain we have been going through as a result of the tragic loss of Claire and Jennifer".

Calling on fans to sign the Make Roads Safe online petition at www.makeroadssafe.org Carl Barat, lead singer of Dirty Pretty Things, said: “It is unbelievable that around the world a child is killed every 3 minutes on the road, yet almost nothing is being done to prevent this. The recent deaths in Suffolk of Claire, Jennifer and Carla were so sad, such a waste of young lives, and this is happening to families every day. This is why Dirty Pretty Things are supporting the Make Roads Safe campaign.”

In high income countries road crashes remain a significant cause of death, and the biggest single killer of 16-24 year olds in the UK, Europe and the US. In the UK young drivers are most likely to crash at night, with friends in the car, for example when returning home from a gig or club.

The main aim of the Make Roads Safe campaign, coordinated by the FIA Foundation and RAC Foundation, is to raise public awareness about the impact of road crashes in developing countries:

3000 people die every day on the world’s roads – road crashes kill on the scale of Malaria and TB
A million people are killed on the roads in poorer countries every year – this is set to double by 2020
Only HIV/AIDS kills more young men worldwide than road crashes.
Every 3 minutes – the average length of a song – a young child is killed on the world’s roads, and four are permanently disabled.

Saul Billingsley, Campaign Coordinator, said: “In the time it takes to listen to ‘Bang Bang You’re Dead’ yet another child will have died on the world’s roads. Unless the G8 and the international community act now to make road safety a development priority, we will see millions more children and teenagers with their whole lives ahead of them being killed on the roads of developing countries in the years ahead.”

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Road crashes are the single biggest cause of accidental death in the UK for 16-24 year olds, so the Make Roads Safe campaign is vital in this country as it is around the world. We hope the involvement of Dirty Pretty Things will help some young people to think about road safety.”