The WHO 2013 Global Status Report on Road Safety states "Middle income countries, that are motorizing rapidly, are the hardest hit" where "eighty per cent of road traffic deaths occur…" This is why IMPACT focuses on such countries in EU, Asia and Latin America to support not only reaching the 2020 EU road safety target of halving the road victims but also the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. In Europe the focus is on countries generally lagging behind in achieving results. Those are Romania (96), Poland (93), Bulgaria (82) and to a lesser extent Hungary (61) which have a road deaths rate per population far above the EU average of 55 deaths per million population in 2012 (EC, Road Safety 2012: How is your country doing?). While road deaths have been reduced by 43% on average in the EU27 in the period 2001-2010, those countries achieved reductions of 40% (Hungary), 29% (Poland), 23% (Bulgaria) and only 3% (Romania). (WHO) Still the partners of those countries are well equipped for being active carries of social change in their societies and the youth is generally well perceptive of what IMPACT can offer them. In the LIVES project the opinion of 2649 young people from Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Poland was investigated. 21% of the respondents point out that information and preventive campaigns are the most effective measure to reduce the number of deaths on the roads in the SHORT term. 19% believe that for the LONG term as well. 41% underline the use of interactive non-formal education as the most effective measure to raise awareness among the road users.

Facing an average of 161 deaths per million population in the Region of Americas and 185 in Western Pacific, the project involves Argentina (127) and China (205). (WHO) The IMPACT consortium is composed of key road safety organizations, four of which are active members of the European Youth Forum for Road Safety, able to guarantee a successful implementation of effective road safety measures targeting young people. The European organizations have been working together in different European projects. The Chinese partner also has experience in working in EU projects. The Latin-American partner is a new-comer to EU-funded initiatives but it was recommended by the National Road Safety Agency of Argentina and will work on the project in close cooperation with the Ibero-American Road Safety Observatory. Partners were not only selected on the basis of skills and input but also on geographical aspects, clearly focusing on countries generally affected by high road safety mortality rates and low fatality reduction trends at European and global level; there the need of improved intervention is of utmost importance. The consortium constitutes also a merge of the best performing partners from ACCORD and LIVES project. It is large enough to gather input from many different points of view and to provide all required competences in the project. Each partner brings in specific experience and backgrounds that either complement each other or represent different facets of the same aspects. The selected activity leaders have extensive experience and will give to relative newcomers the opportunity and necessary support to grow into their new role. The balance is also reflected in the budget, where all partners have an appropriate share, reflecting their roles and weight. All partners are key players who can implement measures, which is important to carry out such an ambitious project; and they are themselves part of the target group, therefore ensuring a successful dissemination.