My patented automotive laser-lighting work gave me an opportunity to bring the voice of independent inventors to a United Nations road-safety discussion. As both an inventor and a professional racing driver, I called for practical support for technologies that could help prevent accidents and save lives.
This century is technologically marked by the landing on Mars. But man has not yet found a way to enhance instruments and solutions to accelerate road safety on earth nor the budget dedicated to safety’s work.
I want to ask this congress to help create an overarching commission that can interact with governments, authorities and members of the UN. This commission would facilitate experimentation on new road-safety technologies. New products are not coming on the market to help solve the problem of traffic deaths.
I am a professional racecar driver and one day found myself in a race with poor visibility due to heavy rain; I almost crashed into the car in front of me. Since then, my mission has been to develop new collision-avoidance technologies to reduce crashes, and I have invented a laser system that allows for better visibility in rain and fog.
However, I’ve encountered many bureaucratic problems. Only through quick integration of new technologies can we reduce this global road-safety problem. We need the help of the UN. With the creation of this overarching commission at the UN, we could create and implement projects that could save many lives.
Innovation must come not only from large industries, but also from independent inventors.
From the published address of Thomas Bleiner, President and Founder of Astrongroup Technologies SA, in The Global Road Safety Crisis: We Should Do Much More.