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  The head of Russian traffic police Col. Gen. Viktor Kiryanov, right, presents actress Michelle Yeoh with a special Interior Ministry award during the opening of a conference on road safety in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009. Former NATO head George Robertson and movie actress Michelle Yeoh are among a group of road safety advocates urging world leaders to treat road accidents as though they were a killer disease.

Movie star Michelle Yeoh has joined a global battle against the road toll.

The Malaysian beauty, best known for her role in 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' is a safety ambassador for the FIA and is helping build bridges as the motoring organisation pressures governments to improve safety.

The FIA says road crashes are a growing epidemic that will become the number one killer of children aged 5-14 by 2015.  It has just finished lobbying in Moscow at the first global government summit on road safety, urging ministers to join its Make Roads Safe and Decade of Action efforts.

The goal of the Decade of Action is for governments to collectively commit to a 50 per cent cut in the forecast leave of road deaths in 2010. That means a reduction from 1.9 million to less than one million.

The FIA has a 10-point safety plan including political commitment, infrastructure development, and sustained commitment to road safety.  “Five million lives are at stake in the coming decade," says the new FIA president, Jean Todt.

"We know what needs to be done to save these lives.  The international community must demonstrate their political will to succeed.  For further information and to support the campaign visit www.makeroadssafe.org