The Fourth European Road Safety Day is being hosted by the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union tomorrow in Nicosia, Cyprus. The day has a unique focus on young people’s active involvement in road safety across Europe as the day will recognize the overwhelming burden of road crashes facing young people in Europe; road crashes are still the single biggest killer of young people across Europe.
Cyprus recognizes that a big proportion of road crashes involve young road users and therefore it will host the “4th European Road Safety Day” dedicated to Youth with representatives from national authorities and Youth Organizations of EU and its neighboring regions.
The aim is to increase awareness on the sensitive issue of Road Safety among young people and to give the opportunity to the participants to exchange views and propose possible concrete actions on ways to improve youth road safety in a national and regional level.
The idea is to promote EU road safety policy and actions to EU’s neighboring regions and to “inject” the EU Road Safety Action Programme with specific references and possible future actions addressed to young road users, turning young people from policy followers to policy formulators.
A message from YOURS will be one of the key presentations opening the event.
The day will open with an introduction to the contemporary issues facing young people with regards to road safety across Europe. YOURS’ attendance is paramount in the day, YOURS Director Mr Floor Lieshout will speak in the opening ceremony of the event speaking of the active involvement of young people globally, the importance of engaging young people in road safety to initiate change from the ground up and will be orientated towards the policy makers attending the event to encourage them to engage with young people, use their skills, passion and unique ideas to stimulate road safety awareness, road safety action and ultimately, the potential saving of thousands of young lives across Europe. Mr Lieshout will document YOUR’s active involvement in youth engagement for road safety. From our three pillars strategic approach to the launch of our new Youth and Road Safety Action Kit.
The event will bring young delegates from across Europe up to date with information on key road safety studies in youth and road safety issues. In addition to policy presentations and a focus on measurable road safety actions in Cyprus, there will also be workshops focusing on fundamental areas of road safety development. These are:
- Road safety education – life long learning and engagement.
- Enforcement issues – the relationship between the police and young people and fostering mutual cooperation.
- Key risk factors – a quick-course in drugs, alcohol, speeding, vulnerable road users with regards to road safety.
Of course, YOURS will report from the event with more details of the events that took place, debates and reactions and we have also been asked to create the official video reporting the event. This will be managed by our Communications Officer Manpreet Darroch.
See the full agenda in the attachments and you can expect news tomorrow from the event. You can track a live Twitter feed of the event by searching #ERSD or clicking here.