Brian recently took it upon himself to put youth and road safety on the agenda at the 2nd Southern Africa Conference on Road Safety which took place on the 23rd-24th October 2012. During his journey in South Africa, Brian reflected on the many messages picked up from various organizations, initiatives and delegates at the event and beyond. This poignant account illustrates the power of youth in making a difference in road safety. Check it out now!
Hoooooray! It’s been long since we last communicated, really long indeed. I know lots of stuff has been happening regarding road safety in Africa. Much love and respects to the Francophone colleagues who kick started the ‘Youth Caravane’ and the Africa Youth Declaration on Road Safety. You can read (if you haven’t) more information about these awesome road safety initiatives here. Big shout outs there!
Back to me, Africa decision makers, public, and private organizations seem to have found their glasses and realized that they need to put young people in the driving seat of road safety programmes, they have realized that this is the way to go! In this release, I share my experience following a not-for-tourism trip to South Africa.
Ok, here we go…so, I was accepted by the government of South Africa through the South African Road Safety Federation (SARF) to attend and present my paper on ‘Prehospital Emergency Care-Why young people are a magic pill’ at the 2nd Southern Africa Conference on Road Safety (23rd-24th October 2012) that was held in the handsome (sorry girls) city of Johannesburg-Birchwood Conference Centre to be precise. There, I give you yet another way of finding your way into must-to-attend conferences! lol
Opening ceremony of the conference and Brian with Ryan Duly who presented the good practices of GRSP of the RS10 project.
In my presentation, I highlighted the need for empowering young leaders with ‘pre-hospital skill care’ in a developing continent where response time is above 10 minutes. Young people are heavily hit by road crashes (note that it’s no longer called road accidents) and to build a generation of young road safety advocates- YOURS was born (2007) and so did the African Youth Network on Road Safety formed (2011)
This conference reflected a sheer touch of representation, effective participation and passion southern African countries have with regards to all the pillars of road safety as stated in the UN Decade of action. Speaking at the opening of the conference, the acting CEO of Road Traffic Management Corporation (who represented the Minister of Transport) Collins Letsoalo offered a rather cautious comment to delegates stating ‘…if you have come here like some sort of vacation, break from office, then you should go back home before we start’, a statement that eased the mood in the conference room.
To me, it showed how committed and important this conference was. He continued, “Southern Africans are not doing the simplest of things, like wearing a seatbelt and they don’t see it as a problem. It has been proven that if we can increase our seatbelt wearing rate to double what we have now, we would have a 30 percent reduction in road fatalities,” While presenting to conference delegates South Africa’s strategy to reduce road fatalities by 20 percent a year, Mr. Letsoalo said in November, the strategy will be released for public comment. He also said other countries had done the simplest of things to reduce road crashes and that was to give focus to drunk driving and seatbelt usage. Speeding, drunk driving, and failure to wear seatbelts and helmets remained a critical challenge for South African authorities.
Collins Letsoalo, the acting CEO of Road Traffic Management Corporationsaid South Africa was losing between 280 and 350 people to road crashes every week. About 40 percent of those killed were pedestrians. At present, 14 000 people a year died on South Africa’s roads, with accidents reportedly costing the economy R307 billion a year.
The issue of road safety could no longer be left to government authorities alone. “We have reached that stage now where we are calling on society to work with us; it can’t be a government thing. People need to understand that if they behave this way and continue to do so, they are likely to lose their lives.” Communities, Letsoalo said, needed to understand that “today it can be me and you and tomorrow it will be somebody else.”
Brian at previous conferences.
I compare this conference against a number of conferences that have been characterized by trademark hell of presentations from ‘technocrats’ and less discussions from the ‘community’. This was a different one! The South African Road Safety Federation struggled so hard to ensure that they fixed me (a youth representative from outside South Africa) to present at this conference. There were also young people from different disciplines of Engineering, Communications, Business and Management from a number of NGOs, Universities and Research Institutions. When I interacted with them, they told me that they had been enabled to be at this conference thanks to their respective organizations. One told me ‘We asked our CEO why we wouldn’t be at the conference, and the CEO asked us why we didn’t want to go…he paid the registration fee and we couldn’t wait to be here’.
Now, that’s liver-touching! Its hardcore dedication! Its passion. Finally, we are coming to see a generation public private partners coming out and ready to support organized groups of young people! There were insightful separate discussions which gave birth to new ideas, best practices especially in behavioral road safety. One big lesson learnt was the need for implementing bodies to ensure ‘Smarter communications’ between themselves, the beneficiaries and the government to avoid duplication of work and effective planning.
The AGM of GRSP and Brian with young delegates at the road safety conference.
I compare this conference against a number of conferences that have been characterized by trademark hell of presentations from ‘technocrats’ and less discussions from the ‘community’. This was a different one! The South African Road Safety Federation struggled so hard to ensure that they fixed me (a youth representative from outside South Africa) to present at this conference. There were also young people from different disciplines of Engineering, Communications, Business and Management from a number of NGOs, Universities and Research Institutions. When I interacted with them, they told me that they had been enabled to be at this conference thanks to their respective organizations. One told me ‘We asked our CEO why we wouldn’t be at the conference, and the CEO asked us why we didn’t want to go…he paid the registration fee and we couldn’t wait to be here’.
Now, that’s liver-touching! Its hardcore dedication! Its passion. Finally, we are coming to see a generation public private partners coming out and ready to support organized groups of young people! There were insightful separate discussions which gave birth to new ideas, best practices especially in behavioral road safety. One big lesson learnt was the need for implementing bodies to ensure ‘Smarter communications’ between themselves, the beneficiaries and the government to avoid duplication of work and effective planning.
Brian’s experience with the drama group in South Africa delivering road safety messages with young people through creative means.
At this event, you could see that corporate organizations can do even more because they are most trusted by the community and road users. I had a chance to share my experience of ‘almost’ loosing my father to a road traffic crash as an 11 year old first born, at a crucial time when I was doing my final examinations for primary education, the economic implications of what it would have meant to my family. I was greatly impressed with the talent of using drama to influence behavior of road users and there is no doubt that young people love it! I saw that, road safety rap would be more ideal for the ‘modern trendy young person’.
Like the CEO of Bakwena said, ‘Young people are our past, our present and our future. They are however the most hit bracket when it comes to road traffic crashes. It remains only ethical for us as NGOs, government, decision makers and cooperate bodies to make a contribution in saving our children. Road traffic crashes don’t segregate, today it’s your son, tomorrow it’s my daughter!’ Now, that’s one clear message. Isn’t it? Oh, wait…did I say that, I also had a chance to visit a cultural museum, seeing around, but that’s another story haha!
Till next time…Stay Safe!