News & Blog Archives - Page 117 of 185

Happy New Year! – let’s make 2014 the year of action

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 9, 2023 | News & Blog

Everybody at YOURS wishes you a big warm welcome to 2014 and as we say goodbye to the great year of 2013, we look ahead to a year of road safety action all across the world. Our mission to create a world where young people are safe on the roads is stronger than ever and the road safety flame burns strong, igniting new beacons of action around the world as we continue our work and look ahead to the new year.

2013 proved to be another massive year at YOURS as we look back at the groundbreaking year that was, we welcome 2014 and the promise it brings for road safety action for young people all around the world. This year is set to be the biggest yet with lots of road safety activity, campaigning and advocacy as we look ahead to year of action!

We thank you for all your support over the past year and know we can count on you to make 2014 another brilliant year. We have some key highlights from the previous year to be proud of, your involvement in our joing campaigns and efforts.

2013 was another big year for YOURS as we increased our activity on the ground and expanded our network to over 70 countries!

We are now representing youth and road and safety organizations, projects and campaigns in all continents and bring this voice to the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration. You can join still join our network as applications are open all year round.

2013 was another big year for YOURS as we increased our activity on the ground and expanded our network to over 70 countries!

Update from the European Youth Forum for Road Safety

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 9, 2023 | News & Blog

At the end of November, our European CORE Group Representative Mr. Axel Druart hosted and chaired the European Youth Forum for Road Safety (EYFRS) in partnrship with the province of Crotone, Italy. The forum is a regular European Event organized by Responsible Young Drivers Belgium and supported by the European Commission. We give you an update here!

After a year and a half of constant awareness-raising activities and permanent networking to create a concrete road safety youth community, the EYFRS Youth Taskforce set the 5th Edition of the Forum in South Italy, hosted by the Province of Crotone, coordinated by Responsible Young Drivers, and supported by the European Commission (DG MOVE). The two-day conference took place on the 28th & 29th of November 2013, with a Pre-Forum organized by the Province of Crotone on the 27th. Its main objective was to transform this existing ongoing youth forum network into a referenced youth community acting as a recognized entity.

The Forum will as usual, welcomed two youth delegates from each of the 28 EU Member States (selected on the basis of their active involvement in road safety) to debate with experts on current road safety matters involving youngsters all across Europe, and hence come up with concrete and innovative solutions. One key purpose of the forum was for the participants to transmit their know-how to future generations, to reach hundred thousand other youngsters through common campaigning, and use the strength of this united youth community to make roads safer for all their young peers.

Delegates from over 28 countries across Europe came together to tackle road safety in th region.

This year’s topics were defined in line with the European Commission’s Policy orientations for road safety 2011-2020 based on the outcomes of 3 Workshops (in France, Greece and Hungary) which gathered young professionals and experts (the EYFRS taskforce).

The youth delegates widely debated on the following themes:

Pedestrians’ safety (though the creation of a video campaigning),
Public Transports (bringing up a strategy to promote and lobby its stakeholders),
Alcohol & Driving (proposing new tools and improve awareness-raising activities),
Enforcement (through education with youngsters and police forces),
Social Media (aiming at creating a recognized European cyber entity & community),
Sustainability of the EYFRS (thanks to the election of an informal Board of Directors committing to handle its management all through the decade).

A few pictures from the European Youth Forum for Road Safety 2013.

You can also see a ‘harlem shake’ from the EYFRS delegates in the video in the right column!

Message from the European Commission to the European Youth Forum for Road Safety
Fatal road crashes are still the most common cause of death for young people in Europe. Young car drivers, aged 18-24, still make up almost one fifth of all who are killed in car accidents – although the age group makes up only a tenth of the populati

Last year, Commission Vice President Siim Kallas addressed these issues at the Fourth European Road Safety Day in Nicosia, Cyprus. He talked about the importance of continued hard efforts towards the strategic target of halving the number of road deaths. In particular, he stressed the serious problems of drink-driving and drug-driving by young people, recommending a zero-tolerance approach for safety.

I am very pleased to see that the European Youth Forum for Road Safety picked up the Commission messages from last year and has taken them further in workshops and discussions throughout this year. Your meeting in Crotone provides the opportunity to take further steps. The future is in the hands of the young, so let’s make the most of this opportunity.

Szabolcs Schmidt,
Head of the Road Safety Unit; European Commission

Over in South-Eastern Europe, the first Bulgarian Road Safety Forum with international participation was held on December 4, 2013 in “Serdika” hall of the Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan.

More than a hundred experts from Bulgaria, Belgium, Hungary, Greece and the Netherlands took part in the forum. The chosen theme for 2013 was “Road Safety – Challenges and Solutions”. We have tried to minimize the handling of dry statistics in the program and involve less discussed issues concerning infrastructure (road safety audit), insurance (“bonus-malus” system), economics (financial impact of the problem), ISO 39001:2012 (safety certification), and innovations in the field of prevention of risks on the road.
Interesting conclusions from the Forum:

Mr. Daniel Vankov: “We need to be more and more creative in securing funding for prevention of traffic related risks on the road, because the issue is becoming less “sexy” on European level”. Read more about the Bulgarian Road Safety Forum here.

New Turkish road safety campaign warns of risks of speeding!

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 9, 2023 | News & Blog

The World Health Organization and the Government of Turkey have launched a new campaign to prevent speeding on Turkey’s roads. “Think About Consequences, Slow Down Your Speed”, released under the banner of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Programme, aims to reduce the number of deaths and injuries due to speeding.

According to the Global status report on road safety 2013, more than 8700 people lose their lives and an estimated 200 000 people are injured in road traffic crashes in Turkey each year. Speeding is considered one of the main risk factors for fatal crashes. Studies reveal that the relationship between speed and injury severity is particularly critical for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.

There is extensive evidence from around the world that road safety campaigns complemented by the strict enforcement of laws can dramatically decrease reckless behavior on the roads.

“Over 8700 Turkish citizens are killed in road traffic crashes each year. The launch of this new social marketing campaign highlighting the dangers of speeding, along with increased police enforcement, will reduce the number of road traffic crashes and unnecessary fatalities and injuries on Turkey’s roads,” said Kelly Henning, who leads public health programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “We support efforts to strengthen The Highway Traffic Safety Law to ensure greater safety on Turkey’s roads.”

The campaign is part of a broader effort of a consortium of partners to improve road safety in the country. The Road Safety Project in Turkey focuses on Ankara and Afyonkarahisar and two major risk factors: speeding and seat-belt use. This new speeding prevention campaign will be aired locally for a period of four weeks, and consists of television commercials, radio messages and outdoor and indoor print-ads on billboards and buses.

Prince Michael Road Safety Awards – international winners

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 9, 2023 | News & Blog

HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO is Patron of the Commission for Global Road Safety. Since 1987 The Prince’s Awards have given public recognition to those who have improved road safety throughout Britain. Now the Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards recognise outstanding achievement and innovation world-wide.

International awards
The Award scheme is developing outside Britain and similar schemes based on the PMIRSA model have been established in other countries. Where schemes have been endorsed by PMIRSA they use the same evaluation criteria applied by local judging panels. Where a nomination demonstrates an example of ‘best practice’ which could be applied outside its country of origin it may be considered for an ‘International Award’.

Consideration will be given for an international award where a nomination demonstrates an example of safety improvement or best practice designed/implemented in a cross border operation or one that could be easily adapted for use outside its country of origin.
2013

The “Buckle Up!” national campaign to promote seat belt use has received an International Award.
The “Buckle Up!” national campaign to promote seat belt use has received a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award. The campaign was a joint project of the General Department of Road Traffic Safety of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Russian Association of Motor Insurers (RAMI), and the NGO Road Safety Russia.

The award was presented to Road Safety Russia by His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent, Patron of the Commission for Global Road Safety, at the 17th Annual Award Ceremony in London on 10 December.

Accepting the award, President of Road Safety Russia, Natalia Agre, said that the “Buckle Up!” campaign was part of a broader effort by the General Department of Road Traffic Safety and RAMI to establish a road safety culture. They have been doing a tremendous amount of work for many years now. “In the last eight years, there has been a particular emphasis in Russia on work relating to seat belts, and campaigns like “Buckle Up!” are achieving results: studies show that people have indeed started to buckle up. While in 2006 only 30% of people always used a seatbelt, in 2012 it was 80%,” Ms Agre said.

GRSP Wins International Road Safety Award
In winning this Prince Michael Award, GRSP demonstrated over an extended period how its unique partnership model brings together the multiple voices, experiences, expertise and resources of the private sector, public sector and civil society, with singular purpose, to make transport systems safer. GRSP’s model of building multi-sectorial partnerships that meet the social objectives of communities, create stable social and financial environments, and benefit the long-term interests of the business sector shows innovation rarely seen, and most importantly, delivers sustainable impact at the global, regional, national and local levels.

Argentina Road Safety Lead Agency wins International Award
This overall project development objectives are to contribute to the reduction of road traffic injuries and fatalities in Argentina through the strengthening of its institutional framework and management capacity for road safety and the reduction of road deaths and injuries in selected pilot corridors.

Dubai receives Royal Award for Mobility and Action Plan
The Dubai Road and Transport Authority has produced a programme that sets out to guide infrastructure and policy improvements as well as increasing walking safety and mobility for Dubai residents and visitors. The five year goal of the plan is to achieve 30% improvement in pedestrian safety and a 20% increase in pedestrian mobility.

Odessa Road Safety Project recognised
Using a road safety demonstration project in Odessa, the Ukraine has shown that saving lives does not have to cost a lot of money.

Financed by the European Union and supported by the Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport (EASST), this project was rolled out between June and November 2011.

Centred around low cost campaigns, each focussed on a single issue, was developed in line with international best practice and was supported with effective enforcement.

Royal Dutch Shell road safety achievement recognised with Prince Michael International Road Safety Award
At Shell, safety is always the top priority. The business aims for zero fatalities and no incidents that harm people, or put its neighbours or facilities at risk.

In addition to a strict internal road safety regime for its own people and contractors, Shell has committed support for the UN led Global Decade of Action, which aims to save five million lives by 2020, through its community and corporate programmes.

Jamaican Road Safety Council receives Royal Award
Jamaica’s national coordinating body for road safety promotion, the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) has received a prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in recognition of its contribution to improving road safety in Jamaica. It has seen how effective leadership and a concentrated effort by a dedicated team can make a real difference and save lives.

Russian Federation recognised with 2013 Decade of Action Award
During a high level forum held in St Petersburg, HRH Prince Michael of Kent, Patron of the Commission for Global Road Safety, presented the 2013 Decade of Action Award to the Russian Federation. The Award recognises Russia’s leadership in promoting the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. Russia hosted the first ever Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in 2009, which set the agenda for the Decade of Action, sponsored the UN General Assembly Resolution establishing the Decade of Action and ensured that road safety was recognised at the Rio+20 sustainable development summit in 2012.

Kenya Training of Facilitators is complete! Time for follow up…

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 9, 2023 | News & Blog

On Friday 6th December the YOURS Training of Facilitators completed its two week programme in Nairobi, Kenya! The programme was an incredible success with 14 youth leaders from a range of local and national Kenyan NGOs trained on key road safety theory and facilitation skills.

Over the past two weeks, we have placed a major feature on the YOURS website on our Capacity Development Training in Nairobi, Kenya. Last week, we completed our two weeks YOURS training programme that ‘Trained the Facilitators’, a group of talented youth leaders from leading road safety non-governmental organizations from across Kenya.

Week one was a successful exploration of key road safety theory workshops from the scope of the road safety problem in the world and Kenya, how crashes happen, youth and road traffic injuries, distracted driving, speeding, helmet usage as well as key facilitation skills; the key attributes of peer educators, presenters vs. facilitators, fundamentals of human learning and so forth. The training was completely youth orientated; created by and for young people with a range of brain friendly learning sessions which coupled art, theatre, creativity, debate, games and music to transmit road safety messages.

In week two, the participants firstly watched demonstration workshops and then prepared for their own workshops, which they delivered midweek. On practical feedback and analysis as well as individual feedback on facilitation skills, the participants completed the two week programme!

YOURS Director, Floor Lieshout thanks partners in the closing ceremony of the two week programme.

Further follow up is now placed into the hands of the young leaders who will now run their own youth and road safety workshops across Kenya over the coming year and beyond supported by their organizations. A video report of the event will come shortly!

We take this opportunity to thank our partners for making the Kenya Training of Facilitators happen. For more information about our Capacity Development Programme, click here.

The training was made possible by the support of:

Particiapants from the training were selected in partnership with:

As many as 500,000 people suffer spinal cord injuries via RTIs

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 9, 2023 | News & Blog

As many as 500 000 people suffer a spinal cord injury each year. People with spinal cord injuries are 2 to 5 times more likely to die prematurely, with worse survival rates in low- and middle-income countries. The new WHO report, “International perspectives on spinal cord injury”, summarizes the best available evidence on the causes, prevention, care and lived experience of people with spinal cord injury.

Press Release: World Health Organization

Males are most at risk of spinal cord injury between the ages of 20-29 years and 70 years and older, while females are most at risk between the ages of 15-19 years and 60 years and older. Studies report male to female ratios of at least 2:1 among adults.

Causes: 90% traumatic
Up to 90% of spinal cord injury cases are due to traumatic causes such as road traffic crashes, falls and violence. Variations exist across regions. For example, road traffic accidents are the main contributor to spinal cord injury in the African Region (nearly 70% of cases) and the Western Pacific Region (55% of cases) and falls the leading cause in the South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean Regions (40% of cases). Non-traumatic spinal cord injury results from conditions such as tumours, spina bifida, and tuberculosis. A third of non-traumatic spinal cord injury is linked to tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa.

Consequences of spinal cord injury
Most people with spinal cord injury experience chronic pain, and an estimated 20-30% show clinically significant signs of depression. People with spinal cord injury also risk developing secondary conditions that can be debilitating and even life-threatening, such as deep vein thrombosis, urinary tract infections, pressure ulcers and respiratory complications.

Spinal cord injury is associated with lower rates of school enrollment and economic participation. Children with spinal cord injury are less likely than their peers to start school, and once enrolled, less likely to advance. Adults with spinal cord injury face similar barriers to socio-economic participation, with a global unemployment rate of more than 60%. Spinal cord injury carries substantial individual and societal costs.

Spinal Cord injury and its effects are explained in the new WHO manual whereby a large proportion of the injury is caused by road traffic crashes.

Many of the consequences associated with spinal cord injury do not result from the condition itself, but from inadequate medical care and rehabilitation services, and from barriers in the physical, social and policy environments that exclude people with spinal cord injury from participation in their communities. Full Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is urgently required to address these gaps and barriers.

“Spinal cord injury is a medically complex and life-disrupting condition,” notes Dr Etienne Krug, Director of the Department of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability, WHO. “However, spinal cord injury is preventable, survivable, and need not preclude good health and social inclusion.”

Essential health measures
Essential measures for improving the survival, health and participation of people with spinal cord injury include:

timely, appropriate pre-hospital management: quick recognition of suspected spinal cord injury, rapid evaluation and initiation of injury management, including immobilization of the spine;
acute care appropriate to the level and severity of injury, degree of instability and presence of neural compression;
access to ongoing health care, health education and products such as catheters to reduce risk of secondary conditions and improve quality of life;
access to skilled rehabilitation and mental health services to maximize functioning, independence, overall well-being and community integration;
access to appropriate assistive devices that can enable people to perform everyday activities, reducing functional limitations and dependency; and
specialized knowledge and skills among providers of medical care and rehabilitation services.

Essential social and economic measures
Essential measures to secure the right to education and economic participation include legislation, policy and programmes that promote:

physically accessible homes, schools, workplaces, hospitals and transportation;
inclusive education;
elimination of discrimination in employment and educational settings;
vocational rehabilitation to optimize the chance of employment;
micro-finance and other forms of self-employment benefits to support alternative forms of economic self-sufficiency;
access to social support payments that do not act as disincentive to return to work; and
correct understanding of spinal cord injury and positive attitudes towards people living with it.

“International perspectives on spinal cord injury” was developed in association with the International Spinal Cord Society and Swiss Paraplegic Research, and launched on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December 2013.

For more information please contact:
Laura Sminkey
WHO Geneva
Telephone: +41 22 791 4547
Mobile: +41 79 249 3520
E-mail: sminkeyl@who.int

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