In collaboration with WHO, the Kenyan Ministries of Health and of Transport and Infrastructure jointly launched a national speed prevention campaign entitled Slow Down, Speed Kills. The campaign, which includes radio messaging and outdoor adverts on billboards, aims to raise awareness among motorists of the risks and potential consequences of speeding. The campaign is part of a WHO-led multi-year road safety promotion effort implemented as part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Program.

There is extensive evidence from around the world that road safety campaigns complemented by the strict enforcement of laws can dramatically decrease reckless behaviour such as speeding. In Kenya since 2011, awareness raising campaigns and intensified enforcement of speed laws through the use of speed cameras in Thika and Naivasha demonstrate a remarkable improvement in speed compliance and a subsequent reduction in crash rates in those sub-counties.

In Thika, speed compliance increased from 42% in June 2011 to 71% in June 2013, while the increase in Naivasha was from 50% to 77% for the same time period. All vehicle types improved speed compliance; however, public service vehicles (matatus and buses) and light trucks remain the least compliant in both districts.

“Kenya’s President Kenyatta has called upon all Kenyans to make a concerted effort to improve safety on the country’s roads,” notes Kelly Larson who leads the Global Road Safety Program at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “We hope the President’s appeal will lead to concrete measures, including strong road safety legislation and stringent enforcement that will prevent the unnecessary loss of life on Kenya’s roads.”

Our own YOURS work in Kenya continues to run and will use these recent road safety pushes to further stregthen our workshop content with youth leaders in Kenya. Our workshops have also focused heavily on the key risk factor of speed and our trained facilitators have also run workshops with young people in Thika and Naivasha via the Kenya Red Cross. Next month we continue our work in the country!

This year the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDR) will take place on Sunday 17th November 2013. The day is celebrated each year by an increasing number of countries on every continent around the world. This day is dedicated to remembering the many millions killed or injured in road crashes and their families and communities, as well as to pay tribute to the dedicated emergency crews, police and medical professionals who daily deal with the traumatic aftermath of road death and injury.

Road deaths and injuries are sudden, violent, traumatic events, the impact of which is long-lasting, often permanent. Each year, millions of newly injured and bereaved people from every corner of the world are added to the countless millions already suffering as the result of a road crash.

The burden of grief and distress experienced by this huge number of people is all the greater because many of the victims are young, because many of the crashes could and should have been prevented and because the response to road death and injury and to victims and families is often inadequate, unsympathetic, and inappropriate to the loss of life or quality of life.

This special Remembrance Day is intended to respond to the great need of road crash victims for public recognition of their loss and suffering.

This day has also become an important tool for governments and all those whose work involves crash prevention or response to the aftermath, since it offers the opportunity to demonstrate the enormous scale and impact of road deaths and injuries and the urgent need for concerted action to stop the carnage.

The campaign was all about appreciating life and recognizing that our actions to keep safe on the road has enabled us to live, while many have been taken on the road. The gallery in the right column is the result of our Embrace Life Campaign, a unique photo exhibition that illustrates participation from around the world.

Young people have sent in their photos of how and why they embrace life. This exhibition is viewable as individual photos in the album on the right! We launch our photo exhibition today (20/11/11) to coincide with the World Day of Remembrace for Road Traffic Victims.

View our Embrace Life Picture Mosaics – These mosaics are a blend of all the photos sent in to create the logos below! Click on them to view the full size:

By embracing life, we hold the values of road safety high and move forward in life with road safety a priority in our minds. While we embrace life, we also remember the tragic loss of life on the road where many have lost loved ones. This campaign remembers them and in their name, we go forward promising to spread the message of road safety to help prevent future tragedies.

Tell us how you will commemorate the World Day of Remembrance this year!

This theme for the World Day of Remembrance this year relates to the call in Pillar 2 of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for safer road infrastructure, promotion of the needs of all road users, especially the most vulnerable, and for sustainable urban planning, with road authorities made legally responsible for improving road safety on their networks.

This theme is to encourage all road safety stakeholders to promote infrastructure that meets the needs of all users, to share knowledge and to encourage research and development in safer roads and mobility.

Our CORE Group Representative for Russia Mr Alexander Revskiy gave us an update on new road safety campaigns launched in Russia in 2013. The campaigns incorporate robust road safety messages alongside iconic cultural branding such as the globally recognised matryoshka doll. We check out some of the great examples of innovative road safety campaigns coming out of Russia this year

The General Department of Road Traffic Safety of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russian Federation and the NGO Road Safety Russia recently launched their new nation-wide public awareness campaign, “Above all, wear a helmet!”. The campaign aims to improve the safety of drivers and passengers of motorbikes and scooters and advocates the compulsory wearing of helmets for all journeys.

This campaign is coming at the height of the motorcycling season. According to statistics in the first five months of 2013 there were 1,944 motorcycle and scooter accidents in Russia, in which 253 people died and 2,184 were injured. One way to reduce the fatality rate among drivers and passengers of two-wheeled motor vehicles is to make the wearing of safety helmets compulsory. The use of safety helmets can reduce the risk of fatal injury in the event of a road traffic accident by 40% and the risk of serious injury by over 70%.

It was launched officially with a “Scooting by the Rules” event in Moscow’s Sokolniki Park. Everyone taking part or coming to watch the event had the opportunity to see the public information posters, “Hurt your helmet not your head”, which have been produced as part of the “Use your head, wear a helmet” campaign.

The campaign also reiterates the need for a system of training for learner drivers and for the establishment of special driving schools to provide advanced driving skills courses for motorcyclists and scooter riders. At the end of September there were more than 1000 publications about the campaign and different regional activities within it, which were organized by local departments of Road Traffic Safety.  The next year Road Safety Russia is planning to repeat this campaign extending the communication channels and its activities.

Surveys of more than 50,000 people have revealed that only half of the Russian population always use a seat belt. Furthermore, even although back seat passengers are just as vulnerable in the event of an accident as the front seat occupants of a vehicle, the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre (VTsIOM) has found that only 17% of back seat passengers always use their seat belts.

he symbol of the “Buckle Up!” campaign is the matryoshka, Russia’s most famous and recognisable image. The matryoshka is a symbol that unites the diverse traditions of the inhabitants of Russia, just as roads connect people, cities, towns and villages, unifying Russia economically and socially.

he matryoshka, in itself, symbolises safety: the tiny doll is protected by the little doll; the little doll is protected by the medium-sized doll; and the medium-sized doll is protected by the big doll. Moreover, the matryoshka is associated with motherhood, which is virtually synonymous with life. It is for these reasons that the matryoshka has been chosen to spearhead the new public awareness campaign as a unifying symbol of road safety in Russia. The campaign aims to explain to the entire population of Russia that wearing a seat belt is essential to protect one’s own life and the lives of one’s nearest and dearest.

Comprehensive road safety legislation—which incorporates evidence-based measures and strict and appropriate penalties, backed by consistent, sustained enforcement and public education—has been proven to reduce road traffic injuries and fatalities. We call this the road safety ‘system’ and young people have a major role to play in preventing crashes by becoming safe road users and advocating for road safety laws. Find out how you could use this manual to make an impact in your country for road safety.

The Global status report on road safety 2013: Supporting a decade of action revealed that legislation on five known KEY risk factors for road traffic injuries (speeding, drink–driving, non-use of motorcycle helmets, seat-belts and child restraints) is incomplete in the majority of countries and that current laws are often inadequately enforced, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The Global status report on road safety 2013 revealed that only 28 countries (covering just 7% of the world’s population) have comprehensive laws on these five risk factors. More works need to be done to improve road safety legislation globally.

Strengthening road safety legislation: a practice resource manual for countries describes methods and provides resources that practitioners and decision-makers can use for enacting new laws or amending existing ones as part of a comprehensive road safety strategy. In particular, it recommends a stepwise approach to assessing and improving legislation relating to five specific risk factors for road-traffic injuries, as well as post-crash care.

The manual can be used to:

• develop an understanding of the framework of legislation and relevant processes that are applicable in a country;
• review current national legislation and regulations and identify barriers to the implementation and enforcement of effective road safety measures;
• identify available resources, such as international agreements, and evidence-based guidance and recommendations on effective measures, to improve legislation;
• prepare action plans to strengthen national legislation and regulations for the five main risk factors and for post-crash care, including advocating for improvement.

How can youth use this manual?
Youth are passionate, creative and committed and understanding where your country stands in terms of roa safety legislation can be a powerful piece of information to lobby road safety decision makers to make change following the steps in the guide. Alongside the push for adequate laws is a need for ‘safe road users’, young people who know enough about road safety to make a conscious effort to be safe road users as well as campaign to share information with their peers.

On understanding the situation in their country (a situation assessment) young people can use this informaton to tackle road safety and push for legislation that protects all road users. The Youth and Road Safety Action Kit offers bitesized information on how to go about creating a project for road safety; especially calling for new laws.

You can download the new WHO manual in the attachments in the right column or by clicking here.