Caribbean Development Bank Road Safety Library – available to access

Caribbean Development Bank Road Safety Library – available to access

by | Dec 8, 2023 | News & Blog

The Caribbean Development Bank has made its library of resources and data relating to road safety available for our youth network and all those interested to access. It includes a unique access code to enable people to access a wealth of information on global road safety, road safety in the Caribbean region and a range of reports. It serves as a great database to find information on road safety for free.

CDB Infolink is a Virtual Library that provides web-based access to information resources in the Caribbean Development Bank’s Information Services Centre (ISC). CDB Infolink give you access to electronic documents (eDocs) as well as bibliographic records for items contained in the physical collection.

For youth and road safety issues, it gives our network a serachable database covering a whole host of road safety journals, resources, reports, data in electronic version acting as a great resource to search documents on road safety in the Caribbean Region and beyond. 

Within the database is access to the Youth and Road Safety Action Kit serving as a reference point for global youth and road safety issues.

We invite out youth network and any individuals/organization intrested to access this databse do so via the following link and with the following log in details.

Access the CDB Library here
User ID: B9030

Carribean Development Bank and YOURS Partnerhship: VYBZING
The Caribbean Development Bank and the Government of Saint Lucia to run the VYBZING Forum on the topic of youth and road safety. The three day forum was a highly interactive workshop and at the end the participants left the forum as road safety advocates and ambassadors ready to create their own proposals for a road safety project in Saint Lucia.

Read more about VYBZING and the youth and road safety workshop.

7th PIN Report: Road crashes in Europe are down with more to be done

7th PIN Report: Road crashes in Europe are down with more to be done

by | Dec 8, 2023 | News & Blog

The annual  report from Road Safety Performance (PIN) Index conducted by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) is out and highlights that road traffic crashes in Europe have been reduced by 9% in comparison to 3% in 2011. While many lives have been saved, there is still much more to be done, especially in tackling the disproportionate amount of males being killed on the road.

“In 2012 we had 2,661 fewer road deaths in the EU than in 2011. The progress we have seen in 2012 is encouraging and we urge governments and  stakeholders to keep up their efforts in order to further improve road safety and eventually reach the EU road safety target for 2020,” said Antonio Avenoso, ETSC Executive Director

A total of 27,700 people were killed in the EU27 as a consequence of road collisions. Around 313,000 were recorded as seriously injured and many more suffered slight injuries. Following disappointing results from 2011, the year 2012 brings a welcome contrast as 27 out the 31 countries monitored by the PIN Programme registered a drop in the number of road deaths. Frontrunners are Malta and Cyprus followed by Israel and Denmark. But road deaths increased in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Lithuania and Romania.

There have been 2,661 fewer road deaths in 2012 than in 2011 in the EU as a whole. The monetary value of this reduction is estimated at 5 billion Euro. For the EU to be reaching the 2020 target through constant annual progress, another 600 deaths would have had to be saved over the 2011- 2012 period.

A Gender Disproportion

Just under 30,400 people were killed in 2011 in the EU27 in road collisions, approximately 7,200 females and 23,200 males. Females account for 51% of the total EU population but only 24% of road deaths. This percentage has changed by only one percentage point since 2001, but the reduction in female deaths since then has been four percentage points greater than the reduction in male deaths. Males account for 76% of people killed on the roads in the EU in 2011.

The PIN Report illustrates that while women make up 51% of Europe’s population, the death of men is at 76% in all crashes.

In the EU on average 95 men are killed on the roads each year per million male population, compared with 28 women per million female population. Males have more than three times the death rate of females on the roads in the EU. Hypothetically, if all EU road users used the roads like females in their respective countries do now, the road mortality rate across the EU would be about 20% lower than the average for the SUN countries, and even in the countries with the highest road mortality it would be no higher than it is in Germany now. Males are killed on the roads mainly as car drivers and motorcycle riders while females are killed mainly as pedestrians and car passenger.

Why is this the case?
There is extensive evidence to show that men have a higher rate of collisions than women. The difference between the sexes in terms of the number of deaths resulting from road collisions is similarly marked. Chipman et al (1992), for example, show that men have double the number of collisions (per 1,000 drivers) than women. Waller et al (2001) also note that in addition to having a higher number of collisions, men incur their first collision earlier in their driving career and are more likely than women to be held to blame for the incident. Norriset al (2000) and others attribute this greater level of collision-proneness to higher driving speeds among men and less regard for traffic laws. Male drivers seem to be more prone to risky driving behaviour than female drivers. In the UK,for example, Home Office statistics show that in 2002 88% of all recorded driving offences, and 83% of speeding offences, were committed by men.

Read more about how young people (especially young males) face a higher risk in terms of road crashes.

What can be done for young people?
Understanding the risks faced by young road users is important in order to plan appropriate programmes to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries among young people. Most of the interventions that reduce the risk of road traffic injuries among the general population will also reduce the occurrence among youth. In addition, experience from high-income countries shows that sustained efforts to implement interventions targeted specifically at young adults can lead to great success in reducing the numbers of deaths and injuries among young people.

In conclusion young people are difficult to reach. Parents will have less influence on them and authorities like the police are often involved when it is already too late. To connect with young people you have to speak their ‘language’ but remain credible and authentic. Therefore YOURS believes that it is young people themselves who should talk with their peers and get the right message across. Many examples of peer-to-peer communication have been set by youth-led NGO’s and are part of the YOURS network.

Governments, private sector and media should help young people by providing resources, help developing their skills and give media attention to their efforts.

You can read the PIN Report here or download it in the attachments alongside reading extra information from ETSC.

Spotlight On: Georgia Alliance for Safe Roads – multi platform projects

Spotlight On: Georgia Alliance for Safe Roads – multi platform projects

by | Dec 8, 2023 | News & Blog

Every so often, we like to pick out great examples of road safety action with young people and feature them on our website. This year we have had lots of new members from Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and beyond and it gives us great pleasure to share more information about network members to our global audience. In this spotlight we focus on the Georgia Alliance for Safe Roads from the Country of Georgia.

11th of May, 2011 was the date of official launching of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety global campaign which was celebrated in more than 70 countries.

On that very day a new Campaign „Don’t Drink and Drive!” was launched in the framework of the Georgia‘s First Lady’s Healthy Life Style Initiative „Don’t Worry, Be Healthy”. The Campaign/Project is initiated and conducted by “Georgian Alliance for Safe Roads”. The donors of the Campaign are: Company “Natakhtari”, Insurance Company “GPI Holding”, Toyota Caucasus LLC and the U.S. Embassy in Georgia. Road safety public-education campaign aims to raise public awareness of the problems that drunk driving can cause, and to reduce the number of crashes caused by drunk driving.

The goal of the campaign “Don’t Drink and Drive” is to reduce the number of crashes caused by drunk driving, by changing the behavior of drivers through the public awareness campaigns and enhanced enforcement of traffic rules. There’s no excuse for getting behind the wheel when you’re drunk: not emergencies, not ignorance of the law, not “believing you hadn’t drunk anything”, not… anything. Even one injury or death due to a drunk driving accident is one too many, because accidents due to drinking and driving are completely preventable!

The Georgia Alliance for Safe Roads have become an active member of our network with some fantastic submissions for the Long Short Walk at YOURS:

Have you signed up to our network? If not, apply by application form and we could spotlight you as well as offer your road safety organization a range of other opportunities. Apply here.

Take part in a LIVE webinar on youth and road safety – RTIRN

Take part in a LIVE webinar on youth and road safety – RTIRN

by | Dec 8, 2023 | News & Blog

Today (17th June 2013) The Road Traffic Injuries and Research Network (RTIRN) will be hosting a special webinar focusing on the theme, “Youth for Road Safety: Engaging hearts, minds and evidence”. YOURS director, Floor Lieshout will present alongside Dr. Shanthi Ameratunga. This webinar is open for all to view live and we invite you all to come along and join us!

We invite you to come along and join a special webinar (online seminar), a one hour discussion and presentation on the theme: Youth and Road Safety: Engaging hearts, minds and evidence. It will be hosted online via the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico and will be run an audio visual presentation that any body interested can come along and join. We invite our youth network to come along and join us and pose questions to the two hosts (below) about youth and road safety issues globally.

The Road traffic Injuries Research Network (RTIRN) is a partnership of over 764 (up to April, 2013) individuals and institutions – from 86 countries that collaborate to further research on the impact and causes of Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) in low- and middle-income countries and to identify appropriate interventions to the problem.

OUR VISION: To reduce the burden of road traffic injuries, particularly in low- and middle-income countries through the promotion, conduct and utilization of research.

OUR GOAL: To establish networking mechanisms and assist in the creation of partnerships between RTI researchers and institutions globally, to support research and research capacity in low- and middle-income countries.

The webinar will take place on 17th June 2013 at 2pm Mexico City Time – (GMT -06:00)

Hosting the webinar will be Mr Floor Lieshout and Dr Shanthi Ameratunga.

Some of the issues of focus will include:

  • An overview of road traffic injuries – the real life numbers around the world.
  • Global youth and road safety issues – why young people are at particular risk.
  • What can we do to engage youth in road safety.
  • YOURS Capcity Development.
  • Other key topics of focus. 

To take part, you can click on the link below at the time of the webinar or before and enter the password when the session goes live.

Webinar Times:
2pm Mexico City – Mexico and USA (EDT)
8pm United Kingdom
9pm Central European Time (CET)
To find out what time the webinar falls in your city click here and consult the relevant times and places

Creative distracted driving advert from Australia – Get Your Hands Off It

Creative distracted driving advert from Australia – Get Your Hands Off It

by | Dec 8, 2023 | News & Blog

Transport New South Wales, Australia have released a new advert campaign focusing on distracted driving themed, ‘Get Your Hands Off It’ featuring comedian and film maker Derek Anderson. The advert is a tongue-in-cheek video that is presented as a spoof music video and raising awareness of distracted driving in an alternative and creative manner.

Shared with us by our Western Pacific Regional Coordinatore Mr Joel Tucker (Australia), this new road safety campaign takes an ‘unconventional’ approach to tackling the issue of distracted driving in a creative music video style advert that promotes the cause through humour and spoof comedy.

The video features Derek Anderson, dubbed the ‘bearded manchild’ and is a satirical approach to a music video.

Distracted Driving forms a key part of our Youth and Road Safety Action Kit:

 

Multitasking and driving don’t mix. Even for skilled and experienced drivers, driving safely requires that you use most, if not all, of your mental capacity: it doesn’t take much for your driving to be distracted.

For example, when talking on a mobile phone, one of your hands is holding the phone; your mind is on your conversation; your attention is on the sounds coming from the phone; and although your eyes are on the road, you will not be really ‘seeing’ what
is happening around you. Using an earpiece will not solve the problem. You still have to press a button to take the call; your attention will still be on the voice of the person talking to you, your mind will be processing what you are hearing, and you’ll be thinking of what to say next. The only distraction you have avoided is that of having to carry the phone in your hand.

The result is that drivers using a phone to talk, text, or browse the internet are less able to stay in the appropriate lane, detect any changes around them and respond in time. Drivers talking on the phone are also more likely to exceed the speed limit and not maintain a consistent speed. When texting, people often drive at lower speeds, but their delayed reaction time and inability to maintain appropriate lane positions and assess traffic conditions still makes texting while driving extremely dangerous.

In New South Wales Australia, the Center for Road Safety explain What mobile phone laws mean in their state:

While your vehicle is moving or stationary (but not parked), as a driver you may only use a mobile phone to make or receive a call or use the audio playing function if:

  • the mobile phone is secured in a fixed mounting; or
  • the mobile phone does not require you to touch or manipulate the phone in any way.

All other functions including texting, video messaging, online chatting, reading preview messages and emailing are prohibited.

While your vehicle is moving or stationary (but not parked), as a driver you must not hold your mobile phone in your hand other than to pass the phone to a passenger.

A mobile phone’s GPS (or other driver’s aid) function may only be used if: 

  • the phone is secured in a commercially designed and manufactured fixed mounting, and
  • the mounting is fixed in a location that will not distract or obscure your view in any way, and
  • the use of the driver’s aid does not distract you from driving or from being in proper control of your vehicle.

You can watch the video here.

Speed cameras reduce serious road crashes – The Guardian UK

Speed cameras reduce serious road crashes – The Guardian UK

by | Dec 8, 2023 | News & Blog

Speed cameras are a contentious subject and many believe that they operate to make money rather than save lives, however, as a strict area for enforcement of speed limits, cameras are said to save many lives according to a new report by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) in the UK. RAC study shows serious collisons dropped 27% and if cameras were switched off a further 80 lives would be lost each year.

The original story can be found at the Guardian UK website.

Speed cameras reduce the number of fatal and serious collisions in the areas they are installed by more than a quarter, a study has found.The RAC Foundation studied 551 fixed cameras in nine areas of England and found that such incidents dropped by 27% after speed cameras were put in place.

But the research also found that at 21 camera sites the number of collisions appeared to have increased. The foundation has written to 11 local authorities to find out why and to suggest they examine whether the cameras should be moved.

Prof Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said that a report it published in 2010 found that without speed cameras there would be about 800 more people killed or seriously injured each year.

Speed cameras on a highway in the UK

He told the BBC: “Safety cameras are contentious. People dispute whether they work. 

“But in fact the general public as a whole like them because they want these roads to be made safer. If cameras were turned off overnight there would be something like 80 people killed extra a year and 800 people killed or seriously injured. So the evidence is very good that on average they do work, they are effective.”

The study looked at data from speed cameras in Cambridge and Peterborough, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Sussex, Warwickshire and the Thames valley.

So do speed cameras work?

“Yes, they do, is the short answer,” says Robert Gifford, executive director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety. “A four-year evaluation of their effectiveness concluded that 100 lives were saved every year.”

The same study concluded that there was a 40% reduction in the number of deaths and injuries on roads with speed cameras.

Read more about PACTS here.

There are around 6,000 speed cameras on UK roads, including mobile cameras. Claire Armstrong, who runs Safe Speed, a group that campaigns for more road safety but fewer speed cameras, claims that studies which show their efficacy are “politically biased”. “They are a huge distraction,” she says. “If you are concentrating on cameras, you are not concentrating on the road.” She believes that measures such as more safety-awareness campaigns and advanced driving tests would be more effective, and that as the number of speed cameras increases, there is no evidence of a commensurate reduction in the number of road deaths.

Gifford contradicts her. Road deaths, he says, fell below 3,000 for the first time last year and speed is a contributing factor in one in three road deaths. If you go back 10 years ago, “70% of drivers driving in free-flow traffic broke the 30mph speed limit. Now it’s 49%. There has been a big decrease in the deaths of pedestrians, and that is partly due to cameras in urban areas.

What do you think? The conversation continues…