Brian is back with his June column on the importance of the public being trained in basic first aid and post-crash care in low and middle-income countries. In places where roads are less accessible and post-crash vehicles are less readily available, Brian argues that a community focused approach to being able to handle injuries in the first instance can dramatically save lives.

Congratulations to every one for #stayingsafe #walkingsafe #lsw during the #globaroadsafetyweek that focused on pedestrian safety! (Lots of Hash-tags!) This year’s Global Road Safety Week was the best! I have never felt this solidarity feeling before: that innate feeling of ‘Yeah, road safety is our concern!’ from all corners of the continent in Africa and the wider world! That’s exactly what we love to see; dignitaries, children, mothers, fathers, young people, celebrities – needless to mention, animals #WalkingforSafety! I loved it! How about you? In English, they say ‘Keep the candle burning’…me I say ‘Keep a keen eye on a burning candle’…if you know what I mean 😉

Emergency health care facilities in Africa are flooded with road traffic crash victims; and there are the ‘few lucky ones’, who are referred for a touch of professionalism in advanced hospitals. It doesn’t make me proud to write such a true statement this month of June, (which reminds me that Christmas is 6 months away :P) but I find solace in the naked truth that road traffic crashes are preventable, and even after a crash, deaths are preventable and the impact of injuries can be mitigated by timely and effective emergency care.

Now, what really occurs when a road traffic crash happens? The first people on the scene are community members who usually don’t have any form of prior formal training in first aid and emergency medicine. Considering that the response time for emergence medical services or the police in developing countries depends on whether it is raining, whether there is fuel in the response cars (if they exist), whether the road is accessible (of course due to unnecessary traffic jams or congestion), many deaths from injuries, bleeding and avoidable disabilities come into existence; things which would have been addressed if the community members were empowered with basic life saving knowledge and skills. 

According to WHO (2013) Global Road Safety Report,

While delivering the report, the current WHO director general Margaret Chan said, “Political will is needed at the highest level of government to ensure appropriate road safety legislation and stringent enforcement of laws by which we all need to abide.” “If this cannot be ensured, families and communities will continue to grieve, and health systems will continue to bear the brunt of injury and disability due to road traffic crashes.”

Many times, as implementing organizations, we are judged by the impact that we do: Our friend has done and published his evidence: Tiska MA, et al (2012) In Ghana most roadway casualties receive care and transport to the hospital from taxi, bus, or truck drivers. This study reports that control of external hemorrhage was quickly learnt and used appropriately by the drivers. Areas identified needing emphasis in future trainings included consistent use of universal precautions and protection of airways in unconscious persons using the recovery position.

Clearly, it’s possible for low income countries; prehospital trauma care for roadway casualties can be improved by training laypersons already involved in prehospital transport and care. Training should be locally devised, evidence based, educationally appropriate, and focus on practical demonstrations (as visible in the photos in the right column from Uganda Red Cross).

Quite often, we affiliate this ‘Prehospital care and crash stuff’ to medical people! I can tell you that’s not true (because I’ve never spent 6 years or so in medical school, rather 6 months of emergence medicine and prehospital skill training). In fact the Red Cross offers 1 day, 3 days, 5 days + courses on emergence health care and response…so you cant be excused really for saying, the courses are long! LOL.

Fact is, the post-crash phase is not only the job of emergency health care workers. The pre-crash phase is also incredibly important whereby road traffic engineers can play a vital role in facilitating access of emergency response teams to crash scenes, by designing emergency lanes or including messages on roadside information screens regarding the positions of emergency vehicles. Road incident management after a crash involves many disciplines, including traffic officials, the police, and the fire department and emergency health care workers. The safe, effective management of a crash scene allows speedy emergency care for the injured. The training of non-medical officials in elementary triage and basic life support would also improve communication between the disciplines and, often, speed up the provision of basic emergency care.

The ultimate goal of road safety is not merely crash prevention, but actually death and disability prevention. With this aim in mind, urgent action should be taken to improve post-crash responses and patient care because prehospital care and post crash care enjoy a husband-wife relationship in road safety in Africa. If we call upon our leaders to take action to improve road safety systems, we benefit all round!

So, exactly what are you waiting for? Get your certification or your organization thinking of certifying their staff, communities in basic life support! The next life to be saved may be YOURS! Oh, and wish me luck in participating in the 27th First Aid Convention Europe this June…hoping to learn as much as my head can take! Until next time #StaySafe

As part of the Second UN Global Road Safety Week a flashmob was organized in Syntagma Square, Greece and promoted the message “Stop Road Crashes”. The stunt was organized in Athens by the Hellenic Road Safety Institute (I.O.A.S) – RSI Panos Mylonas with the support of the European Comission and the European Youth Forum for Road Safety.

The event bought together a group of young people in the Square in Athens, Greece and the undergoing of a live, orchestrated dance to grab attention to the unexecpecting public.

What is a Flashmob?
A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. Flash mobs are organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.

In this case, the flashmob was organized to raise awareness of the United Nations Global Road Safety Week to raise awareness of the cause of pedestrian safety with the immediate audience in the square at the time but also leave a legacy of the event captured in a video.

IOAS thanked Mr. Fokas Evagelinos for the choreography and the teachers and the volunteers – students of his dance school who embraced the effort of RSI, our volunteers and all those who contributed to the achievement of the road safety flash mob. The also thanked George G. Mylonas and Iacovos Argyridis for the event song «Stamata» (stop running / slow down) being the soundtrack of the flash-mob.

The event was coordinated with the support of and with thanks to:

• the Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection, the Road Traffic Police and the Road Traffic Police of Attica,
• the Municipality of Athens, the Municipal Police and the Administration of Cleaning — Recycling and Maintenance of the Mechanical Equipment,
• the Attica Perfecture, the Administration of Road Maintenance and Construction Works, • the Athens Urban Transport Organisation,
• the Ministry of Development, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks,
• Mr. Kostas Michalos of the SIMA SA for his contribution to the restoration of markings of pedestrian crossing,
• DIAGEO for its contribution to the program implementation,
• AXA insurance for the civil liability insurance of dancers and participants,
• the PUBLIC stores and McDonalds in Filellinon street and the cafe brasserie «Ethnikon» for their hospitality facilitating our volunteers,
• the Greek Scout Movement, the «Smile of the Child» for their volunteer presence,
• All the drivers, pedestrians and citizens who were present, supported and participated actively and enthusiastically in the successful realization of the event,
• The TV channels ANT-1, MEGA, NET, ALPHA, SKAI, STAR, the radio stations Alpha, Skai, Vima FM for the coverage and communication of the message of the event,
• our associates and representatives of the European Youth Forum and the European
• Commission for their trust and help to our work in the aim of RSI Panos Mylonas to prevent road crashes.

You can find more information about the organization that coordinated the flashnmob on their Facebook Page here.

One of the key pillars of our activities here at YOURS is to unite young people all around the world. We aim to bring those incredible youth organizations, individuals, projects and campaigns around the world together to unite as one strong voice for road safety. Once again, this was visible in the our global youth and road safety network’s involvement in the campaign for the Second United Nations Road Safety Week; The Long Short Walk.

Since 2010, we have been running global campaigns for our Global Youth Network for Road Safety to engage with and illustrate to the world that young people from different backgrounds and nations are united on promoting road safety. Since the Global Road Safety Week, which took place from 6-12th May 2013, some members from our network have been sharing their involvement in the Long Short Walk Campaign, illustrating the incredible ingenuity and innovation by young people when it comes sharing a road safety message. Here we feature some of the activities shared by our youth members!

Over in Geogia, our network member and director of the Georgia Alliance for Safe Roads, Maya Kobalia took the Long Short Walk to national television! The alliance strongly believes that there is value for all – Georgian Government, local NGO’s and Media – to continue working together in the area of road safety in order to further raise awareness and induce action.  Here’s Georgian TV show ”Sxva Shuadge” hosting:

Maya Kobalia – “Georgian Alliance for Safe Roads”, Exevutive Director Tea Shamatava -disabled after the road crash caused by a drunk driver Ana Barkaia – NGO ”Children of Georgia”, Phycologist  Giorgi Bichashvili – 112 [a 24-hour emergency response center that receives emergency calls from all over Georgia via united emergency number – 1-1-2], Director. Maya told us, “The episode from the TV show, dedicated to the Second UN Global Road Safety Week as well as to the Georgian road safety in general, will serve as a reminder to everyone that if we think carefully before we drive/cross the street, it can save lives”. More photos are attached in the right column!

Over in The Gambia, our network members from the National Youth Parliament of the Gambia and its strong youth and road safety advocate; Mr Siaka Dba held a massive road safety pedestrian march through the country receiving lots of national press and media attention. They engaged the Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure engaged with the project and supported the march. News clippings are attached in the right column along with photos of the event.

Over in Brazil, our network member Vida Urgente took to the streets of Brazil with YOURS branded signboards and engaged with people with their road safety message. They also included passing on road safety information to their fellow road users and seen in the pictures in the right column. They went about engaging a range of people and the picture above includes staff of Vida Urgente taking the walk for road safety.

Over in Uganda, Africa, our regular columns Brian Bilal Mwebaze teamed up with the Uganda Red Cross to hold a walk alongside a range of other activities and events. As well as a football tournament, painting zebra crossing and a concert, in Uganda, they took lots of photos for the Long Short Walk Campaign. The music festival for road safety attracted lots of media attention and raised the profile of pedestrian safety in the country.

As part of the VYBZING Forum of 2013, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) via their youth outreach programme set an introduction to the forum by initiating an ‘animated video challenge’ to the youth of Saint Lucia to create educational videos on the theme of road safety. The challenge was undertaken by the youth and the winners have been announced.

The VYBZING Animated Video Challenge sponsored by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in collaboration with the St. Lucia. Ministry of Youth Development and Sports was designed to give Entrants the opportunity to use their creativity in producing an animated video on ‘road safety’ which is a major challenge that impacts the safety and security of youth and their ability to contribute to the development of their communities. Prizes were awarded to the Entrants who submit the best videos as determined by the judges in their sole discretion at the VYBZING Forum.

Addressing the topic “Youth and Road Safety: Save and Life, Save a Future”, the challenge was to develop a two minute animated video utilizing one or more risk factors that will increase awareness amongst your peers of the risk factors to Road Safety. (Risk factors included: non-use of seatbelts, speeding, drinking alcohol and drug use, non-use of helmets, distracted driving, fatigue and not being visible enough on the roads)

The Animated Video Challenge began at 3:00pm EST on March 8, 2013 and ended at midnight EST on May 3, 2013. The VYBZING Animated Video Challenge was designed to give Entrants the opportunity to submit videos that respond to the issue of Road Safety and Youth. Prizes awarded to the Entrants who submitted the best entries as determined by the judges were:

1. First Prize – $1,500 (US) Visa gift card
2. Second Prize – $1,000 (US) Visa gift card
3. Third prize – $650.00(US) Visa gift card
4. People’s Choice Award of $250.00(US) Visa gift card

The winners of the challenge were as follows, videos appear in the right column in the following order:

This video focused on several risk factors including texting and driving, drug driving and drink driving as well as speeding through a clever and catchy rap about road safety. It uses a creative illustration of events of a driver and appears in the style of a music video. It won first prize in the challenge and was well received when viewed by the delegates of the VYBZING forum.

The second place video focused on the dangers of texting and driving and plays a scenario through a road; one where texting and driving occurs and the other with a safe scenario. The video is incredibly creative and tackles the concept of a young man texting his girlfriend while driving but also becoming distracted in his thoughts, which results in tragic consequences. This video also won the ‘people’s choice award’ as voted by web viewers.

This third place video focused on following key pedestrian safety rules as defined in Saint Lucia. It looks at how many factors can contribute to a road crash and fatality and uses as second scene scenario to explain how things can go wrong as a road user.

The videos illustrate the great creativity of youth. Given a brief of focusing on road safety risk factors, the young people of Saint Lucia created an amazing array of visual creations and interpretations of putting forward a road safety message to their peers. When shown the videos to the VYBZING forum, it was clear that the videos came across well and fitted the language of the youth of Saint Lucia.