On 15-17th May 2013, YOURS partnered with 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.

CDB and Youth ‘VYBZING’ Outreach Programme is a platform for youth engagement with emphasis on youth empowerment and participation in the development process.  It facilitates communication among youth and with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) on social and economic development issues and challenges that are impacting their lives. This year, CDB alongside Government Ministries of St Lucia; Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, Ministry of Infrastructure, Port Services and Transport, have partnered with YOURS to run the VYBZING Forum on youth and road safety issues, themed ‘ Road Safety: Save a Life, Save a Future’.

The forum was a high energy and completely interactive learning experience and focused on localized road safety knowledge-sharing through a youth orientated training. Every year, VYBZING tackles an issue of importance in relation to young people and youth issues and this year, it focused on addressing the biggest killer of young people globally; road traffic crashes.

Supported by the Government of Saint Lucia and initiated by CDB Youth, the forum offered 30 youth leaders from around Saint Lucia the opportunity to be trained in key concepts of road safety through YOURS’ Capacity Development Programme. Honourable Shawn Edward, Minister of Youth Development and Sports, Ministry of Youth Development and Sports also encouraged the youth to take what they learn from the training and share it with their peers. Ms Angela Parris, Manager, Information Services Unit, Caribbean Development Bank and Coordinator of CDB VYBZING opened the forum with a word to the youth that this is the young people’s opportunity to make a change in their country through active participation in VYBZING forum and to use the skills and knowledge that they gain to enact real change on the ground in Saint Lucia.

The Forum was comprised of a range of activities designed by YOURS to train the youth on road safety topics. It began with friendly introductions and ice-breakers followed by an interactive session on the scope of the road safety problem in the world and Saint Lucia.

The youth came to realize that while Saint Lucia has a relatively small population of around 170,000 inhabitants, the country still experiences a high ratio of road deaths per 100,000 of the population; the amount of deaths ranges from 14-18 per 100,000 while in Europe countries such as the Netherlands and the UK have a considerably lower average of 3.7-4.0 per 100,000. The session debunked the notion that more vehicles means more road deaths with the youth acknolwedging the ‘safe systems approach’ where a range of factors; safe infrastructure, safe vechiles, safe road users and post-crash care, play an important role in reducing road deaths.

The delegates went on to understand the disproportion of genders affected in road crashes and exlpored reasons why youth are at particular risk on the roads due to inexperience, age and gender issues. After exploring some of the theory behind road crashes and youth, the delegates undertook a session on distracted driving on day one of the training. 

On day 2, the youth undertook training in project management based on concepts in the Youth and Road Safety Action Kit, learning about the four stages of project management as well as creating their own own pitch proposal in an ‘business style’ presentation to a panel of judges, who offered feedback and points for improvement. These ideas for grass roots projects were commended for their ingenuity, creativity and understanding of pursuing road safety projects as a multi-sectoral approach engaging a range of stakeholders. The day ended on a set of briefing activities on partnership building, networking, community participation and fundraising, which enabled the youth to understand how to keep their projects going.

Throughout the forum, the young people set aside points to be included in a ‘Youth Declaration for Road Safety’ calling upon decision makers in Saint Lucia and the Caribbean Region at large to enact decisions enabling better road safety for young people. On day three, these points of discussion culminated in the writing and adoption of the Youth Declaration for Road Safety – Saint Lucia 2013!

Amongst other things; the declaration called upon decision makers to:

• subscribe to and support the international movement proclaimed by the United Nations; the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020;
• invest in safe and forgiving roads. Provide safe footpaths, cycle-ways and crossing points, on streets with lower speed limits, particularly around schools and take immediate action on crash hotspots;
• include a comprehensive road safety strategy with a good data collection system in place to measure its impact and allocate adequate funds towards its implementation;
• enact and enforce road traffic laws on the use of seatbelts and helmets, set speed-limits, and a zero tolerance for distracted driving, alcohol– and drug use in traffic and boost your investment of financial resources to make safer roads;
• acknowledge the importance of the involvement of youth in road safety by: investing to empower youth to become a greater force for positive change in road safety including consistent and quality driver education;
• invest in quality post-crash care for (young) road victims and their reinstatement in society;
• ensure safe and affordable public transportation options. Protect drivers and passengers with the use of maintained buses, which are not overcrowded and which are regulated to ensure safety.

The declaration is to be presented by a group representing the participants of the forum to the 43rd Annual Board of Governors Meeting of the Caribbean Development Bank tomorrow (23rd May 2013) where Prime Ministers of the Caribbean States and key decision makers will be present. A full report and video of the event will be available shortly!

Floor Lieshout, Director of YOURS said,

The VYBZING Forum is an annual youth event coordinated by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Ministries of Government, Development Institutions and Youth Organizations. The forum is hosted throughout the Caribbean and this year, CDB Youth have partnered with YOURS to deliver a Youth and Road Safety Workshop within the framework of VYBZING in St Lucia.

CDB and Youth ‘VYBZING’ Outreach Programme is a platform for youth engagement with emphasis on youth empowerment and participation in the development process.  It facilitates communication among youth and with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) on social and economic development issues and challenges that are impacting their lives. This year, CDB alongside Government Ministries of St Lucia; Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, Ministry of Infrastructure, Port Services and Transport, have partnered with YOURS to run the VYBZING Forum on youth and road safety issues, themed ‘ Road Safety: Save a Life, Save a Future’.

The forum takes place in the Ixora Conference Centre, Bay Gardens Inn, St Lucia and serves as a stunning backdrop for road safety empowerment, advocacy and action. Based on the Capacity Development Programme, this three day forum (15-17 May 2013) will engage a group of youth leaders from St Lucia to be trained on key elements of road safety, localized to a Caribbean context.

The aim of the forum is to culminate in a Youth Declaration for Road Safety in the Caribbean, which will call upon decision makers to enact road safety targeted at youth to save young lives and combat the biggest killer of young people worldwide; road traffic crashes. The initiative is part of the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Youth VYBZING Outreach Programme.

The elements of the forum will focus on key trainings to be delivered by YOURS on the following topics:

• Opening introductions by Honorable Shawn Edward, Minister of Youth Development and Sports. Ministry of Youth Development and Sports.
• Presentations on Caribbean Road Safety by Chief Transport Officer for the St Lucia Ministry of Infrastructre, Port Services and Transport
• Interactive road saftey workshops on Youth and Road Traffic Injuries, Scope of the Road Safety Problem in St Lucia, The Caribbean and the World, Distracted Driving, Project Management, Implementing a Road Safety Project and Briefings to Keep Road Safety Projects going.
• Alongside this, training on the Youth Declaration for Road Safety for the Caribbean and the adoption of it will take place.

Floor Lieshout, Director of YOURS said,

This week marks the 2nd United Nations Global Road Safety Week which calls for pedestrian safety all around the world. Requested by the UN General Assembly, the Week will draw attention to the urgent need to better protect pedestrians worldwide, generate action on the measures needed to do so, and contribute to achieving the goal of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 to save 5 million lives.

We are all pedestrians: on any given day – at a minimum – we begin and end most trips on foot. Yet due to a lack of attention to the needs of pedestrians, and a tendency to favour motorized transport, pedestrians are at risk of death, injuryand disability. While there is no single measure to adequately address the range of risks to pedestrians across various settings, there are many steps that can be taken to improve their safety.

The World Health Organization is calling on governments to take concrete actions to improve the safety of pedestrians.The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020 offers a broad framework for drawing attention to the needs of pedestrians and putting in place the measures that exist to make walking safe. Ensuring the safety of pedestrians will encourage walking, which impacts positively on health and the environment. Among its many advantages, walking requires no fare, no fuel, no licence and no registration. It is integral to the livability and sustainability of our communities and should regain its place as a safe, convenient and pleasant option for most trips.

Make Walking Safe is a brief overview of pedestrian safety around the world. It covers the following topics:

• Who are killed and injured on the roads as pedestrians?
• How are pedestrian deaths distributed around the world?
• Where and when do the pedestrians collisions occur?
• What happens in a pedestrian collision?
• What are the consequences for injured pedestrians?
• What are the major risks for pedestrians?
• What measures can be taken to protect pedestrians?

You can read more about the UN Road Safety Week in the Press Release attached alongside the Make Walking Safe Advocacy Document in the attachements. 

Videos were sent in from around the world for the Global Road Safety Film Festival coordinated by LASER International with the youth category established in collaboration with YOURS. Videos sent in were of incredibly high quality and showed that young people create great videos to educate their peers, however, only one video could take the number one spot and it went to the youtube sensation that is, ‘The Impossible Texting While Driving Test’ video by Responsible Young Drivers.

After two days of deliberation and selection of films throughout the entries of the film festival, the Youth Category for the Global Road Safety Film Festival chose its winning video and announced it yesterday at UNESCO, the venue of the 2013 festival.

We thank all of the young people who sent in videos from across the world illustrating a great diversity in films, issues and topics. The videos showed how young people can create targeted messages for the sharing of youth and road safety educational issues and awareness.

The jury commended the video and spoke of its innovation, style and success in reaching millions of people worldwide. More about the video is explained below.

In a conversation with our CORE Group Representative for Europe, Mr Axel Druart who works for Responsible Young Drivers Beligum, he informed us that the video held a great message but they did not expect this overwhelming response.

The story beind the video
In order to enhance our road safety campaigns, we manage within the framework of a European road safety project called “AVENUE” (Actions for Vulnerable, Elderly, Novice Drivers and Road Users in Europe) to develop an up-to-date road safety topic based on research and polls and disseminate its results to a bigger audience. To do so, we therefore picked the “Distraction on the road” topic, based on a study organized by the European Commission in Europe, where they stated that ¼ of car crashes were involving some kind of distraction and that 2/3 of the drivers declared using their cell phones while driving.

Statistics that were completed by a study from Road Safe (UK) stated:

Recent survey findings have revealed that 58% of 17-25 year old drivers agree that smartphone apps are causing young people to be more distracted at the wheel. This very survey of 1,000 young drivers, conducted by One Poll, has uncovered the extent of how smartphones and social media are distracting 17-25 year olds when behind the wheel. It revealed the following relevant points:

• Over 40% admitted to answering their phones while driving without a hands-free set
• 44% said they had sent a text message, and 62% said they had read a message while they were driving
• 1 in 6 male drivers under 25 has crashed due to mobile phone usage at the wheel
• One third of under 25s who use Facebook on their phone admitted to using it whilst driving
• Hands-free kits encourage 53% more young drivers to make longer calls at the wheel (longer than 5 minutes)

During an action managed by the volunteers of Responsible Young Drivers in Belgium, we received a question that made us deeply think of a possible campaign to realize. Indeed, a reveller in an action asked us why the use of mobile phone was not included in the driving licence test…

After a brainstorming with young volunteers and our young staff, we contacted a driving school in order to know if they would be interested in making a “candid camera” to show and convince youngsters that driving and texting can be extremely dangerous, by adding this exercise to the driving lessons (pretending it’s a new Belgian law).

Surprisingly, it worked extremely well. And the results is what you see on the video. There’s of course no cheating; these youngsters were real driving students and truly believed in this new Texting & driving law in driving schools. We do hope that through this video, youngsters will realize by themselves that the use of cell-phones is indeed very dangerous while driving and then understand why banning it from driving should be extremely benefiting for a safer road…

View the video now in the right column and tell us what you think of the selection!