You can watch the video here.

Premierement, felicitations a mes amis de Mali upon passing their test against the African Cup of Nations 2013 Hosts, South Africa! West Africa is doing very well in this tournament; surely making my continent proud. That’s for sure, because if you haven’t heard, here is the deal… “In Africa, we don’t play football, we live it!” Don’t question me yet why no African country hasn’t won the World Cup but I think if we invite other countries to play in our prestigious African Cup of Nations, they would have a rough time! Haha! So, my apologies soccer fanatics, but I am not here for soccer stories, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to February.

As you may have been warned, this is the same month where we observe Valentine’s Day. Yes! Now, I know that you are all too innocent to know what Valentines day is, but its one of those rare days when I get to see two people put on red and black attire moving hand in hand. For now, that’s what I can say. I once heard that its also called ‘Lovers Day’ but my mother pulled my ear when I questioned her for more information.

Every one of us is an orphan. Right? I can already see many of you raising your eyebrows, but am afraid, I am correct! If you think, this is not the case, then think about this. ‘Where exactly are your Great Great Great Grand Parents?’ Well, they must be no longer with us at the very least. How did they die? Ah, many reasons, mostly witchcraft, bizarre sickness, wars and accidents. What? Accidents?! No, Crashes, I mean. So, as we all know, loosing a human being let it be your enemy, close relative, boyfriend, parent or whatever, can be very depressing. In fact, among the Banyankole (a local tribe in Uganda), the relatives of the family used to stay and mourn at the deceased home for 2 weeks! (now that has changed though and reduced to 3 days). It’s a very trying time in African culture and religion. A burial ceremony is not something neither of us would like to attend. It is most definitely not like a graduation party. But many times, for goodness sake, don’t judge me (thank you very much), I always ask myself this question…‘What was the cause of the death, please?’… Only to be informed, the deceased was involved in a road traffic crash.

This is, what I call ‘My fattest stress factor’. I imagine, the deceased was drunk driving, didn’t have helmet, no seatbelt, poor road surfaces, poor weather conditions etc. like you know. On many African burial ceremonies, especially when the deceased was a young person (on many occasions it’s a young person under 30),

Seriously?! Come on you young people, you have to be kidding me right now. Are we saying that if we drink and drive and get involved in a crash and die (hope this is the last time I am saying this, touch wood), then it was Allah’s/God’s plan? I may be sounding to be attacking religion, but I am just being a rational being. Speeding itself is equivalent to massacre-special reference is made to the Koran. Also, alcohol is meant for people with lots of problems, those who are at the point of death-special reference to the Bible. There is nowhere in the holy books where getting drunk is acceptable.

A human being knocked by car moving at 30km/hr has a 90% chance of survival than those going faster! So, do we, by speeding, take the role of God in our own hands and offer people less chance of survival by taking more risks? I think funeral services and mourning for road crash victims should be minimized and instead used to highlight the need for road safety because religious groups can help clear the minds of members from superstitious beliefs and help them to rely on good judgment while on the road. While every life is a tragedy, we can take steps to save our lives. God gave us freewill which means that we MUST take steps to be safer on the roads.

In June 2012, Ghana’s statistics had shown that about 11,500 accidents were reported annually; about 14,500 for injuries and 1,900 fatalities recorded annually, hence the need for religious leaders to support road safety campaigns.
According to Mrs. May Obiri-Yeboah, Director of Planning and Programmes of NRSC in her June 2012 report, a road safety campaign was led by a small sector of engineers, car makers and traffic police hence the need to expand to involve everyone in the country. The challenges of road traffic crashes required re-programming activities and engage opinion and religious leaders in the drive against such occurrences hampering national and regional progress.

It is clear that religious leaders may reflect on the lives lost and offer comfort in the words that it was all ‘God’s will’. It helps us let go, gives us support but it also takes the responsibility away from the driver who may have been to blame for the crash.

We should therefore encourage religious groups to push messages of safety to preserve this precious life in the best ways we can. Tell me something, who decides to step on the accelerator? Me, the driver, yes? Aha! So, then, lets make steps so that our friends, peers and future husbands and wives do not make an unduly date with death before it happens. It’s not God’s will for our generation to die from man-made death scenarios. Hello Valentine’s Day (w nks). #StaySafe

The LASER International Global Road Safety Film Festival is the most celebrated film festival for the field around the world. It recognizes innovations in the field of film-making in transmitting robust road safety messages. This year, LASER International have teamed up with YOURS to present a brand new category to the festival; the Youth Category!

The Festival highlights the priority themes of the United Nations; pedestrian safety, helmet, speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, wearing seatbelts, the use of safety devices for children and improvement of road safety infrastructure.

The youth category hosts a special feature for young people; it is totally free for film makers to submit their films for the youth category! It is also free for the participants wanting to attend the festival in Paris who have participated in the youth category of the festival.

This is an exciting opportunity for young film makers who have created films for road safety to take part in this festival and if their film wins, gain international acclaim for their work, the prestigious LASER Global Road Safety Film Festival Trophy and promotion to the Global Youth Network by YOURS.

Find out more information about youth category by clicking on the banner below. Find out how to take part and how you could win the youth category of the festival!

The Long Short Walk is a unique campaign calling for pedestrian safety across the world. It has been initatied by the Zenani Mandela Campaign and the Road Safety Fund, which aims to capture ‘short walks’ in your community and collect these captures from around the world and combine it into one ‘long walk’.

Everybody travels to get to their destinations, whether to school, to work, to the shops or even travel just for the sake of walking. Unfortunately, some people’s walks are incredibly unsafe; unsafe footpaths, bad lighting and poor road discipline, The Long Short Walk wants to capture these images to illustrate the importance of a ‘Safe Walking’ and to prioritize this part of a new global Sustainable Development Goal. Implementing pedestrian safety measures is cost effective, and many of the solutions are simple. It can be introducing pavements (84% of roads surveyed by iRAP have no pedestrian provision); providing safe crossing points; ‘calming’ streets with traffic humps, rumble strips and chicanes; and lowering vehicle speed limits in areas where traffic and pedestrians share the road space.

The Emergency Medical Journal, an online resource dedicated to researching breakthoughs in emergency medical care have recently reported on a study that shows drivers who are obese (those with high body mass indexes, BMI) are more likely to die in road crashes because of numerous factors; the design of the car to hold ‘average’ weight people, obese people’s proper use of seatblets and underlying medical issues which can exacerbate crash effects.

Obesity carries yet another surprising risk, according to a new study: obese drivers are more likely than normal weight drivers to die in a car crash. Researchers reviewed data on accidents recorded in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, managed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Beginning with 41,283 collisions, the scientists selected accidents in which the cars, trucks or minivans were the same size.

Then the investigators gathered statistics on height and weight from driver’s licenses and categorized the drivers of wrecked cars into four groups based on body mass index. The study, published online Monday in the Emergency Medicine Journal, also recorded information on seat-belt use, time of day of the accident, driver sex, driver alcohol use, air bag deployment and collision type.

In the analysis, there were 6,806 drivers involved in 3,403 accidents, all of which involved at least one fatality. Among the 5,225 drivers for whom the researchers had complete information, 3 percent were underweight (a B.M.I of less than 18.5), 46 percent were of normal weight (18.5 to 24.9), 33 percent were overweight (25 to 29.9) and 18 percent were obese (a B.M.I. above 30).

Drivers with a B.M.I. under 18 and those between 25 and 29.9 had death rates about the same as people of normal weight, the researchers found. But among the obese, the higher the B.M.I., the more likely a driver was to die in an accident.

A B.M.I. of 30 to 34.9 was linked to a 21 percent increase in risk of death, and a number between 35 and 39.9 to a 51 percent increase. Drivers with a B.M.I. above 40 were 81 percent more likely to die than those of normal weight in similar accidents.

The reasons for the association are unclear, but they probably involve both vehicle design and the poorer health of obese people. The authors cite one study using obese and normal cadavers, in which obese people had significantly more forward movement away from the vehicle seat before the seat belt engaged because the additional soft tissue prevented the belt from fitting tightly.

– said the lead author, Thomas M. Rice, an epidemiologist with the Transportation Research and Education Center of the University of California, Berkeley.

Other factors that might have affected fatality rates — the age and sex of the driver, the vehicle type, seat-belt use, alcohol use, air bag deployment and whether the collision was head-on or not — did not explain the differences between obese and normal weight drivers.

“Vehicle designers are teaching to the test — designing so that crash-test dummies do well,” Dr. Rice said. “But crash-test dummies are typically normal size adults and children. They’re not designed to account for our nation’s changing body types.”

YOURS Launch of the Long Short Walk – Youth Category

Our recent launch of the Long Short Walk not only promotes walking and hence a healthier lifestyle but also calls for safer walking for all. You can take part in the campaign here.

The Road Safety in 10 Countries Project (RS10) is a project funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies spearheaded by Mayor of New York Mr Mike Bloomberg. The four year project has, since 2010 enacted concrete road safety action which means 1.6bn people have benefitted from new road safety laws enacted by the programme. These impressive results look to increase as the programme continues!

A groundbreaking Global Road Safety Program in ten countries funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies produced results showing that 1.6 billion people are now covered by strengthened road safety laws, Mayor and philanthropist Michael R. Bloomberg announced today. The initiatives include increased seat-belt and helmet usage, reduced speed limits, drinking and driving enforcement, and improvements in road infrastructure and sustainable transport.

Bloomberg Philanthropies released its first progress report on its Global Road Safety Program, a five-year, $125 million investment to reduce preventable road traffic deaths and injuries. It is projected that at least 12,670 lives will be saved in five years based on the program’s early accomplishments in target countries: Brazil, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Kenya, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam.

The Association for Safe International Road Safety (ASIRT), EMBARQ, Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH), World Bank Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), and World Health Organization (WHO) are all partners in the Global Road Safety Program.

Each year, road traffic crashes kill 1.3 million people and between 20-50 million suffer severe injuries. By 2030, the World Health Organization estimates that road traffic fatalities will be the fifth leading cause of death globally.

“The success we have had through our road safety program is saving lives around the world, but there is still more work to be done,” said Michael R. Bloomberg. “We look forward to spreading our efforts and contributing to the Decade of Action to reduce preventable road traffic deaths and injuries.”

In 2010, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 in a landmark Resolution co-sponsored by 100 countries to “stabilize and then reduce” global road traffic fatalities. The Bloomberg Global Road Safety Program strives to accelerate progress on the Decade of Action. Results suggest the program initiatives are a major step forward toward global progress on road safety.

2010-2012 Bloomberg Program Highlights from 10 focus countries:

1. 1.6 billion people now covered by new or strengthened road safety laws

2. 13,300 police and public health officials trained on road safety interventions

• Police officers are trained on enforcement of road safety laws and how to set up safe checkpoints
• Health professionals are trained on trauma response
• Police forces and hospital staff are trained on proper data collection

3. $440 million committed by governments to make road improvements

4. 5,500 miles of high-risk roads have been assessed with improvements recommended to governments

5. 12 media campaigns were initiated reaching 65 million people

Examples of early successes include:

Seat-Belts: Wearing a seat-belt reduces the risk of fatality among passengers in the front seat by 40-50% and 25-75% for those in the back seat. One target country where Bloomberg has been working to increase seat-belt usage is Turkey, where federal law does not require commercial or government vehicle drivers to wear seat-belts.

However, the Governor of Afyon, Turkey issued a local decree in 2012 mandating all drivers to wear seat-belts. Seat-belt usage in Afyon jumped from 4% in 2011 to 49% in 2012.

Speed: Higher speeds lead to an increased risk of a crash and greater probability that someone will be killed or seriously injured.

Following a strong social marketing campaign and increased police enforcement, speeding rates decreased from 32% in 2011 to 9% in 2012 in Dalian, China, and from 47% in 2011 to 33% in 2012 in Lipetsk, Russia.

Drinking and Driving Enforcement: Drinking and driving increases both the risk of a crash and the likelihood that a death or serious injury will occur. The risk of involvement in a crash increases significantly with a blood alcohol concentration above .04%.

In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, following a strong social media campaign and increased police enforcement, drinking and driving rates dropped from 10% in 2010 to nearly 0% in 2012.

Helmets: Wearing a helmet is the single most effective way of reducing head injuries and fatalities resulting from motorcycle crashes, as it decreases the risk of injuries by 70% and deaths by 40%.

The Kenya Bureau of Standards has recently adopted internationally recognized motorcycle helmet quality standards, another critical component of helmet wearing laws.

Bloomberg Philanthropies is committed to creating healthier, safer lives across the globe, and the road safety program focuses on 10 low-and middle-income countries that account for close to half of the 1.3 million road traffic deaths each year. Ninety percent of road traffic deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries and globally half of all deaths are among pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists.

Bloomberg’s program is rooted in the belief that road traffic deaths are preventable with effective, evidence-based interventions, such as increased seat-belt and helmet use, speed reduction, and decreased drinking and driving. The program also focuses on safe sustainable urban transport – achieved by reducing car travel and moving people through safely designed mass transportation and improving high-risk roads through infrastructure improvements including widening shoulder lanes, installing medians, crosswalks and lane markings. Strategies also include support for public efforts to implement effective road safety laws, enhance professional training to enforce laws, create resources for advocacy and hard-hitting mass media campaigns.