Brian’s Column: The ‘Zemijahn’ factor in the road safety of Benin

Brian’s Column: The ‘Zemijahn’ factor in the road safety of Benin

by | Dec 5, 2023 | News & Blog

In his regular column for YOURS, Brian draws upon his experiences across Africa and gives us his unique perspective on road safety issues in the African region. In his final article of the year, he writes about his recent experience for his visit in Benin and reflects upon some good and bad road safety practises as well as his safety tips for the holiday period.

Hello every one!!! Merry Christmas and happy New Year! I wish I could give everyone a Christmas and a happy New Year’s card! Every one say, ‘Thank you!’ Greetings from Porto Novo, Benin! Wait, now you must be wondering what I am doing in Benin, but yeah…I didn’t come here to conduct a coup on the current Benin government- I can explain. As you may be aware, YOURS conducted the first ever African Youth Assembly on Road Safety in Niamey-Niger, October 2011 yes? Right, that platform marked a generation of road safety ambassadors (including myself) in my continent-Africa!

Brian talks about his experience in Benin

Now, you are also aware of something called the ‘African Union’ yes? Well, it’s an umbrella of all African countries united by the word ‘Pan Africanism’ I will discuss with you more about this if you invite me over Christmas. The point is, I am part of the African Union Youth Volunteers who from 9th-22nd December 2012 are undergoing an intensive course in African leadership, volunteerism and staying safe. We are live in Songhai-a very historic and cultural site…please consult my other half, Madam Google for details. I thank you!

So, I touched down Cotonou Airport in Benin at 11:30am on 9th Dec and oh, boy…the temperatures…It must have been around 38 degrees! I hurried myself into a taxi, put on my seatbelt, upon which I yelled (not really) to the driver ‘Your seatbelt Monsieur Sil vous plait’ (considering my inefficient French) before we started our way to Porto-Novo town which is just 25km from Cotonou airport.

Listen carefully; I was left in a state of ‘Wao’ when I saw that motorcyclists and pedestrians had different routes from the cars, Lorries along the highway! Yesssssss!!!!! This is not a joke! ‘This is Impossible’, I could hear myself saying. I’ve never, never, NEVER, NEVER seen something like this in any of the African Countries I’ve visited! It was really amazing to see a 25km long road with a separate highway for motorcyclists! I almost felt like summoning all presidents of my continent for a ‘learning experience’ before I realized that I am not the Secretary General of Africa or the UN in this case! At least, not yet!

Benin champions separate lanes exclusively for the motorcycles.

3 days ago, my friends and I headed out to have a look around Porto Novo town. Everything seemed interesting until I realized that Motorbikes here are sold like a cigarettes in a shop. You have the money? You pay now. You go away. You start riding! There is no period for certification or registration of the motorcycle. In fact, there is NO registration numbers on all the motorbikes I saw that very day! That’s not interesting no? How about this: – selling petrol on the streets in transparent-like glass…and WHAT?!…I have seen some men smoking around those zones! As usual, I don’t sit and start speculating, so to gather some evidence, I jogged to the police who were doing amazing work of controlling and directing traffic (which to me, is the work of traffic lights).

Petrol being sold on the streets in Benin in a very unstable and dangrerous format – a scary experience when people were smoking near by!

‘The government tried registering these motorbikes, but we had too many coming from the neighboring countries. The system fell and we no longer register them. We are encouraging people to buy cars instead’, said one of the traffic police officers. Now, that’s kind of interesting because it means, the government doesn’t have an idea of how many motorbikes are in the country. There was no need of inquiring whether the motorbike riders were certified officially as well as investigating why they don’t put on helmets.

Road traffic crashes continue to claim lives in Benin with at least 3 crashes being registered in Porto Novo alone every day. That’s very scary considering Doctor Santi and Mademoiselle Christmas are coming in town! Needless to mention, young people are at the heart of the negative outcomes of these crashes! 

The influx of motorcycles in Benin has left them unregulated and unlicensed

While the New Year will come along with her own challenges, the road safety situation in Benin continues to be jaw dropping and our governments need to style up. It is important that we know how many motorcycles are on our roads with correct licensing, to ensure adequate access to high quality helmets and ensure motorcyclists are tested on their ability to ride before they do so. While there may be a motorway for motorcyclists, even more can be done to make sure road users are safer such as providing safer pedestrian routes free from all motorized vehicles!

Meanwhile, as we get set for Christmas and the New Year’s celebrations Just don’t do something I wouldn’t do, here are my safety tips for the holiday period:

  • Don’t drink and drive!
  • Don’t speed (its even more dangerous if conditions are icy, wet etc.)
  • Don’t forget to use your helmet & seatbelt!
  • Be visible at all times , especially in dark areas as a pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist etc.
  • Don’t forget to check your car before you set off for the road and ensure its in good working order!
  • Take breaks after 2 hours drive and never drive tired!
  • Install first aid boxes in your car!

Don’t eat too much during Christmas and the New Year! STAY ALIVE! STAY SAFE! See you next year! Inshallah!!!!

Texting and music put distracted pedestrians at risk – US Report

Texting and music put distracted pedestrians at risk – US Report

by | Dec 5, 2023 | News & Blog

A report issued today by the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital indicates that pedestrians distracted by talking on the phone, texting and listening to music are less likely to pay attention to the road. The report highlighted in the journal Injury Prevention adds to growing bank of evidence that distracted pedestrians are flouting basic road safety principles.

Source: USA Today

Many pedestrians crossing busy streets are also busy doing something else — usually listening to music, texting or talking on a phone — and those distracted walkers are often failing to look both ways for traffic or follow other safety rules, a new study confirms.

The study, conducted in Seattle this past summer, may be the largest yet to look at real-world pedestrians in our age of distraction: It found that more than 26% of the 1,000-plus walkers were using electronic devices as they navigated intersections where pedestrians had been hit in the past.

In the US, texting and walking is becoming a rising trend according to the new report bringing pedestrian injury numbers higher than ever.

And the distraction showed: Texters were nearly four times less likely than other pedestrians to follow all safety rules, including looking both ways, staying in the crosswalk and obeying signals; and both texters and talkers took extra time to cross the street. Music-listeners walked faster, but often failed to look for cars, say researchers from the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Hospital, who reported findings Wednesday in the journal Injury Prevention.

The findings could help explain why pedestrian deaths are increasing nationwide, even as other traffic-related deaths hit historic lows, as reported by the federal government this week.

Walkers who text, just like drivers who text, may be most at risk, says researcher Beth Ebel: “Texting is pulling you out of where you are and putting your mind somewhere else… You are on autopilot and that puts you on risk.”

The facts about texting and driving from the It can Wait Campaign.

The findings are generally in line with those from other researchers, including some who test pedestrian behavior in lab simulations.

“We are finding very clearly that it’s dangerous to be distracted when you cross the street,” says David Schwebel, a professor of psychology who runs a pedestrian behavior lab at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

In some of his experiments, people listening to music are more likely to be hit by virtual cars than those who are texting. He speculates that hearing cars may be at least as important as seeing them. But he says “we’ve looked at talking on the phone, browsing the Internet, listening to music, talking to someone next to you… all of those things increase the risk for pedestrian injury.”Unpublished data from emergency room records shows injuries among pedestrians using cellphones increased steadily from 2005 to 2010, says Jack Nasar, a researcher at Ohio State University.

Some communities have considered fining distracted walkers and Schwebel says it may take that to change behavior. Nasar says he favors taking steps such as posting “Put down your cell phone” signs at crosswalks and educating the public. “Parents should tell their children to put down their cellphones while walking,” he says. And they “should model and follow their own advice.”

Ebel, a pediatrician, says most of the distracted walkers in her study were adults, but she thinks changing the behavior of children and teens is most urgent. One suggestion: She would like to see middle and high school students repeat her study and watch for distracted pedestrians in their neighborhoods. That alone, she says, could raise awareness and change habits.

In the UK, since 2008, Manpreet Darroch, Director of Tune into Traffic and Communications Officer for YOURS – Youth for Road Safety has been campaigning for better pedestrian awareness of the road and in particular, to remove earphones while on the road.

He said, ‘It is alarming that pedestrian injuries are on the increase around the world according to this report. As young people are the most affected age group in terms of road traffic crashes we must do more to reduce dangers such as walking distracted and lower speed limits around schools and play areas. In many parts of the world, pedestrians still need safe footpaths and pedestrian crossings, this can go a long way to preventing crashes with pedestrians. We already know that texting while driving is an incredibly dangerous action that has cost many young lives on our roads. We must ensure that this message is transferred to pedestrian safety. We urge young people to take extra care while on the road, to remain distraction free as the road is a dangerous place, it is up to us youth to set the example for our peers’.

The Training of Facilitators in Kenya is complete! – a milestone

The Training of Facilitators in Kenya is complete! – a milestone

by | Dec 5, 2023 | News & Blog

From 26th November – 7th December 2012 YOURS brought together a group of passionate young Kenyans in Nairobi. The two weeks of intensive road safety training commenced and the young leaders were trained on a range of local road safety issues like: speeding, non-use of helmets and distracted driving. Further topics were communication and facilitation skills, evaluation methods and overall road safety knowledge. It is with great pleasure that we announce that all participants graduated from the course

All participants take moment for a picture with Dr Walter Odhiambo (Medical Students Association), Bright Oywaya (ASIRT Kenya), Liana Vetch (United Nations).

Against the beautiful and inspirational backdrop of the United Nations Office, 11 budding facilitators joined the YOURS team to undergo an unique programme that coupled evidence based road safety study, interactive learning with on the ground practical experience. This gave the participants a chance to truly develop into skilled youth advocates and peer educators for road safety.

This training provided the chance for young people on the ground and who witness the impacts of poor road safety standards in Kenya every day, to take action as powerful advocates and peer educators. Now the young Kenyans will begin their journey to run their own workshops across the breadth of Kenya. Together they will reach thousands of young people throughout their local communities and positively influence a generation of road safety conscious young people.

In our closing ceremony, our partners took a moment to reflect on the milestone of finishing the training and seeing their freshly trained young people.

Floor Lieshout, Director of YOURS said: “It is essential that we have more skilled and educated young people in the road safety field who can advocate for road safety. This training is a benchmark for us for future trainings and we realize once more that the local partners on the ground make the difference and make our work in reaching young people so much easier”.

Felistas N Kioko of the Kenya Red Cross came to observe the facilitators in action, she said:
“You have done a lot in a short period of time. The young people are the most affected group in Kenya in regards to road crashes and it is great to see you train advocates all under the age of 30. This is youth passing on the message to youth. They can make a big impact for road safety in Kenya. It is also good to see our young Kenyan Red Cross workers develop so much through your training. The training of facilitators is great”.

One of our participants, Boniface Ngria who is also behind Youths for Road Safety Kenya wrote in a fitting round-up of the training: “Finally the Youth Road Safety Facilitators Workshop came to an end yesterday. This, however, marked the commencement of the ripple effect since the graduands have now been released to different regions including, Nairobi area, Naivasha town, Thika town, Machakos town and Mombasa as well as to different organizations.

He continued, ‘With this diversity, the message can only go viral and hopefully the training will have the impact it was intended to achieve. The fact that the time of the training coincided with the transport crisis resulting from the ‘Matatu’ (PSV) operators strike in opposition to the just implemented New Traffic Act was indeed a blessing in disguise: nothing could have mirrored the magnitude of the problem at hand than this”.

He concluded, “The onus now is on the graduands to make proper use of the knowledge they have acquired to make the difference. Knowledge is never lost when shared but developed and matured! Go out there and do your best as that is not just the best but the only way of celebrating this milestone. Best of luck to you all and Bravo!!!

We are proud to announce the graduates with their certificates below!

Ms Sheila Atieno – Coordinator of the African Region Anglophone Countries (YOURS) and Youths for Road Safety Kenya

Mr Boniface Ngira – Youths for Road Safety Kenya

Ms Lucie Lucia – Kenya Red Cross Society

Mr Duncan Matheka – IPPNW

Ms Martha Wanjiro Wainaia – Youths for Road Safety Kenya

Mr Harrison Muiruri – ASIRT Kenya

Mr Isaac Ouma – Youths for Road Safety Kenya

Mr Joel Njoroge – Kenya Red Cross Society

Mr John Mwikwabe – Kenya Red Cross Society

Mr Kevin Ochieng – ASIRT Kenya

Mr Micheal Otieno – Kenya Red Cross Society

As we reach this great milestone, we use this training as a benchmark for further trainings around the world reaching more young people and creating a ripple effect of road safety action, advocacy and awareness all around the globe. More pictures, videos and testimonials are coming shortly! An official report will be published soon so stay tuned to the YOURS website.

Updates from the training of facilitators – Nairobi, Kenya

Updates from the training of facilitators – Nairobi, Kenya

by | Dec 5, 2023 | News & Blog

After a week of road safety, peer education and facilitation theory in week one of the training of road safety facilitators in Kenya, week two is now in process to put theory into practice. The 11 facilitators from across Nairobi, who were specially selected via their respective organizations are in now in the phase of designing their own workshops to run with a group of young people tomorrow.

We rounded off week one with the young Kenyans who are part of our two week training program with a focus on three key risk factors which a prevalent in Kenya; Speeding, Non-Use of Helmets and Distracted Driving. The programme trains each young person to become a skilled road safety facilitator, peer educator and road safety advocate and after a week of intesive theory workshops, the flourishing facilitators are now putting theory into practise this week by designing their own road safety workshop sessions to run with a group of young people tomorrrow.

Yesterday, we ran a demonstration workshop with a group of 30 young volunteers from around Nairobi in collaboration with the Kenya Red Cross.

The demonstration workshop run by the YOURS team was set up to enable the facilitators to see all their facilitation theory into practise, to see how the workshop process runs in half a day and see how we want them to design and deliver their workshops. Today, the young peple gather back at the United Nations Office in Nairobi to start designing their own road safety workshops based on the road safety information they have learned.

Yesterday’s session focussed on the scope of the road safety session around the world and in Kenya followed by a focus on the key risk factor of non-helmet use in Kenya.

Manpreet Darroch, Communications Officer at YOURS said, ‘This training of facilitators is really unique. After a week of interactive workshops based on all elements of creating effective youth road safety facilitators, from how humans learn, to key facilitation skills right up to the current data on national Kenyan road traffic statistics, this week poses a real genuine challenge to the budding facilitators. Now they have to put all of their theory into practise, design their own sessions and run it with a group of young people tomorrow. What is unique about this programme is that its not just about creating knowledged youth road safety advocates, its about putting these young facilitators straight to work to educate and influence their peers and that is really exciting!’.

Sheila Atieno, our CORE Group Representative and participant in the training said, ‘I am extremely excited about the training. Having been a participant of this programme, week one focused on a range of important topics affecting the youth in Kenya such as the proper use of helmets, distracted driving and speed. I was very excited at how the workshops were structured using a logical and infomed process and I’m looking forward to running the workshops this week.’

Our youth facilitator Duncan Matheka observes a demonstration workshop.

We will be back to tell how the facilitators did in their first workshops this week so stay tuned!

Caravane Updates: Senegal – the Caravane completes its journey!

Caravane Updates: Senegal – the Caravane completes its journey!

by | Dec 5, 2023 | News & Blog

The Caravane completed its journey across seven West African countries at the end of November reaching thousands of young Africans. The journey took place over a duration of 50 days and left Niger in October. Since then, it has been welcomed into the seven U.E.M.O.A countries who all undertook road safety action during its passing through prominent West African locations. Read about the closing ceremony of the Caravane!

DAKAR, SENEGAL: On November 24th and 25th, 2012

On Saturday 24th, the Caravanners arrived in Dakar, in Senegal, at around 8 am: Final City of their long journey through West Africa. After 45 days of travelling through more than 8.000 km, sensitizing thousand young people in every crossed country.

It is tired, but nevertheless very excited and always full of motivation, that they continue their mission in Dakar, where they organized, with the support of LASER International, a huge Closing Ceremony with the authorities of the country, the representatives of international institutions (e.g. WHO, the association of the disabled persons, etc.), their African and European colleagues, as well as the other Senegalese youngsters who especially came for the event. They also enjoyed from this opportunity to pay tribute to the Road Victims for World Day dedicated in their Remembrance.

On November 25th, marking their last official day of awareness raising of their peers, the Caravanners organized a football game at the Dakar Sacré-Coeur (DSC) with the Atlantic Bank team, as well as a concert of Daraa J, especially personalized for the Caravanners, where numerous youngsters spent the entire evening jumping and dancing on their awesome beats.

This Caravane is a real success, thanks to your precious support… YOU, all young people (African and European, TOGETHER) understood the this urge of reacting on this plague of road fatalities. As we can avoid it !!! Together we managed to mobilize the authorities of all these countries (by handing them the Youth Declaration). From now on, they are by our side to stop road crashes (which sadly remain the first worldwide cause of death among young people, in front of suicides, AIDS and the Malaria – at least and thankfully, WE do something about it), in order to reduce the number of victims by 50% before 2020.

You were more than 300.000 to read us every week during 2 months (in total gathering more than 1.400.000 views), with more than “7.000 Likes” on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/caravanedesjeunesUEMOA – in French). We sincerely thank you for it!

Now we must encourage those 36 young Caravanners, 36 heroes, on their way back to their respective countries (where they will arrive on December 1st), and wait for a 2nd edition in 2013.

Thank you again to all for your precious support,
See you very soon on the road, somewhere in Africa, or in Europe.

Sincerely yours,
THE CARAVANNERS

Read about the journey of the Caravane from start to finish here.

Interactive road safety workshops to train facilitators in full swing!

Interactive road safety workshops to train facilitators in full swing!

by | Dec 5, 2023 | News & Blog

Since the Monday 26th November, the Training of Facilitators for Road Safety Workshops has tackled a whole host of road safety topics and brought our young participants into the field of facilitation to equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to run their own road safety workshops. The training is now on its fourth day and the participants have engaged with great motivation and determination since its start.

From how humans learn to peer education, from the fundamentals of a conducive human learning environment to why young people are at more risk on the road than any other age group. The training of facilitators is bringing 11 young Kenyan leaders into the road safety field to enable them to become better informed and skilled youth advocates and to run their own road safety workshops across Kenya.

The two week programme firstly focusses on road safety theory and has already tackled the fundamental elements, characteristics, pointers that road safety educators and advocators should possess. They have understood the key performances of good facilitation and grasped examples of bad facilitation actions. Alongside this, the young participants from around Kenya have also understood why young people are at particular risk of road traffic injuries relating their age, gender and inexperience as well as the broader scope road safety problem around the world. The participants then went on to understand the road safety crisis facing young people in Kenya and grasping the the statistics behind road deaths in Kenya. 

The learning wall displays the young facilitator’s work each day as they learn new concepts. The picture illustrates the young people’s understanding of how crashes happen in the context of the Haddon Matrix.

On Wednesday, Liana Vetch of the United Nations Environment Programme put the features of the road safety system in context with her presentation on the ‘Share the Road’ programme and opened dialogue with the young people on creating a safe infrastructure that enables safe routes. Share the Road is a UNEP initiative, developed with the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society.  It brings together the environment and safety agendas in the context of urban transport in the developing world where the majority, pedestrians and cyclists, are disadvantaged on the road.  The overall goal is to catalyse government and donor policies for systematic investments in walking and cycling road infrastructure. 

Liana Vetch of the UNEP gives a presentation to the young participants on the Share the Road Programme.

Next week, the training continues with practical testing of everything the young people have learnt in the week of theory. Today, they are undertaking a session of the key risk factor; helmets; speed and distracted driving and will design their own road safety workshops to run with the volunteers of the Kenya Red Cross – Karen Langata branch in which they will facilitate a workshop with 60 young Red Cross young affiliates.


We thank all our sponsors, especially The Road Safety Fund and Share the Road for making this Training possible and for believing in young people being part of the road safety solution.