Brian recently took it upon himself to put youth and road safety on the agenda at the 2nd Southern Africa Conference on Road Safety which took place on the 23rd-24th October 2012. During his journey in South Africa, Brian reflected on the many messages picked up from various organizations, initiatives and delegates at the event and beyond. This poignant account illustrates the power of youth in making a difference in road safety. Check it out now!

Hoooooray! It’s been long since we last communicated, really long indeed. I know lots of stuff has been happening regarding road safety in Africa. Much love and respects to the Francophone colleagues who kick started the ‘Youth Caravane’ and the Africa Youth Declaration on Road Safety. You can read (if you haven’t) more information about these awesome road safety initiatives here. Big shout outs there!

Back to me, Africa decision makers, public, and private organizations seem to have found their glasses and realized that they need to put young people in the driving seat of road safety programmes, they have realized that this is the way to go! In this release, I share my experience following a not-for-tourism trip to South Africa.

Ok, here we go…so, I was accepted by the government of South Africa through the South African Road Safety Federation (SARF) to attend and present my paper on ‘Prehospital Emergency Care-Why young people are a magic pill’ at the 2^nd Southern Africa Conference on Road Safety (23^rd-24^th October 2012) that was held in the handsome (sorry girls) city of Johannesburg-Birchwood Conference Centre to be precise. There, I give you yet another way of finding your way into must-to-attend conferences! lol

In my presentation, I highlighted the need for empowering young leaders with ‘pre-hospital skill care’ in a developing continent where response time is above 10 minutes. Young people are heavily hit by road crashes (note that it’s no longer called road accidents) and to build a generation of young road safety advocates- YOURS was born (2007) and so did the African Youth Network on Road Safety formed (2011)

This conference reflected a sheer touch of representation, effective participation and passion southern African countries have with regards to all the pillars of road safety as stated in the UN Decade of action. Speaking at the opening of the conference, the acting CEO of Road Traffic Management Corporation (who represented the Minister of Transport) Collins Letsoalo offered a rather cautious comment to delegates stating ‘…if you have come here like some sort of vacation, break from office, then you should go back home before we start’, a statement that eased the mood in the conference room.

To me, it showed how committed and important this conference was. He continued, “Southern Africans are not doing the simplest of things, like wearing a seatbelt and they don’t see it as a problem. It has been proven that if we can increase our seatbelt wearing rate to double what we have now, we would have a 30 percent reduction in road fatalities,” While presenting to conference delegates South Africa’s strategy to reduce road fatalities by 20 percent a year, Mr. Letsoalo said in November, the strategy will be released for public comment. He also said other countries had done the simplest of things to reduce road crashes and that was to give focus to drunk driving and seatbelt usage. Speeding, drunk driving, and failure to wear seatbelts and helmets remained a critical challenge for South African authorities.

The issue of road safety could no longer be left to government authorities alone. “We have reached that stage now where we are calling on society to work with us; it can’t be a government thing. People need to understand that if they behave this way and continue to do so, they are likely to lose their lives.” Communities, Letsoalo said, needed to understand that “today it can be me and you and tomorrow it will be somebody else.” 

I compare this conference against a number of conferences that have been characterized by trademark hell of presentations from ‘technocrats’ and less discussions from the ‘community’. This was a different one! The South African Road Safety Federation struggled so hard to ensure that they fixed me (a youth representative from outside South Africa) to present at this conference. There were also young people from different disciplines of Engineering, Communications, Business and Management from a number of NGOs, Universities and Research Institutions. When I interacted with them, they told me that they had been enabled to be at this conference thanks to their respective organizations. One told me ‘We asked our CEO why we wouldn’t be at the conference, and the CEO asked us why we didn’t want to go…he paid the registration fee and we couldn’t wait to be here’.

Now, that’s liver-touching! Its hardcore dedication! Its passion. Finally, we are coming to see a generation public private partners coming out and ready to support organized groups of young people! There were insightful separate discussions which gave birth to new ideas, best practices especially in behavioral road safety. One big lesson learnt was the need for implementing bodies to ensure ‘Smarter communications’ between themselves, the beneficiaries and the government to avoid duplication of work and effective planning.

I compare this conference against a number of conferences that have been characterized by trademark hell of presentations from ‘technocrats’ and less discussions from the ‘community’. This was a different one! The South African Road Safety Federation struggled so hard to ensure that they fixed me (a youth representative from outside South Africa) to present at this conference. There were also young people from different disciplines of Engineering, Communications, Business and Management from a number of NGOs, Universities and Research Institutions. When I interacted with them, they told me that they had been enabled to be at this conference thanks to their respective organizations. One told me ‘We asked our CEO why we wouldn’t be at the conference, and the CEO asked us why we didn’t want to go…he paid the registration fee and we couldn’t wait to be here’.

Now, that’s liver-touching! Its hardcore dedication! Its passion. Finally, we are coming to see a generation public private partners coming out and ready to support organized groups of young people! There were insightful separate discussions which gave birth to new ideas, best practices especially in behavioral road safety. One big lesson learnt was the need for implementing bodies to ensure ‘Smarter communications’ between themselves, the beneficiaries and the government to avoid duplication of work and effective planning.

At this event, you could see that corporate organizations can do even more because they are most trusted by the community and road users. I had a chance to share my experience of ‘almost’ loosing my father to a road traffic crash as an 11 year old first born, at a crucial time when I was doing my final examinations for primary education, the economic implications of what it would have meant to my family. I was greatly impressed with the talent of using drama to influence behavior of road users and there is no doubt that young people love it! I saw that, road safety rap would be more ideal for the ‘modern trendy young person’.

Like the CEO of Bakwena said, ‘Young people are our past, our present and our future. They are however the most hit bracket when it comes to road traffic crashes. It remains only ethical for us as NGOs, government, decision makers and cooperate bodies to make a contribution in saving our children. Road traffic crashes don’t segregate, today it’s your son, tomorrow it’s my daughter!’ Now, that’s one clear message. Isn’t it? Oh, wait…did I say that, I also had a chance to visit a cultural museum, seeing around, but that’s another story haha!

Till next time…Stay Safe!

From the 20th-25th October, the second leg of the Caravane journey took place as the road safety vehicle entered Benin and continued to greet thousands of young Africans. The updates from Benin came in thick and fast displaying some fantastic actions across the country including the first even African Night Without Accident emulating the Europe wide action! Read more about the activities in Benin’s journey of the Caravane here.

On the 20th of October 2012, BENIN welcomed the young volunteers of the Caravane in Parakou, thanks to the NGO ALINAGNON.

It was the opportunity for the authorities and government to send a delegation to meet the volunteers from Benin and Niger who gave the African Youth Declaration for Road Safety to the main transport and youth education stakeholders. The activities, coordinated by the members of ALINAGNON, started at the Guy RIOBE Centre, with a welcoming ceremony and several road safety awareness tools’ demonstrations.

On the morning of Sunday 21st of October 2012, a big awareness activity took place on the main Y crossroad of the city of Parakou (in Benin). This awareness action was really successful, since we could sensitize more than 8.000 road users (very crowded area), on several road safety topics: seatbelt, helmet, visibility, impaired driving, etc.

In total, about 60 youngsters (caravanners and employees of ALINAGNON) were dressed with fluorescent jackets in order to be visible and cover all the streets surrounding the Y crossroad.

As well, reflective stickers mentioning “TOGETHER, WE’LL MAKE OUR ROADS SAFER” (created during the European Youth Forum for Road Safety) were also stuck on the back of all vehicles (including 2-wheelers and bikes) passing by, with a satisfied welcoming smile from all drivers. Numerous posters and flyers were of course also distributed. On the 21st afternoon, a study visit has been organized after the awareness activities in the textile factory of Benin (COTEB). In the evening, the volunteers could relax a bit and visit the beautiful city of Parakou. 

On Tuesday 23rd of October 2012, a Press-Conference was organized in the Civil Society Hall (MdSC) with the delivery of the African Youth Declaration for Road Safety to main concerned stakeholders. The audience could benefit from the presence of the Coordinator of Handicap International (HI) in Benin, the President of the Steering Committee of the Decade of Action for Road Safety, the Director of the Ministry of Transport and the Public Work (MTTP), the members of ALINAGNON, the young caravanners, the media (Press & TV), and several other delegations from the authorities and government services.

After some welcoming words of Handicap International, the coordinator of the NGO ALINAGNON and M. TCHAFFA, representing the Ministry of Health, the representative of the caravanners read the Youth Declaration, then handled it to the director of the MTTP representing the government. The later kindly thanked the caravanners and committed. A family picture was finally taking before heading to a cocktail party to close the ceremony. 

After handing the Youth Declaration, the caravanners attended a special road safety “train-the-trainers” training, called SafetyPack organized by the coordinators of the NGO ALINAGNON, M. Casimir MIGAN and Souleymane ALTINE, from the Nigerian NGO FONDEI MA BORI, head-leader of the Caravane of the NGO. This adapted training, based on an European good practice (from Responsible Young Drivers), consists in using various awareness tools to imitate the behaviour of drivers, hence better understanding dangerous conditions (e.g. an impaired person behind the steering wheel), on the port of the helmet, then analyse their consequences and give some simple tricks to apply and advice for a better road safety behaviour.

This training was put into practice with the pupils of the catholic middle school of the Sacred-Heart, with the presence of the director and all the professors. It was very successful as we could reach about  1200 students.

On Wednesday 24th, the NGO ALINAGNON organized a Caravane-Parade with a podium-truck which went through 3 cities: Sèmè-Kpodji, Cotonou and Abomey-Calavi.

More than 150 young people participated in this huge activity. Posters and flyers were distributed. The Caravane-Podium-Truck purposely stopped in the big crossroads to sensitize road users. A particular attention was set on Taxi-motorcycle drivers, so-called “Zémidjan”. Other various topics were also broached: The wear of the helmet, the seatbelt, the Courtesy on the road, the respect for the traffic lanes, the drink-driving issue, etc. With music on board, the caravanners surely danced for safer roads in Africa.

On Thursday 25th of October, last day of the Caravane in Benin, the caravanners competed in a football game versus the team of AKPAKPA. A game which ended with a score of 3 – 2 in favour of the Akpakpans.

 Each player of the winning team won a helmet as a reward, but the Cup of the Youth Caravan for Road Safety in the UEMOA was given to the caravanners who will transport it to Senegal, the last stage of the Caravane. This activity was the last one in Benin.

You can see more photos of the events in Benin in the photo album on the right column! The Caravane now heads into Togo!

Read more about Caravane here.