So, it is the Road Safety hour which your mother warned you about! Shhhhshhhhshhhh…quiet! 🙂

You must all remember those times when your Mummy would be like, ‘Alright son/daughter, time to go to bed’ and yet the television keeps on with daddy and mummy watching! Fact is, I hate to say this since I am older now, but I would tip-toe back and try to watch TV again. One day, which later taught me a lesson of never accepting relatives to stay in my house; my grandmother caught me peeping. What followed is another story to talk about. For those that observed the International Women’s Day, Congrats, Felicitations, Asanteni! I was making another joke on that day by requesting to see wedding rings on those girls who claimed they were Women. Big topic to talk about, but I honestly think they should ask the United Nations to advocate for an International Girl’s day? (thinking deeply).

Youth in Motion: Using Research and Innovation for Change
Context

The new Global Forum for Health Research series (2012-2017) are year-round processes for ‘Change Makers’ moved by the need for research to bring about concrete change in people’s health. We gather key players once a year to discuss what changes were successfully made in the previous year, and what changes will be made in the coming year. The central objective is to contribute to making research, science, technology and innovation – in all sectors affecting health – work for health, equity and development in a measurable way by showcasing examples and best practices in the field.

What?
As part of the new Global Forum for Health Research, we are creating Youth in Motion: a platform/network specifically for young people. The objectives are to include the next generation of ‘Change Makers’ in discussions taking place at Forum 2012, and to create a long-standing youth network where cross-sector partnerships and ideas will be fostered and normalised, enhancing possibilities for social change.

The Youth in Motion network will provide settings, both physical and virtual, for future leaders from all sectors to exchange ideas on how to mobilize actions and efforts to achieve global equity in a world moving “beyond aid”. It aims to encourage them to engage with leaders in their field, form valuable partnerships across sectors, and make concrete plans for the future. We want young leaders to be given a voice to ensure their impact on their future: the world’s future.

How?
Youth in Motion will:

• Provide an international platform for young voices to be heard by today’s leaders and change-makers
• Create a space for like-minded youths to come together, form partnerships and build long-standing networks for concrete change
• Capture the thoughts and ideas of the next generation on moving “beyond aid”
• Begin “improbable partnerships”by grouping young leaders from a variety of sectors with the aim of fostering and normalizing such partnerships.
• Create an online innovation hub where these young leaders can expand on their ideas and implement their projects together
• Provide young leaders with a chance to exchange, discuss with and learn from the experiences of today’s leaders and change-makers.

Who?
This initiative aims to bring together young leaders, 35 years of age and under, from all sectors who have an impact on health and development and a capacity to work towards a world beyond aid. This includes policy-makers, researchers, social entrepreneurs and innovators, business, media, government and civil society representatives.

Director of YOURS, Mr Floor Lieshout will help facilitate the youth in motion session and said, ‘This workshop will bring attention to the global road safety crisis facing young people and bring this cause to the table’.

It’s time to think twice before picking up that phone while driving. A texting while driving ban is now in effect in Pennsylvania. The ban begins today and breaking the law will cost you.

Next time that text or email alert sounds on your phone, and you are behind the wheel in Pennsylvania, think twice about sending a response. It could cost you.

“I know some people they kind of pride themselves on being able to text and drive without, making it look like that they can,” said Jordan Delogu.

The texting while driving ban went into effect today at 12:01 a.m. The bill makes it illegal for anyone to send, read or write text on their phones, PDA’s or computers. State police attribute 14,000 accidents in Pennsylvania, in 2010, to distracted driving, with almost 1,100 of those tied directly to cell phone usage.

“As soon as you look the other way, it’s that one second that you’re looking away that something can happen. It’s just way too dangerous,” said driver Sheri Riley.

“I think the public has wanted this for a long time,” said Representative Eugene DePasquale, (D) York.

The bill is simple, no more texting or emailing while driving. The law is a primary offense which means police officers can stop a driver for that offense alone. The fine is $50. The new law does not include the use of GPS or cell phone calls.

“We know that once it gets enforced and people start getting fined, we know they`ll stop doing it,” said DePasquale.

Studies show texting drivers are 163 times more likely to get into an unsafe incident while distracted. And while it will take some getting used to, most drivers say safety is paramount.

Many believe the texting while driving ban is the first step towards a complete ban of cell phone usage in the car. Nine states and the District of Columbia already have a ban on talking while driving. Some Pennsylvania lawmakers even say such legislation could be discussed during this session.

While the law in Pennsylvania bans texting while driving, YOURS believes in a full road safety system approach; appropriate laws, enforcement coupled with awareness of the issue for safer road user decisions will go some way in curbing the growing trend of distracted driving. In our previous article on the danger of smartphones behind the wheel, the Insitute of Advanced Motorists UK (IAM) found that using a phone for texting and emailing is more dangerous than drink driving!

YOURS urges young people to leave the phone alone behind the wheel as the risk of a road crash is heightened; as a demographic already vulnerable to road crashes, young people must be smarter behind the wheel to avoid putting their lives in unnecessary danger. In Canada, the ‘Leave the Phone Alone’ initiative which asked young people to take a pledge to drive safely and leave technology for times away from the wheel.

The World Health Organization issued a report last year which stated; It is now evident that if you are using a mobile phone while driving you are approximately four times more likely to be involved in a crash than a driver who is not using a phone. This risk appears to be similar for both hand-held and hands-free phones, because it is the cognitive distraction that is an issue, not only the physical distraction associated with holding the phone. Text messaging appears to have an even more severe impact on driving behaviour and crash risk.

Along with avoiding technology behind the wheel, YOURS asks its members to take the Road Safety Commitment some simple steps to bolster our safety as young road users.

Using smartphones for social networking while driving is more dangerous than drink driving or being high on cannabis behind the wheel, according to research published by IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists). Despite this, eight per cent of drivers admit to using smartphones for email and social networking while driving – equivalent to 3.5 million license holders in the UK alone.

When comparing these new results to previous studies the level of impairment on driving is greater than the effects of drinking, cannabis and texting.

• Using a smartphone for social networking slows reaction times by 37.6 per cent;
• texting slows reaction times by 37.4 per cent;
• hands-free mobile phone conversation slows reaction times by 26.5 per cent;
• cannabis slows reaction times by 21 per cent;
• alcohol (above UK driving limit but below 100mg per 100ml of blood) slows reaction time by between six and 15 per cent; and
• alcohol at the legal limit slows reaction times by 12.5 per cent.

The IAM is calling for government action to highlight the dangers of using smartphones behind the wheel. Phone manufacturers and social network providers also have a key role to play in spreading the message. Attitudes to seatbelts and drink driving have changed dramatically over the last thirty years, and, with the right information, halting smartphone use could become a similar success story.

IAM chief executive Simon Best said: “This research shows how incredibly dangerous using smartphones while driving is, yet unbelievably it is a relatively common practice. If you’re taking your hand off the wheel to use the phone, reading the phone display and thinking about your messages, then you’re simply not concentrating on driving. It’s antisocial networking and it’s more dangerous than drink driving and it must become just as socially unacceptable.

“Young people have grown up with smartphones and using them is part of everyday life. But more work needs to be done by the government and social network providers to show young people that they are risking their lives and the lives of others if they use their smartphones while driving.”

TRL senior researcher Nick Reed said: “Our research clearly demonstrates that driver behaviour was significantly and dramatically impaired when a smartphone was being used for social networking. Drivers spent more time looking at their phone than the road ahead when trying to send messages, rendering the driver blind to emerging hazards and the developing traffic situation.

“Even when hazards were detected, the driver’s ability to respond was slowed. The combination of observed impairments to driving will cause a substantial increase in the risk of a collision that may affect not only the driver but also their passengers and other road users. Smartphones are incredibly useful and convenient tools when used appropriately and responsibly. Their use for social networking when driving is neither.”

Other campaigners for road safety have drawn attention to the unsocial nature of social networks; what is more unsocial than putting your own life and the lives of those around you in risk? Road safety tweeters; Don’t Tweet and Drive raise awareness of the dangers of tweeting while driving;

Communications Officer at YOURS; Mr Manpreet Darroch who has been a long standing advocate of ‘turning off technology while on the road’ said, “We are living in a social experiment where being connected via social networks is something so new that we are yet to evaluate its long-term impacts on society. Having access to social networks at the palm of our hands has in one way created a constant ‘switched in’ world but there are clearly some real dangers to people being distracted on the road. We as young people are already vulnerable road users and these distractions are certainly not helping our road safety cause”.

The report from IAM is available to download in the attachments. You can read more about this story and find the full report here.