This year, the 4th edition of the European Youth Forum for Road Safety (EYFRS) initiated some groundbreaking resolutions for the years ahead. Embedded in the programme was the award giving for the winning poster for Europe. This initiative was created by DG Move in collaboration with EYFRS organizers. Over 800 posters were designed by young people but only one could win. Check out the poster!

The declaration, drafted by YOURS was officially adopted by the youth delegates from across Europe at the 4th Edition of the European Youth Forum for Road Safety 2011 held on 24-25th November 2011 at the European Commission, Brussels – Belgium. The youth delegates urge decision makers across Europe to commit to safer mobility because of the tragic circumstance that sees over 400,000 young people being killed on the world’s roads every year with thousands more seriously injurred.

Youth Commitment

The text of the delcaration includes:
We have respect for our own life and for the lives of our peers. Because life is so fragile, we must do our best to live safely and also encourage our peers do so. We fully acknowledge the importance of youth involvement in making road safety happen. We call for awareness among our peers of the serious risks they run in becoming involved in road traffic accidents. We call upon our peers to serve as role models on the road and to promote road safety among our friends and families – particularly our younger brothers and sisters. Specifically, we ask our peers to avoid driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, avoid speeding, refrain from aggressive behaviour on the road, use helmets when riding motorcycles and bicycles, wear seat-belts when in motor vehicles, and ensure that we are visible on the roads.

However, our efforts alone are not sufficient. We therefore also call upon our parents and guardians, our schools and universities, the communities in which we live – as well as on policy-makers, community-based organizations, private sector companies, media, celebrities and the entertainment sector – to share responsibility and work together with us to make the road ahead safe and sustainable. We also see that we have an obligation to help each others by sharing the knowledge and networking with other worldwide youth organizations.

We therefore urge you to:

• Continue to support the annual European Youth Forum for Road Safety and to acknowledge its importance as a forum for young people to meet and share best practices, and to make their voices heard at European level.
• Develop and implement policies and initiatives to make European roads safer, in particular:to encourage through education at school the development of a road safety culture at a younger age; to develop, through the training and licensing process, a sense of individual responsibility and respect of other users;
• to re-inforce the awareness amongst young people of the need to comply with road traffic rules and to avoid risky behaviours, in particular in relation with speed, drugs, alcohol and the use of mobile phones while driving;to improve the safety of young people as vulnerable road users, and to address as a priority the safety of young riders of powered-two-wheelers.
• to prevent and limit the consequences of crashes involving more particularly young people through the development of safer infrastructure and vehicle technologies;
• to strengthen efforts to reduce the number and severity of road traffic injuries which may have long-life dramatic consequences for young people;
• Discuss youth and road safety issues, learn about the situation of young people on the roads and bring their issues to the forefront.

YOURS Director, Mr Floor Lieshout gave a presentation about using declarations in general to achieve effective change, ‘How to advocate using a declaration’, this presentation is attached in attachements.  His presentation is also attached as a video along with the presenatation of Communications Officer Mr Manpreet Darroch along with a highlights reel from the forum.

You can read the full text of the European Youth Declaration for Road Safety in the attachments.

Masin’s poster depicts one young person crossing the road with two shadows; the shadow of her loved one her was killed on the road. The poster is poignant and thought provoking and Masin presents the stark reality of the loss of life on the road emblazoned with the words ‘ Safe roads in Europe, Yes we Care’. More information about the poster contest and its briefing can be found here.

The 3rd Muscat Youth Summit (MYS) gave focus to a plethora of pressing youth issues facing young people in a changing world. From sustainable cities to urban arts, from graffiti expression to digital activism; the Muscat Youth Summit was an engaging and progressive exploration of global youth issues in an interactive and participatory approach.

This year, the YOURS staff team were in attendance to the MYS to bring attention to the global road safety problem against a backdrop of important issues to be addressed in the coming years for global youth development.

Our workshop was attended by over 30 young people who had chosen to give road safety their attention. The workshop facilitated by the YOURS team gave the young people a taster on the global road safety problem from ‘Why Road Safety is a Global Issue’ to ‘Why young people are vulnerable road users’ with a focus on how young people can be road safety actors and ambassadors back home.

The workshop was inherently participatory and interactive with lots of ice-breakers, energizers, role plays and multi-platform expression with the embedding of many different activities to enable active learning.

The day long workshop started by gauging young people’s knowledge of global road safety to which many were not aware the road crashes were the biggest killer of young people globally. Young people then went on to explore the reasons behind this and came to grasp the fact that young people are vulnerable road users with reference to the key risk factors causing road crashes.

Our workshop attendees then went through fast paced learning sessions on seatbelts, speed and distracted driving and with young people taking the message and personalizing it through interactive role plays, expression through art and learning through doing.

At the end of the workshop, YOURS assessed learning again to see a visible change in their knowledge and attitude. From 40% of young people saying they thought seatbelt wearing was important at the start of the workshop to 100% expressing their support for seatbelt use saw a clear attitude change and learning journey take place from start to finish.

YOURS then encouraged young people to write down their personal action plans to commit to road safety beyond the workshop. The young people not only pledged to be safer but also said that they wanted to share the road safety message with their peers as well as not speed, encourage safer driving amongst family and friends as well as many other personal road safety commitments.

The young people told YOURS: ‘This workshop was really important and really fun, I learnt a lot and my attitude towards the road has changed’. A video report with testimonials from the young people will be available shortly! YOURS will also provide an evaluative report shortly. As YOURS moves forward into 2012, our focus on global workshops will continue!

YOURS thanks Brand Oman and the organizers of the Muscat Youth Summit for their commitment to road safety and for their efforts to facilitate this engaging, progressive and empowering youth summit!

YOURS is a long term advocate for peer-to-peer messaging, that being young people talking to young people about road safety issues. We know that a young person is more likely to absorb a message and act on it when it has been transmitted from a peer; a trusted friend or a person of a similar age that they can relate to. At the European Youth Forum for Road Safety, youth delegates share their message with other young people about keeping safe on the road.

Under the directive eye of talented journalist Mr Manolis Andriotakis, youth delegates from around Europe who attended the forum gave short interviews to the camera about their work and the roles they are taking to promote road safety in their nations.

Additionally, Mr Andriotakis asked the young delegates to give a short message to young people about keeping safe on the roads. The messages given are inspiring. Young people clearly value life and are taking responsibility for their own safety.

German delegate Ms Katja Gutknecht says, ‘Where do you picture yourself in 5-10 years, probably on a beach enjoying life and not in a cemetry?’. This is a very poignant message from one young person to another. Sometimes, young people feel invincible but often, lives are cut short because a young person didn’t take responsibily. She continues her message to say, ‘Think about how you will get home after a party if you have come on your bike or in your car’, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol is one of the biggest reasons young people, especially young males die in car crashes.

A key theme in the messages was about ‘enjoying life, that life is precious and that personal responsibility is one of the most important things for road safety’.

Coordinator of the European Region, Mr Axl Druart told the camera, ‘This is so easy guys, take some responsibility because you know drink driving is wrong, if you want to see your friends again be safe, and if you don’t do it for yourself, do it for others and respect yourself’.

Overall, the message from the young people was positive and orientated around a positive approach; about preserving life. This is exactly what youth and road safety is all about. A positive message from young people to their peers because we care. A message of preserving life and taking responsbility. The efforts of road safety in this respect focus on attitude change and this, coupled with strong lobbying for action from authorities cemented in the action points in the European Youth Declaration for Road Safety will create a road safety movement that is cross-sectoral, effective and most importantly, life changing.

The video is availbale to view on the right column.

4-7th December is the date for the 3 day residential Muscat Youth Summit taking place next week in Muscat, Oman. The event brings together thousands of young people from around the world to empower young people through interactive workshops, presentations and debates on youth development, leadership and participation. YOURS has the pleasure of running a day long workshop with young people at the summit on global youth and road safety issues.

The Muscat Youth Summit (MYS) is a flagship annual summit that takes place in Muscat, Oman and brings together over 1000 young people to empower them with key skills and knowledge to become active citizens, participants and future leaders.

This year, the summit is orientated around three key areas of focus; Social Entrepeneurship, Digital Participation and Urban Arts and Culture. From sustainable cities, graffiti art, filmmaking, creating social media to hybrid cities and digital empowerment. The Muscat Youth Summit has focusses on themes of immediate importance to young people in a contemporary changing world.

YOURS has the pleasure of delivering a workshop amidst this dynamic agenda. Our workshop – The Global Road Safety Crisis focuses on the following:

At a time when the world is facing many problems such as hunger, poverty, natural disasters, and wars, why focus on road safety? Aren’t there more important things to work towards? How is road safety a global humanitarian crisis and why does it deserve our attention now?

Young people under the age of 25 years are the main victims of road crashes worldwide. More young people die from road crashes than from HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis, or cancer. This means that road safety is a serious threat to youth no matter where they are. Why are young people overrepresented in road traffic injuries and deaths? What are the main risk factors?

Getting involved (1): Where to Start
Youth around the world are taking the lead on exciting and innovative road safety initiatives. How can you get involved? Where do you start? What are existing opportunities you can seize? What are the challenges and how can you overcome them?

Getting involved (2): Advocating for Road Safety
What do you want others to know about road safety? How can your message reach different audiences, friends, parents, governments and community organizations?
What tools and media are available? What else can you use?

Workshop Deliverables
Participants will be encouraged to use the knowledge, skills and tools they gained in previous MYS workshops to create road safety messages using different media. A range of outputs will be produced:

Films/videos/advertisements Photos Graffiti/ illustration/ posters Song/ music track A “Declaration” or recommendations

YOURS will be reporting from the summit on Monday and you can expect to see a full report next week including pictures and video report!

We have drafted and adopted this Declaration in order to proclaim our commitment to address the problem of road traffic fatalities and injuries, and to urge Europe to take action to prevent road accidents. This is the robust sentiment at the core of the European Youth Declaration for Road Safety that was adopted by over 52 youth delegates at the 4th European Youth Forum for Road Safety 2011. Now, European Youth Ambassadors for Road Safety go back to their nations to share the declaration with key decision makers to influence change across Europe.

The declaration, drafted by YOURS was officially adopted by the youth delegates from across Europe at the 4th Edition of the European Youth Forum for Road Safety 2011 held on 24-25th November 2011 at the European Commission, Brussels – Belgium. The youth delegates urge decision makers across Europe to commit to safer mobility because of the tragic circumstance that sees over 400,000 young people being killed on the world’s roads every year with thousands more seriously injurred.

Youth Commitment

The text of the delcaration includes:
We have respect for our own life and for the lives of our peers. Because life is so fragile, we must do our best to live safely and also encourage our peers do so. We fully acknowledge the importance of youth involvement in making road safety happen. We call for awareness among our peers of the serious risks they run in becoming involved in road traffic accidents. We call upon our peers to serve as role models on the road and to promote road safety among our friends and families – particularly our younger brothers and sisters. Specifically, we ask our peers to avoid driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, avoid speeding, refrain from aggressive behaviour on the road, use helmets when riding motorcycles and bicycles, wear seat-belts when in motor vehicles, and ensure that we are visible on the roads.

However, our efforts alone are not sufficient. We therefore also call upon our parents and guardians, our schools and universities, the communities in which we live – as well as on policy-makers, community-based organizations, private sector companies, media, celebrities and the entertainment sector – to share responsibility and work together with us to make the road ahead safe and sustainable. We also see that we have an obligation to help each others by sharing the knowledge and networking with other worldwide youth organizations.

We therefore urge you to:

• Continue to support the annual European Youth Forum for Road Safety and to acknowledge its importance as a forum for young people to meet and share best practices, and to make their voices heard at European level. 
• Develop and implement policies and initiatives to make European roads safer, in particular:to encourage through education at school the development of a road safety culture at a younger age; to develop, through the training and licensing process, a sense of individual responsibility and respect of other users; 
• to re-inforce the awareness amongst young people of the need to comply with road traffic rules and to avoid risky behaviours, in particular in relation with speed, drugs, alcohol and the use of mobile phones while driving;to improve the safety of young people as vulnerable road users, and to address as a priority the safety of young riders of powered-two-wheelers. 
• to prevent and limit the consequences of crashes involving more particularly young people through the development of safer infrastructure and vehicle technologies; 
• to strengthen efforts to reduce the number and severity of road traffic injuries which may have long-life dramatic consequences for young people; 
• Discuss youth and road safety issues, learn about the situation of young people on the roads and bring their issues to the forefront.

YOURS Director, Mr Floor Lieshout gave a presentation about using declarations in general to achieve effective change, ‘How to advocate using a declaration’, this presentation is attached in attachements.  His presentation is also attached as a video along with the presenatation of Communications Officer Mr Manpreet Darroch along with a highlights reel from the forum.

You can read the full text of the European Youth Declaration for Road Safety in the attachments.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies (IFRC) met on 22-25 November 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland for their annual General Assembly meeting. The meeting brought together 186 national societies from around the world to discuss international priorities for the organization. This year, IFRC have put road safety on the agenda and commemorate the Decade of Action for Road Safety.

The focus on road safety as a workshop at the IFRC General Assembly is a momentous occasion for the advancement of road safety internationally which brings attention to the cause with over 180 national societies who are active in the field of humanitarian support.

The various introductory presentations on the subject of road safety provided an insight into the relevance and importance of this issue and the reason for its inclusion in the Federation’s activities.The question of road safety is addressed in the resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly 64/255 on Improving Global Road Safety and the commitment of our Federation in the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.

The workshop discussions highlighted the following points:

1. The loss of human life and the social and economic consequences resulting from road accidents. This road safety crisis is a man-made problem, which leaves 1.3 million people dead and 50 million seriously injured each year.

2. The National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, as auxiliaries to the public authorities, have a humanitarian imperative to address road safety in order to contribute to improving the situation.

3. This year’s International Federation General Assembly is a good time to act. The UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 is underway and provides the International Federation with an opportunity, through its network of experts and the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), to contribute with the valuable support that it can offer as a reference centre.

The recommendations are:

• Approve the common framework for action  “What a National Society can do for road safety”; as a starting point for road safety action;
• Approve the International Federation’s pledge to road safety
• Support the proposal to submit to the International Conference “A joint commitment (National Societies and governments) on road safety”;
• Undertake to report on the implementation of this commitment at the next General Assembly in 2013.

The follow up to these recommendations should create a sustainable movement through IFRC for effective road safety work in some of the world’s most affected areas. We would like to congratulate our partner GRSP (Global Road Safety Partnership) for their work to make this happen. At YOURS we will help them where needed to implement the recommendations. More information will be made available soon.