Why the European Night Without Accident?

The European Night Without Accident was created after the observation of the huge numbers of car accidents happening on weekends’ nights in which young people are often involved.

The action takes place in two phases. First, the volunteers encourage each group to choose a “designated driver” who agrees to make a promise: he commits himself to remain sober when he sits behind the wheel of his vehicle. The volunteers ask him/her to wear a bracelet to be recognizable.

When the “designated drivers” leave the nightclub, we give them the opportunity to undergo a breath analysis in order to check if they have honoured their commitment. If this is the case, the “designated drivers” are rewarded with small presents offered by our partners and sponsors. If this is not the case, volunteers  encourage the person to leave his/her car on the side or to hand the keys to a friend who did not drink any alcohol, neither used drugs. Its goal is not to be repressive or to spread a negative message; on the contrary we always try to go deeper into discussion with the revelers in order to find the most reasonable solution to arrive home safely.

2011 Edition of the European Night Without Accident
This year, the action took place across Europe once again in over 25 countries with thousands of alcohol and drug tests taking place simulateously on one night, 15th October. The event has the potential to save millions of young lives as well as raise awareness about road safety across Europe!

We know that many of our members took part in the event so we welcome you to send us your pictures and comments to be featured on the website!

In delivering the opening statement during the official opening of the weeklong nationwide campaign, Hon. Siaka K. Dibba Program Officer of the National Youth Parliament highlighted the rationale behind the campaign. According to Hon. Dibba, the campaign aimed at complimenting Government’s efforts in achieving the Millennium Development Goals on environmental sustainability and raising greater awareness on road safety and the UN proclaimed decade of action for road safety 2011-2020.

He asserted that, ‘the National Youth Parliament is a representative network of young people across the country, and it has diversified operations ranging from integrated Good Governance, Human Rights and Democracy to Gender Mainstreaming in youth participation, road safety, youth leadership and management among others’.

The program officer went on to say that The NYP aims to inculcate responsible citizenship in young people so that they can effectively and positively participate in national development.The Acting Speaker of the National Youth Parliament Hon. Aminata Hydara who was next to make a statement revealed the theme of this year’s campaign “Arrive Safe, Plant a Tree”.

The Acting Speaker in her statement underscored the significance of the exercise, adding that, ‘as human beings we are interdependent with trees, and if there are no trees there will be no lives’ Hon. Hydara added that there is need to remember lives lost because of road crashes in the form of planting trees in their names as well inform people about road safety issues and safety precautions they need to adhere to while on the road she concluded.

Delivering the welcoming remarks, Yankuba Colley, Mayor of Kanifing Municiaplity said youth are the cream of any nation, and they should take charge of their responsibilities as young people and take the lead in any development initiative.Lord Mayor Colley challenge the youth to participate in national development endeavors, particularly in environmental sustainability activities and lamenting that our environment is dwindling on a daily basis.

The Assistant Police Commissioner of Kanifing Division spoke of the need to sensitize road users, especially drivers, on the importance of traffic signs and their meaning.He noted that authorities have provided road traffic signs in all strategic places for safeguarding road users, and as a warning to drivers, to avoid the unnecessary crashes that claim the lives of innocent people particularly the young ones.He opined that these traffic signs warn drivers about bends, turning points, bridges, crossing points for people and animals, and caution drivers on speed limits at specific places.

Giving the opening remarks, Hon. Sheriff M. Gomez Minister of Youth and Sports said the campaign is timely since the MDGs are just 4 years before its timeline, while the decade of action for road safety 2011-2020 is just been launched. He commended the National Youth Parliament and its collaborators for the noble initiative, and urged all and sundry to act as police or guardians in protecting our forest/environment and work in line with the pillars of the decade of action for road safety 2011-2020.

The Honorable Minister of Youth and Sports declared the campaign open and planted the first tree of the 10000th tree, while the Deputy Speaker of The Gambia National Assembly planted the 10000th tree at Kanifing Municipal Council and National Assembly complex respectively.During the closing ceremony, young parliamentarians also painted road signs in the city of Banjul to increase visibility of road users.

YOURS and the National Youth Parliament of The Gambia
Last year, YOURS was honoured to work with the NYP on the World Crossing Campaign where Mr Siaka K. Dibba won the best entry and initiated his own road safety project with a YOURS grant. YOURS wholeheatedly supports these planting of trees and the remembrance of road crash victims in this poignant and symbolic way and this is the rationale behind our new Embrace Life Campaign.

Our new Coordinators of the Regions (CORE Group) are creating ripples of global participation in our new campaign, Embrace Life. Our new global road safety awareness campaign came into full swing at the start of the month and we are pleased to announce that the CORE Group have initiated actions for wider participation through their new roles.

Last month, YOURS went through a marathon recruitment process and selected the new YOURS CORE Group and five new Coordinators of the Regions joined forces with YOURS to become part of a bolstered network with wider reach and scope. As our Embrace Life Campaign is in full swing, the CORE Group has been busy creating wider participation in the region and this means that this year’s campaign will reach many more people and engage a wider group of young people from around the world!

The CORE Group are engaging their regional networks and creating a global buy-in for the campaign and give us these messages about their thoughts on the Embrace Life Campaign:

Ms Sheila Atieno – Coordinator of the African Region (English Speaking Countries)
“‘The Embrace Life Campaign is a campaign that brings fresh life into the road safety agenda. It is powerful, unique and exciting! Young people should participate because they are the highest victim of road crashes and therefore should be proud of their life, use it for a quality purpose.”

Ms Jennifer Heatlery – Coordinator of the North American Region
“Embrace Life is an important campaign designed to honour those who have lost their lives on the roads and to remind us all that life is precious. Please join us in taking the pledge to Embrace Life and stay safe on the roads.”

Mr Joel Tucker – Coordinator of the Western Pacific Region
“The Embrace Life Campaign is about encouraging people around the world to acknowledge what they enjoy in life and the tragedy of the 1.3 million people who are killed on the roads each year.  I encourage young people to participate because we all have people we care about that we want to stay safe on the roads for.”

Mr Axel Druart – Coordinator of the European Region
“The Embrace Life Campaign is a campaign that shows that we do care about each other, that life is so easy to embrace through simple emotions, care of the others, and respect. And I feel it is so easy to do! As for road safety, fastening your seatbelt only takes few seconds, while it takes only 5 minutes to “Embrace Life” and immortalize it with your camera. The more pictures we’ll have, the more powerful… I encourage young people to participate because WE are the youngsters who can eventually show the world that we are active and thinking ahead to find solutions to sensitize our young peers to save as many lives as possible”

Mr Aliou Oumarou – Coordinator of the African Region (French Speaking Countries)
“I shared with the participants at the African Youth Assembly for Road Safety and it seems they are all interested in the campaign, I can say that the idea is great. It is up to us now motivate the members of our network and I know that we are able.”

Our CORE Group becomes pivotal in our global advoacy and awareness efforts.

On 7th-8th October, YOURS co-hosted the African Youth Assembly for Road Safety in Niamey, Niger. This historic event was the first of its kind and was undertaken with the primise of building regional capacity in the African Region and facilitate concerted effort for youth and road safety throughout Africa. The event was reported to be high with motivation and participants left feeling energized for road safety action.

After each delegate introduced their work and organization, information sharing and the technical aspects of the forum began. Many organizations presented best practise for effective road safety work in Africa. With the development of a common action in Africa, members of the Assembly left with tangible goals and aims aswell as a wealth of new information and ideas for road safety action.

Although an official report is due to be published very soon, YOURS can report that delegates felt that the event was incredibly worthwhile and much neeeded. The agenda was well constructed giving delegates not only an open platform on which to air their nation’s own road safety situation and challenges but also offered the chance for collective problem solving for Africa as a whole.

For YOURS, this event is an enormous milestone with the planning of the African Youth Assembly in the pipeline for several years. We congratulate the tiresome work of Mr Aliou Oumarou and his team at ONG Fond Ma Bori. Coordinator of the Global Youth Network for Road Safety Mr Manpreet Darroch said, ‘Without the professional coordination and dedication of Mr Aliou and his team, this assembly would not have been the success that it was, this is a great time for Africa’s youth to make real change in their nations and not only bring extra attention to road safety in this region but also save a multitude of young lives’.

A full report will be published in due course.

The campaign takes a unique approach, it focuses on the positive promotion of road safety through creative means and YOURS employs a participatory approach that enables young people from around the world to take part easily. The campaign is orientated around its primary participatory element; a photo competition where young people are encouraged to take a photo of themselves and their loved ones while holding an object that depicts ‘how they embrace life’. For example a football fan who embraces life with his favorite jersey and football, or someone who embraces life with his helmet in his hand.

Also people who have been personally affected by road crashes; those who have been involved in crashes or lost loves ones can take part by taking a photo of themselves with their loved ones photo or their loved one’s favourite item.

The end result will be revealed during World Remembrance Day on 20 November 2011, showing our respect to the loved ones we lost on the road and to remember the world to take action in preventing these tragedies. In addition the photos will be showcased in an exclusive online photo exhibition as well as in a printed exhibition at YOURS’ coming events taking place in the succeeding years. Like last year’s awareness campaign (World Crossing Campaign), the most creative and best photo will win a 1000 EURO grant for a road safety project in their local community.

By embracing life, we recognize that our lives are precious and that we as young people are vulnerable on the road, we therefore pledge to follow road safety so we can continue to enjoy our lives without carrying the burden of road crashes.

Manpreet Darroch, Communications Officer at YOURS who is the architect of the campaign said, ‘There are lots of reasons why we embrace life and by capturing this, we have an opportunity to reflect on the things that are important to us. This is a powerful tool in appreciating our safe mobility and by reflecting on our precious lives, we take a pledge to safeguard them by being safe on the road and enjoying life’.

You can see how to get involved by watching the instruction video! Find out how to take part here.