YOURS has implemented a new criteria for its network and we are happy to see a growth in the wealth of information being inputted in the MINE Section. As mentioned a few weeks ago, YOURS will be spotlighting organizations that have the best information about their work. This month, we put the spotlight on GRSP South Africa.

As YOURS continues its search for the Coordinators of the Regions for the CORE group, we are all set to undertake interviews next week to grill our candidates for their chance to be a member of the CORE Group. We are interviewing candidates from around the world through an online interview format and candidates will logging in from Africa, Western Pacific, South East Asia and other continents streching accross many countries and nations.

The successful candidates will be published in due course and all successful candidates will be invited to a CORE Group meeting that will take place in Europe and supported by the World Health Organization. This will give successful candidates a chance to get a ‘feel’ for the work of YOURS and meet other CORE Group members to harmonize network expansion around the world.

Coordinator of the Global Youth Network for Road Safety, Manpreet Darroch said, ‘The process has been extremely competitve with candidates exhibiting a vast array of road safety experience. This has made the selection process very difficult and we have had to turn down applicants who are very experienced and highly committed. We can be assured, however, that the successful candidates will be very special’.

As we continue our selection process, YOURS is excited to speak to many candidates in person for the first time. Watch this space as new CORE Group members are chosen very soon!

Everyone killed, injured or disabled by a road traffic crash has a network of others, including family and friends, who are deeply affected. Globally, millions of people are coping with the death or disability of family members from road traffic injury. It would be impossible to attach a value to each case of human sacrifice and suffering, add up the values and produce a figure that captures the global social cost of road crashes and injuries.

The economic cost of road crashes and injuries is estimated to be 1% of gross national product (GNP) in low-income countries, 1.5% in middle-income countries and 2% in high-income countries. The global cost is estimated to be US$ 518 billion per year. Low-income and middle-income countries account for US$ 65 billion, more than they receive in development assistance.

Road traffic injuries place a heavy burden, not only on global and national economies but also household finances. Many families are driven deeply into poverty by the loss of breadwinners and the added burden of caring for members disabled by road traffic injuries.

Adapted from: World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention (World Health Organization, 2004:55)

Road traffic crashes have a devastating emotional impact on the families and communities involved: every death represents the loss of a father, wife, son, daughter, brother or sister. And there is an equally devastating economic impact: the sudden violence of a road death often robs a family of its only breadwinner. Road injuries can impose a life long cost of caring for severely disabled family members.

Low and middle income countries are disproportionately affected by road crashes. Despite having lower levels of motorisation than developed countries, developing countries have generally very poor road safety records. While there has been a downward trend in road fatalities in rich countries over the past thirty years, developing nations are experiencing dramatic increases in road traffic injuries.

More than 1.3 million people are killed and between 20 and 50 million are seriously injured each year in road crashes. In total, up to 500 million people may be injured in road crashes annually, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The majority of these, about 90%, occur in those countries classified by the World Bank as being low or middle income.

Adapted from: Counting the Cost of Road Crashes and the Poor (FIA Foundation, 2005:2)

Director of YOURS Mr Floor Lieshout is to publish his paper, Youth and Road Safety Issues at Mexicos 24th World Road Congress taking place in Mexico City on 26-30th September 2011. The event brings together over 3,000 delegates and this paper will bring much needed attention to youth and road safety on a global level with key stakeholders in global road safety.

As YOURS continues its search for the Coordinators of the Regions for the CORE group, we are all set to undertake interviews next week to grill our candidates for their chance to be a member of the CORE Group. We are interviewing candidates from around the world through an online interview format and candidates will logging in from Africa, Western Pacific, South East Asia and other continents streching accross many countries and nations.

The successful candidates will be published in due course and all successful candidates will be invited to a CORE Group meeting that will take place in Europe and supported by the World Health Organization. This will give successful candidates a chance to get a ‘feel’ for the work of YOURS and meet other CORE Group members to harmonize network expansion around the world.

Coordinator of the Global Youth Network for Road Safety, Manpreet Darroch said, ‘The process has been extremely competitve with candidates exhibiting a vast array of road safety experience. This has made the selection process very difficult and we have had to turn down applicants who are very experienced and highly committed. We can be assured, however, that the successful candidates will be very special’.

As we continue our selection process, YOURS is excited to speak to many candidates in person for the first time. Watch this space as new CORE Group members are chosen very soon!

As many of us are aware, the African continent has 2% of the world’s registered vehicles but pays the price of 20% of all road deaths. Road safety is a massive deal in Africa and the African Youth Forum for Road Safety is addressing road safety on a regional basis next month in Niger. YOURs believes that it is young people themselves that can be at the forefront of making a difference in theses statistics which is why it is supporting the African Youth Forum in it entirety and will be on hand in Niger to help facilitate the forum.

The World Youth Assembly for Road Safety 2007, provided a unique opportunity for young people from around the world to collaborate on global road safety issues and work together to address road safety. At the Assembly, young leaders were inspired, empowered and encourgaed to serve as ambassadors at home and abroad by advocation for road safety in their country, region and the global community at large. This Assembly was the starting point for a lot of young people to start work in road safety.

On the principles of the World Youth Assembly, YOURS believes that the organization of the African Youth Forum for Road Safety will work to encourage young people to come together and collaborate on these issues to make positive steps in improving the road safety problem in Africa. This will be the first ever forum of its kind in wider Africa. The event is being Coordinated by Mr Aliou Oumarou of ONG FONDEI MA BORI and over 15 countries from Africa will be in attendance.

YOURS is aiding in the coordination of regional youth assemblies for road safety around the world and recently faciliated the Regional Youth Assembly for Road Safety in the Middle East, which took place in Oman. The African Youth Forum will host similar outcomes of the Assembly in Oman whereby;

The main outcomes of the Assembly were that the participants:

• learnt how to advocate for Youth and Road Safety issues
• shared their road safety knowledge and experiences from other countries
• acknowledged the importance of capacity development and identified their current skills and capacities and how they can be improved
• listened and worked on research methods for their road safety projects
• agreed to form a regional network that will feed into the global youth network of YOURS

In YOURS style, we will be reporting from the Assembly with pictures, written reports and videos and a whole host of resources. You can expect to see a full report towards the end of October 2011.

Shortlisted candidates for the Coordinator of the Regions position for the YOURS CORE Group are to be interviewed next week in a string of international interviews as YOURS continues its selection process for the group. We have seen a high standard of applicants making the position extremely competitive.

As YOURS continues its search for the Coordinators of the Regions for the CORE group, we are all set to undertake interviews next week to grill our candidates for their chance to be a member of the CORE Group. We are interviewing candidates from around the world through an online interview format and candidates will logging in from Africa, Western Pacific, South East Asia and other continents streching accross many countries and nations.

The successful candidates will be published in due course and all successful candidates will be invited to a CORE Group meeting that will take place in Europe and supported by the World Health Organization. This will give successful candidates a chance to get a ‘feel’ for the work of YOURS and meet other CORE Group members to harmonize network expansion around the world.

Coordinator of the Global Youth Network for Road Safety, Manpreet Darroch said, ‘The process has been extremely competitve with candidates exhibiting a vast array of road safety experience. This has made the selection process very difficult and we have had to turn down applicants who are very experienced and highly committed. We can be assured, however, that the successful candidates will be very special’.

As we continue our selection process, YOURS is excited to speak to many candidates in person for the first time. Watch this space as new CORE Group members are chosen very soon! 

YOURS strongly advocates the use of creative campaigns to raise awareness about global youth and road safety issues. Last year, we initiated The World Crossing Campaign, which was highly successful and saw lots of young people from around the world coming together and standing strong for youth road safety. This campaign was our maiden global campaign and the energy, commitment and fun conveyed by the young people taking part was testament of young people’s growing effort and attention to global road safety.

In this campaign, young people recorded their own 10 second clip as part of a wider video illustrating that young people call upon their peers, loved ones and decision makers to ‘make the world’s road safe for young people’. The end result saw a video showcasing diversity and creativity in the ‘eternal road crossing’ where young people crossed the road together holding a sign showing their commitment to improving the road safety situation.

The World Crossing Campaign video reached a global audience across the internet and social media as well as being showcased at the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration meeting where global decision makers in road safety watched the film and praised its outcomes. Additionally, YOURS granted the best entry an award of 1000 euros which contributed towards a unique youth led road safety project in the Gambia. This project helped raise awareness about road safety to young people and the wider public in The Gambia, the project undertaken by the winning entry team can be read here.

This year, YOURS is launching its new campaign which promises to be highly participatory, engaging and fun while raising awareness about global road safety everywhere. The campaign will engage our Global Youth Network for Road Safety as well as all youth road safety enthusiasts around the world.

While we are not releasing full details about the campaign just yet, we can announce that our focus this year is on ’embracing life’ whereby young people will be encourage to take part under the sentiment of appreciating our lives while remembering those who have tragically lost their lives on the roads. Our campaign will also include a competition that will award a monetary grant just like last year. Budding photographers (and those who just love taking snaps) will be happy to hear that a part of the campaign will include a photo competition where we will encourage young people to take photos orientated on a given theme.

The campaign is an exciting prospect and a participatory campaign so watch this space for more details! We look forward to your participation!