“STEVE” Steps Out to End Deaths on the Roads
New Animation Campaign Exposes the Hidden Dangers on the Roads Which Kills 3,000 Everyday

On 11May 2011, at the launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety, the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and YOURS – Youth for Road Safety have initiated an innovative campaign to build awareness and end death and injuries on the roads.

“It was clear the way have been communicating our message on road safety wasn’t reaching the people most affected by this disaster,” said Nellie Ghusayni, progamme officer at YOURS. “We need to go where people, especially the young people, were getting their information and tailor the format of the messages so it’s appealing to them. A fresh take on the subject using video seems to be the best way to capture their interest and get the youth involved.”

Under the creative direction of Mark Woodward from Airspace Studios, STEVE was born. The animation video project aims to give the viewers a different perspective on road safety by focusing on the hidden danger on the roads.

“Just over 100 years ago mankind introduced a new form of transport to the world, and with every car comes enough energy to kill,” says Andrew Pearce, Chief Executive of GRSP. “But humans cannot sense this energy until it’s too late. We hope STEVE can shed an important light for everyone and energize people to take action. Everyone can make a valuable contribution in helping to solve this man-made disaster.”

Roads, human’s greatest conduits for progress and communication, are also the stages for great human tragedy. Someone dies on the road every 30 seconds bringing the annual number of deaths to approximately 1,3 million – or ten aricraft crashes every day. The people dying are likely to be young and previously perfectly healthy – perhaps a bread-winner, a husband, a mother, a daughter or a son. The economic burden of the global carnage on the roads is a staggering $ 500 billion worldwide.

Every year more than 50 million people are injured by road crashes, many of those disabled permanently. Almost half of those who die in road traffic crashes are vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists. The goal of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety is to stabilize and then reduce the number of lives lost.

The Global Road Safety Partnership works to prevent road crash death and injury in low- and middle-income countries by working to implement effective solutions in partnership with business, government and civil society organizations. A hosted project of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, based in Geneva, Switzerland, GRSP’s vision is a world free of road-crash death and injury. www.GRSProadsafety.org

YOURS – Youth for Road Safety is the first global youth led nongovernmental organization acting to make the world’s roads safe for young people. YOURS operates on three pillars: advocating for youth and road safety on the global level, inspiring, connecting, and uniting youth around the world, and developing capacities of young people to become road safety advocates and implement road safety projects www.youthforroadsafety.org

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YOURS has released a fresh new and exciting poster series for people to use during the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The poster series is one of a series of tools that YOURS is releasing during the Decade of Action to equip young people with road safety awareness tools to save lives on the road.

Together we can save millions of young lives on the world’s roads

Ten days before the launch of the first-ever Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, the global youth organization for road safety, YOURS – Youth for Road Safety, is releasing a free poster series for young people around the world to raise awareness about key risks on the roads.

Globally road traffic crashes are the biggest killer of young people aged 15-29 years. Every year more than 400,000 young people are killed and millions more are injured on the roads. In ten years, the World Health Organization predicts that this figure could rise significantly without increased action. The Decade of Action, officially proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2010 and supported by more than 60 governments, provides a unique opportunity for long-term action that can save millions of lives.

The poster series called the ‘Surreal Posters’ take a unique approach. They depict drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in five situations that illustrate their vulnerability on the road when failing to take simple precautionary measures. They focus on the consequences of failing to use seat-belts and helmets, drinking and driving, speeding and not being visible when walking or cycling on the road. The posters will be distributed worldwide through YOURS’ massive global youth network for road safety and will be exhibited in places of prominence so young people can get the road safety message and be aware of what they need to do to be safe on the road wherever they are.

Floor Lieshout, Director of YOURS said: “These posters are just one tool that YOURS is employing to make young people aware of the dangers of the road. We as young people are the most vulnerable road users in the world. That´s why it is our responsibility as emerging young leaders to stand up and do our part in behaving responsibly and demanding our safety on the world’s roads”.

Dr Etienne Krug, Director of Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability at the World Health Organization said: “The Decade of Action for  Road Safety 2011-2020  offers the political platform needed to scale up some well-defined measures which could do much to keep young people safe on the roads. Evidence tells us that these measures work, and could save millions of lives.”

In conclusion, our efforts alone do not suffice. We call upon all stakeholders: our parents and guardians, leaders in the schools and communities where we learn and live, policy-makers in governments around the world, heads of private companies, representatives of the media and the entertainment sector and celebrities to take responsibility and work together with us in making the world’s roads safe for young people.

The five posters are available to download free here.

For the launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, YOURS is marking the start of this momentous occasion by launching the event with 450 young people at the Ontario Students Against Imparied Driving annual conference on 12th May 2011.

At the event, 450 young people from around Canada will be congregating at the OSAID annual conference to discuss a range of topics relating to young people’s wellbeing; road safety is high on the agenda and OSAID in collaboration with YOURS will be spreading the word of the Decade of Action to the young delegates.

The conference will be attended by YOURS representatives who will share information about road safety on an international level. Mr Ousman Conteh will share information about the road safety situation in Africa, Mr Manpreet Darroch will share information about his own experience in setting up a road safety campaign from scratch with no budget and Mr Floor Lieshout will share information about the YOURS global youth network for road safety, the international youth and road safety scene and information about the Decade of Action.

The presentations will be set to empower young people with skills and knowledge about road safety so as they can leave the conference as road safety role models and young people that can act for road safety. The presentation is taking place alongside inspirational talks from a range of key international figures, Canadian Ministry of Transport and motivational speakers.

In addition to the presentation; YOURS will give every delegate a Decade of Action Tag (generously provided by FIA Foundation) so the young people can physically support the Decade of Action by wearing the necklaces. The 450 delegates will also take part in an outdoor visual demonstration called the ‘Chain of Life’ which will see the young people join hands to show their solidarity for the Decade of Action. This will be covered by local and national media too.

YOURS will provide social media updates, photgraphic updates and a video report highlighting the key events at the conference.

This is just one of many events YOURS will help coordinate in over the Decade of Action and opportunities for young people and our youth network will be highlighted on the YOURS website! This event comes in conjuction with YOURS’ release of the Surreal Poster series; a free poster series to download and use during the Decade of Action for Road Safety!

According to Indonesia’s Antara news agency, with 1.3 million people killed and up to 50 million injured every year in road crashes, 90 percent of them in developing countries, traffic accidents have become the leading cause of death for young people aged 5 to 29. Road crashes now kill more people worldwide than malaria.

“Unless well-targeted measures are taken, there will be an escalating death toll on the roads in poor countries, which would be a terrible tragedy,” World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick added.

Zoellick urged countries to invest in road safety, and called on donors to provide funds through the new initiative. Both financing and capacity-building in developing countries are needed, he said, to meet the goals of the UN Decade.

The goal is to reduce the forecast 2020 level of road deaths by 50 percent, from 1.9 million to under one million a year. Achieving the 2020 target could save up to five million lives and prevent 50 million serious injuries.

“We must make road safety a more urgent priority in the development assistance provided by multilateral development banks for road projects. Otherwise, the cost to developing countries is too great. We must deliver the needed resources to create transformational change for safety,” Zoellick said.

He added that leaders of the Multilateral Development Banks’ Road Safety Initiative are committed to building partnerships and raising funds from governments, the private sector and voluntary organizations to support projects in developing countries. The initiative has been coordinated by the Global Road Safety Facility.

Also present at World Bank headquarters for the event were New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is a committed advocate and donor to road safety issues, and actress Michelle Yeoh, Global Ambassador of the Make Roads Safe Campaign.

Partners of the Multilateral Development Banks’ Road Safety Initiative include the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the World Bank.

The initiative calls for an integrated Safe System approach which promotes shared responsibility for ensuring safe mobility, and starts with countries naming a lead agency to direct a national road safety strategy.

The Safe System approach recognizes that human error is inevitable and should not be punished by death or serious injury. It calls for road transport systems designed and operated to ensure far greater protection for all their users.

This depends on a shared responsibility for safety among all partners and stakeholders to align safety management decision-making with a country`s economic, human and environmental goals. Ultimately, a Safe System depends on increasing public awareness of and demand for safe road transport services and products.

— BERNAMA