Mr Lieshout focused on the reasons behind the overrepresentation of young drivers among road victims and the means by which it could be handled.

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How does road safety affect young people? Why are young people more incline to suffer from road safety issues?

Globally road traffic injuries are the leading killer of 10-24 year olds. More than 400.000 young people die every year and millions more are injured. 90% of these road traffic injuries happen in low and middle income countries. As you can imagine, in some countries young people are often the breadwinners of their families and their death or serious injury in a road crash can plunge entire families into poverty. I would like to stress that we talk about road crashes and don’t talk about road accidents. We do that because road crashes are predictable and preventable whereas the use of the “accident” implies that they are random incidents that suddenly happen. We can, by rational thinking and analysis, decrease road traffic injuries and reduce their impact.

On the question why young people are over represented in these terrible statistics there is no one simple answer. It is highly complex and unfortunately there is not an easy fix. Let me start by saying that there are no “problem young road users”, but that we have a “young road user problem”. Young people are not the cause of all these injuries; they are mainly victims of a failing system. For example there might be no appropriate driver training programme in place, no laws on helmet and seatbelt use, on use of alcohol and drugs while driving, or for speed management. Or in some cases the laws are in place, but their enforcement is poor. Furthermore, road infrastructure is a major factor and a safe road design, that accommodates the needs of young people, is essential. In addition, young people might have limited financial resources and therefore end up with old and unsafe cars, lacking safety features. These are only some of the factors contributing to road traffic injuries among youth, and when combined with brain development issues (some parts of the brain are not fully developed till your mid twenties), peer influence, higher risk taking behaviour and life style factors, young people become extremely vulnerable on the roads.

What kind of concrete actions do you think would be the most efficient to fight road safety issues?

First of all we need all sectors to be involved, public and private sector, researchers and academics, community based organizations and the media. Everybody has to play their part to fight the war on our roads. In road safety we speak about the Safe System Approach. An approach mentioning: safe infrastructure, safe vehicles and safe road users. You would have to work on all of these three factors to tackle the problem. We must strive to achieve a system where the risk that a road crash will occur is minimized and when it does happen the environment is forgiving, meaning that risk of injury or death is minimized. So if you ask me for concrete actions, it all starts with the design and enforcement of proper laws, building safer roads, good education for road users, and effective post-crash trauma care systems. Also effective communication towards road users is essential. For example awareness campaigns explaining the reasons behind these laws make road users better understand the issues and then they are more likely to comply instead of resist. Unfortunately young people are hard to reach for most governments or police. Actually when I think about it, people with authority are probably not the most effective way of reaching out to young people who are rebellious by nature. That is why I believe peer-to-peer communication is one of the answers to get the road safety message across to young people.

What particular measures are lacking in public policies directed towards youth? How hard would it be to put them in place? How costly would they be and how long would it take to see their results?

Well, as I mentioned before, in some countries there is just not a good system in place. For example, I know for a fact that in a number of countries you will get your driving license without taking a test or being trained. A young person or one of his parents just goes to the city hall when they turn 18 and pick it up. Every country has different problems and a different culture, so there is not one policy I could recommend. Sometimes it is extremely hard to put a policy in place. For example when drinking alcohol is a significant part of a country’s culture, you can imagine you will have problems with drinking and driving and it needs long-term steady and continuous effort to deal with it. Also in countries with tropical weather conditions, it is not always “practical” to wear a helmet. Therefore, road safety policies need to be informed by evidence and existing good practice but also highly contextualized to a county’s culture, social norms, and even political system.

Why hasn’t road safety, for many years, received media coverage and investment proportional to the importance of the issue? Do you think it does receive it now?

Yes, you are right. Considering the media coverage it is sadly true that there is no, or very limited attention given to road safety when compared to other issues. Although media has an instrumental role to play: it can create public awareness, advocate and lobby for policies, hold politicians responsible, and keep the public debate alive. Road traffic injuries were considered for a long time the price we have to pay for our mobility and that nothing can be done about them. Road safety was also considered a national problem for the transport sector alone and its health, social, and economic impacts were not highlighted. This has contributed to some kind of acceptance among people, civil society, and governments alike. We need to fight against these ideas. We now know that road traffic injuries are a huge global public health and development problem, it actually threatens the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals. Road traffic injuries are also a social equity issue with most of the victims coming from low and middle-income countries or disadvantaged families in high-income countries. I urge media to take their role seriously and join us in our fight. The media should raise the public profile of road safety and communicate important messages. The media also need to bring the faces of the victims to the people and show the human drama behind each fatality.

In conclusion I would like to underline that young people themselves must be involved in road safety as well. They have an important role to play and have to take some of the responsibilities on their own shoulders for keeping themselves, their families and peers safe. Young people are capable of being part of the solution to the road safety problem.

In Canada, one person dies every three hours on the road, this is why the National Remembrance Day for Road Crash Victims serves an important role in commemorating those lives lost. In response to this fact, the event organizers have created a new initiative: Leave the Phone Alone.