On Thursday February 18 YOURS was mentioned in a large news article. Manpreet was interviewed and talked about his own ‘Tune into Traffic’ campaign, as well about how he was inspired after the UN World Youth Assembly in 2007 and how YOURS was born.

LAST time I spoke with Manpreet Darroch seven months ago, his mission was clear – to stop the number of young people being killed on the country’s roads. The number of children being struck down while crossing roads had a familiar theme – that of modern day technology such as Ipods and mobile phones. Rather than sit on his opinions, at the age of 20 he set about a campaign called ‘Tune in to Traffic’. The snappy name suitably reflects the subject matter.

Next time you’re driving by a school or near a city centre take a look around you and see the sheer volume of youngsters with heads down and their earphones in. He created a 30 minute thought provoking documentary which was screened on Channel Four as part of the Battlefront programme.

This received wide-spread support, and also struck a cord with myself. It was only a few weeks after this documentary was aired when I myself nearly struck a teenage boy while driving my car. As I approached the hoody-clad lad on his skateboard I came to a standstill on a busy road as he planned out his next trick. The sound of my revved engine was not suffice to alert him. His blissfully unaware face finally swivelled in my direction and he slowly made his way to the kerb, thumping his music player on to a next track. He was in a bubble of unawareness which did humour me afterwards, but as I drove away I couldn’t help but think – what if I was distracted and ploughed into him.

So back to Manpreet.“My passion for this came from when I attended the World Youth Assembly for Road Safety in 2007,” said the 21-year-old. “At the Assembly, attended by more than 400 young people from more than 100 countries, I met people who lost family members to road collisions and it changed me.” Since 2007 and the World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, Youth Ambassadors around the World expressed a need for an organisation to harness the momentum and energy of young people. This would lead to the creation of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) to champion road safety on a global level.

YOURS- Youth for Road Safety was born and in its first steps towards a global status, brought together 20 youth Road Safety Champions around from around the world to gather in Russia on the eve of the First Global Ministerial Conference for Road Safety, Moscow. “We are paying too high a price for mobility,” said Manpreet, who was one of the young road safety leaders to participate in the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Moscow a fortnight ago. “It is time for young people to be part of the solution to the road safety problem and not contributors to it,” continued Manpreet, who travelled all the way from Willenhall to take part in the historic event. “We have therefore adopted the Youth Declaration Moscow with specific actions that governments can take to make people safer on the roads.”

The young activists were also heard during the Opening Session of the Ministerial Conference. Floor Lieshout, who spoke on behalf of the youth, declared the youth’s commitment to have a significant role in the proposed Decade of Action for Road Safety. He also announced the launch of YOURS- Youth for Road Safety. “It is time for young people to step up and take action,” said Lieshout “YOURS is a unique global youth led organisation that acts to keep Young people safe on the world’s roads.”

Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death of youth under 25 years. Young people under 25 years represent almost 40 per cent of the victims of road traffic injuries.“Annually, around 400,000 young lives are lost, and millions are forever changed,” added Manpreet.