Important Youth Meeting in Mali

Important Youth Meeting in Mali

by | Nov 1, 2023 | News & Blog

On my return from Moscow, after participating in the Youth Meeting and attending the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, I shared our excellent work in Mali. Our association has set up a network of journalists and communicators named Malian Road Safety. This network has been established and even began to raise awareness on road safety among young people.

On February 28, 2010 we invited representatives of the national police, the union drivers transport (commonly known in Mali “Sotram) and local authorities to participate in a round table session with the young people. The aim of our round table session was to discuss road safety with the theme: “The issue of road safety in district I of Bamako: causes, consequences and possible solutions”.

The round table session was chaired by the Mayor of the district I of Bamako (Mrs Konté Fatoumata DOUMBIA) which was a great honour. Her involvement inspired us in our struggle against road safety, which can not be won without the involvement of local authorities.

After our conference the Mayor has pledged to create a special Road Safety Committee at the town hall. The committee will be in charge of the follow-up after this round table session. She furthermore said that young people will be represented in this committee to make sure that the youth concerns are taken into account in the implementation of road safety actions.

In conclusion I would like to stress out that in the fight against road insecurity, there are effective and inexpensive solutions and it is our individual and collective responsability to implement everywhere to save lives.

If you would like to have more information about our actions, please don´t hesitate to contact me directly at the following email address: mahamadoufofana2005@yahoo.fr

So far the news from Mali!

Kind regards,

Mahamadou FOFANA
Président de l’association AJD-SR, Bamako (MALI)
Mali Youth Delegate for YOURS – Youth for Road Safety

Reporting back from Tunis: International Festival for Road Safety

Reporting back from Tunis: International Festival for Road Safety

by | Nov 1, 2023 | News & Blog

The Festival celebrates bi-annually the work of the International Community in the field of road safety and brings together national and international delegates to showcase their work in making their nation’s roads safer. The festival is a great forum to share practice on campaigns that have been successful in changing road behavior. It gives concrete examples for countries to learn from in tackling road traffic accidents, an international problem.

In its 6th session, The International Festival hosted by the Tunisian Association for Road Crash Prevention (ATPR), the issue of road safety as global crisis has become a permanent foundation for the theme of this event. Road Crashes are a major cause of death in our ‘global village’ and is the leading cause of death of young people worldwide.

Since launching at the Global Ministerial Conference for Road Safety Moscow, YOURS: Youth for Road Safety have been very active in bringing young people to the forefront of the road safety agenda. When I was asked to represent young people on behalf of YOURS, it was great honor and high responsibility to be bringing an essence of ‘youth’ to the Festival in Tunis, Tunisia.

While Floor Lieshout, CEO of YOURS attended the United Nations General Assembly witnessing a historic passing of a resolution for ‘A Decade Action for Road Safety’, YOURS was simultaneously being represented on the other side of the world in the North African State of Tunisia. Not only did this mark a significant milestone in illustrating the capacity of YOURS, but also signified the importance of young people at two important events.

The festival was a great learning experience for me. I learned of key campaigns from Spain, Senegal, Saudi Arabia and Egypt but also youth initiatives in France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Hungary. After delivering my two presentations to the Young Drivers Forum, the energy and momentum were clear; young people must be part of a global action to make roads safe and they can do this by becoming ambassadors themselves, advising their friends, their loved ones and their peers of safer road behavior.

We must reactive and proactive; we must be the change to see the change. I was pleased to have spoken to hundreds of young people at the end of the sessions some of whom kindly offered to say a few words about YOURS.  You can see these in our videos.

So what has changed in Tunisia? From what I saw, the answer is clear. Young people challenged their own beliefs and this was evident in the debate after my YOURS presentation. ‘But my friends love to speed, what do I tell them?’ asked one young person, ‘Explain to them why you yourself do no speed and they will understand’ was my reply.

The discussions at the Festival were crucial and opened dialogue to address road safety that maybe these young people have never before engaged with. Young people here pledged to be part of the solution in changing the fact that they are most overrepresented group in the world’s traffic crashes. The dialogue in Tunisia will form part of a catalyst around the world in giving young people the opportunity to change their actions, ask for resources to support their initiatives and start a fresh wave of campaigning in their countries and with their peers for safer roads everywhere.

YOURS sincerely,

Manpreet Darroch
UK Delegate

Make Roads Safe and YOURS joining forces

Make Roads Safe and YOURS joining forces

by | Nov 1, 2023 | News & Blog

It was  the Make Roads Safe campaign who originally proposed the United Nations  Decade of Action for Road Safety, which was successfully passed during  the UN General Assembly on 2 March. A few days later Michelle Yeoh  (Ambassador of the Make Roads Safe campaign) and Floor Lieshout (CEO  YOURS) agreed on YOURS joining the Make Roads Safe campaign and joining  forces to prevent road traffic injuries.

Make Roads Safe is the Campaign for Global Road Safety. They are calling on the international community to recognise road traffic injuries as a global health epidemic, and to take urgent action to stop the daily tragedy of thousands of preventable deaths and injuries.

Dmitry Sambuk, Make Roads Safe campaign: “Sadly, road crashes are the biggest killer of young people in the world. We need joint efforts to reduce these road deaths and injuries if we are to fulfil the aims of the recently adopted UN Decade of Action on Road Safety. And it is essential to have a strong voice of the youth during the Decade of Action. Therefore the Make Roads Safe campaign is pleased to welcome YOURS and looks forward to effective cooperation.”

YOURS is proud to join forces with such a high profile campaign and we have high hopes of continuing to represent the many youth voices during the Decade of Action (2011-2020)

YOURS at Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health

YOURS at Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health

by | Nov 1, 2023 | News & Blog

During the Ministerial Conference many side events are organized. One of them is about Preventing injuries in Europe – from international cooperation to national implementation. It is organized  jointly by the European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Policy and WHO Regional Office for Europe. YOURS will present their view about the importance of getting young people involved in road safety.

Injuries are the leading cause of death in 5-44 year olds in Europe and represent the largest burden from environmental causes and the steepest cause of health inequality in the Region. This workshop which has been jointly called by WHO Regional Office for Europe and the General Directorate for Health and Consumers of the European Commission, will consist of a series of brief presentations followed by a discussion to highlight model solutions to this problem.

The workshop will open with short presentations from WHO and the EC on international collaboration and describe the importance of policy tools to take action against injuries and to monitor progress. Key note speakers will then present case studies of innovative solutions in prevention in countries as diverse as Finland and the Czech Republic and grass roots action from NGOs such as EuroSAFE, and YOURS – Youth for Road Safety. This will be followed by a moderated discussion on how the problem can be targeted and the next steps for action.

UN Resolution for road safety adopted unanimously

UN Resolution for road safety adopted unanimously

by | Nov 1, 2023 | News & Blog

Today YOURS witnessed at the UN in New York the historic decision to increase action to address the road safety crisis over the next ten years. The UN General Assembly resolution proclaiming a Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 (A/64/L.44/Rev.1) was tabled by the Government of the Russian Federation and cosponsored by more than 90 countries.

Through the Decade, Member States, with the support of the international community, commit to actions in areas such as developing and enforcing legislation on key risk factors: limiting speed, reducing drink-driving, and increasing the use of seatbelts, child restraints and motorcycle helmets. Efforts will also be undertaken to improve emergency trauma care, upgrade road and vehicle safety standards, promote road safety education and enhance road safety management generally.

We believe that young people should also take part in the Decade of Action and our hopes are high that a new generation of youth leaders will step up and play an important role the coming years. YOURS will support young people wherever they can and will continue to connect, inspire and align the youth on this issue.

A draft Plan for the Decade, which was prepared by WHO with support from members of the UN Road Safety Collaboration, is now open to all stakeholders for comments. Visit the Collaboration’s website at http://www.who.int/roadsafety . All are invited to circulate this draft Plan among their respective networks to encourage awareness of the Decade, gather input on proposed plans, and garner support for the implementation of related activities.

Tomorrow members of the UN Road Safety Collaboration meet to further discuss and plan implementation of the first activities to take place in the context of the Decade. YOURS will give a short presentation and update the UN Road Safety Collaboration about recent achievements and upcoming events.

YOURS in the news: Tune into Traffic and save lifes!

YOURS in the news: Tune into Traffic and save lifes!

by | Nov 1, 2023 | News & Blog

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.

“And that figure is still too high.” His own project ‘Tune into Traffic’ seeks to revolutionise the current road safety message within schools ‘Stop Look Listen’, incorporating modern day distractions. His latest video is a popular hit in the internet and is available by visiting www.myspace.com/tuneintotraffic . He is also keen to speak to schools and colleges about spreading his message to pupils, contact Manpreet by email on tuneintotraffic@live.co.uk or info@tuneintotraffic.co.uk.