Back in 2012, Joel and small group of his contemporaries undertook the first ever YOURS Training of Facilitators workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. Joel went away and trained hundreds of his peers across Kenya through his work with the Kenya Red Cross. As he delved deeper into road safety, Joel connected his passion for road safety with his passion to express through poetry. He recently submitted a poem entitled ‘My brothers and sisters’ to be featured here on the YOURS website as a periodic feature. He continues his commitment to road safety.

Joel Njoroge

Facebook: Joe Kul Enz
LinkedIn: Joel Njoroge
Twitter: @_njorogejoe

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Netflix has issued an injury warning about the viral fad spawned by its thriller. Over the December and early January period, Bird Box was a cultural hit, with thousands of viewer catching  ‘Netflix Original’. However, a Bird Box challenge has emerged with people blindfolding themselves and doing everyday tasks against warnings.

But there’s a more serious side effect to this meme than basic injuries. Disability researcher Arielle Silverman and her colleagues have shown that conducting “simulations” like blindfolding among the abled can actually lead them to greater negative bias towards blindness itself. After being blindfolded for a short stint, people feel it as a more debilitating condition than it really is; they underestimate the adaptive capability of blind people and end the experiment more likely to agree with statements such as: “If I were blind, I would do anything to get my sight back.”

This is because those participants focus on the beginning stages of the disability, the shock of it, rather than the adaptation process that comes with lived experience. For those who take the Bird Box Challenge, it’s the same story.

When it comes to road safety, there doesn’t even need to be a warning issued. We need all senses to navigate the road. One actually blindfolding yourself for the Bird Box challenge;

Viral challenges have become common over the last few years, with numerous ‘challenges’ seeing mostly young people try to one-up their friends. One of the original challenges, the ALS Ice bucket challenge saw more and more daring challenges unfold as people took riskier scenarios to make their challenge more interesting.

Some challenges are more reflective than harmful, like the recent #10YearChallenge where people post a picture from 2009 and 2019 to illustrate how much more snazzy, beatiful or downright cool they now are. In 2009, YOURS just began its operations!

We get it, these social media challenges can offer some light entertainment from a social media world that can sometimes be isolating. As always, we are highly aware that we don’t want to be party-poopers, we just ask you to be a bit more smarter than the people doing the Bird Box challenge and driving!

We are happy to share a guest blog from Raine Jenkins who writes about all things technology via Techiedoodlers.com. She is a passionate techie blogger and often writes thought provoking articles about the state of technology and society. She recently wrote a special guest blog for our website.

The resulting data is then sent to the service for analysis, resulting in a corresponding score that’s returned to the driver within minutes of the trip. In a nutshell, this and other similar sensor systems have been shown to be exceptionally effective at making young drivers adopt safer attitudes and habits while on the road.

Mark Milner of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) explained how the sensor systems influenced the drivers in the study: “What we heard from drivers in the first pilot is that many of them found themselves moderating their driving behaviour… They found that they were riskier drivers than they thought they were.” This is generally good news, especially considering that the study focused specifically on young drivers. In fact, during an earlier pilot, 40% of the 125 new and inexperienced drivers, reported improvements in their driving. And as Milner further explains, in this particular part of the study, the drivers “started to drive more slowly, (and) accelerate, brake and take corners more gently… They really wanted to get a good score.”

While the ICBC itself didn’t actually examine the data for improved driving, the driver feedback alone and their own satisfactory scores suggest a highly positive future for the ongoing study. The ICBC is already planning to follow this up with a study that involves up to 7,000 drivers with less than five years of actual driving experience. The study will look at how these new systems and devices can possibly reduce or even eliminate crashes altogether.

This of course is just one of the many examples of how smartphone and innovative technologies have been changing the course of the automotive and insurance industries for the better. Not surprisingly, these developments are not confined to just Canada. In Europe, Verizon Connect shows how personal coaching apps are now a feature of GPS tracking systems in the UK. Designed primarily for Lorries, today’s devices can help operators keep track of how their fleets are being driven. This allows fleet managers to effectively coach their employees on driving with efficiency and safety in mind, with the ultimate goal of decreasing the fleets’ fuel and maintenance costs as well as overall road safety. 

Across the globe there has also been a rise in apps that can track driving habits. This allows a third party to monitor drivers through a smart device. Some apps even reward drivers for good habits. For parents of young drivers, this has allowed them to monitor their children on the road and help them improve their driving habits. As the Vancouver study shows, technology is at the forefront of road safety. 

All of this is especially good news considering that globally speaking, there hasn’t been enough progress in terms of road safety. In December 2018, Youth for Road Safety tackled how traffic safety legislation, access to post-crash care, and vehicle standards haven’t yet improved fast enough to compensate for the rapid motorisation of transport in areas where local populations are also on the rise. However, with the aforementioned developments in mind, there’s definitely still hope for the future of road safety.

Road safety article contributed by Raine Jenkins for the sole use of youthforroadsafety.org

Our friend Bella Dinh-Zarr, board member at the National Transportation Safety Board, USA and long term road safety campaigner has written about the effects of blood alcohol concentraition laws (BAC) for The Hill, the newspaper for and about the USA Congress, with breaking stories from Capitol Hill, K Street and the White House.

At the NTSB, we fly at a moment’s notice to the scenes of terrible transportation disasters and we gather the facts in order to prevent these tragedies from happening again. The fact is that a .05 law would save 1,500 lives every year nationwide and it would do so immediately, by separating drinking from driving.

Even though a .05 BAC law’s greatest benefit may be reducing the number of high BAC drivers on the road, we know that between .05-.079 BAC, the risk of being in a single vehicle crash is still 7 times greater than without alcohol. At a .05 BAC, drivers already have reduced coordination, reduced ability to track moving objects, and difficulty steering — all unquestionably critical skills needed to drive responsibly in order to keep our families and communities safe.

What about the effect on drinking?
Most industrialized countries (Australia, the UK, Japan, Canada, Sweden, France, The Netherlands, and dozens more) already have a BAC law of .05 or lower and they still maintain a strong drinking culture. In these countries, people drink the same amount (or more) alcohol per person as in the U.S. and yet they have many fewer drinking and driving crashes. That’s right, they drink more and yet, they die less on the roadways.

Twenty years of studies show when a country lowers BAC limits from .08 to .05, alcohol-related fatal and injury crashes decrease between 5 percent and 10 percent. A .05 BAC law simply helps people make the right choice not to drive once they’ve been drinking. People are then more likely to choose the safer option of taking public transportation, getting a taxi, using a rideshare, or calling a friend.

These days, if you have a phone, you have a ride. And, for those remaining impaired drivers who make the wrong decision and get behind the wheel, a .05 BAC gives law enforcement another tool to take those risky drivers off the road before they can harm themselves or others.

Utah should be commended for their leadership in passing the first .05 BAC law in the nation. In 1983, Utah and Oregon were the first states to pass a .08 BAC law and the rest of the country eventually followed suit, ultimately saving more than 24,000 lives over 30 years.

This year, we could save thousands of lives across the nation. We just need to remember the facts:

1. a .05 BAC law is scientifically proven to save lives and prevent injuries;
2. a .05 BAC prevents both high and low BAC drivers from getting behind the wheel; and
3. a .05 BAC law is not about drinking at all — it is simply about separating drinking from driving!

In light of the proven safety benefits of a .05 BAC law, in light of the 1,500 lives we could save every year, everything else seems rather inconsequential. The single most important thing states can do this year to begin saving lives immediately is to pass a .05 BAC law.

Dr. Bella Dinh-Zarr, PhD, MPH, is a public health scientist and injury prevention specialist and a Board Member of the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency charged with investigating transportation disasters and making safety recommendations to prevent their recurrence.

Read the original article at The Hill

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A young professional driver recently took to the roads and streets of India to promote the use of standardized helmets. Ms Pooja Yadav, an expert rider on the two wheels of a motorcycle joined with TRAX, a national road safety NGO based in Delhi, India. Her mission: to ride across India, stopping at strategic stop-offs to meet with decision makers, NGO leaders and create mass public awareness at events.

TRAX Advocacy for Standardized Helmets

Goal: To advocate for standardized Helmets for all ages in India.

Objectives:

• To advocate helmet for all ages;
• To advocate to Ban on sale of Non-Standardized Helmets;
• Bicycle Helmet to supply with complete cycling kit on every sale of bicycle;
• Motorbike helmet as per the tropical atmosphere of country;
• Community mobilization for use standardized helmet. 

About Pooja Yadav
Pooja is a professional bike rider and lives in Mathura. For the last 3 years she has been riding and took part in National TSD Rally Championship lavasa, Pune in which she rode more than 4000 km.

In June 2018 this year she has trip from Mathura to Leh Ladak a inner city to northern mountainous region.  In 2017, in Agra  for the first time, she undertook a rally with WDR (World Day of Remembrance) regarded road safety awareness to make people aware of safe riding initiatives.

This was the first time she started a WDR rally with Trax and that was undertaken in every city to share a message of safe riding while using two wheeler motor riders. After each 50 – 100 km different riders joined her and helped spread the road safety message on the safety of two wheeler riders, especially for female riders.

Trax planned the entire campaign and liaised with different NGO’s and various state-wise authorities involvement, which was helpful in the sustainability of the initiative by media coverage, MOU submitted to Department of traffic Police, Government of various states etc.

The main motive of this campaign was a move to inculcate helmet wearing as a habit from childhood and make it compulsory to wear a helmet by pillion riders, especially women. With the strong believe that her life is equally important as male. This campaign also promoted the use of standardized helmets and ban sub- standard /fake helmets in every states/cities. Trax advocacy is not over, it will keep on going till they have reached the objective of banning the sale of non-standardized helmets all over India.

Government intervention:
Taking road safety across the country with a focus on helmets resulted in some concrete advocacy outcome to be implemented by decision makers. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Planned the following Initiative to be implemented in all over India for two- wheeler motorized vehicle from January 2019.

Initiative by Ministry of road Transport and Highways

• Non-ISI Helmets to be replaced by ISI Helmets at the earliest
• The Government of India has issued new notification (Dated: 1st June 2018) ISI helmets should not weight more than 1.2kg.The previous limit of ISI helmets 1.5kg
• Helmet production should come under mandatory list as life saving device with minimum GST levied on the purchase of ISI mark helmet
• Helmet for child pillion riders to be made compulsory for the child above age of 6 years.

About TRAX
TRAX is a specialized “Road Safety NGO” with psychological and innovative approach to the cause. TRAX thinking is based upon the fact that “Driving is not a Fun and Adventure”. It’s a serious job.

All the interventions now adherent to TRAX, have been derived from ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety’ such as Road Safety Management, Infrastructure, Safe Vehicles, Road User Behaviour and Post-Crash Care. We are also contributing strategically to lead the way toward the SDG Road Safety Targets.

Trax is also Member with Indian Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety and Federation of Motors Sports Club of India. The stakeholders vary from State Transport Department, Traffic Police, Indian Railways &Public Sector Undertakings, etc.

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Every year road crashes in Commonwealth countries result in around 300,000 fatalities and remain the single largest cause of death of young people.  The Commonwealth brings together 53 countries facing a wide diversity of road safety performance. Road fatality rates range from 3 per 100,000 population to above 30 per 100,000.  In all Commonwealth countries the level of road deaths remains unacceptably high and there is a shared challenge to substantially reduce this predictable and preventable tragedy.

The CRSI will prepare a report to be submitted to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) due to be held in Rwanda in 2020. The Final Report will be launched in December 2019. The report will highlight the importance of: 

• setting a target for Commonwealth countries to halve road deaths and serious injuries by 2030;
• the application of the Safe System Approach to promote effective road injury prevention programmes in high, middle, & low-income Commonwealth countries;
• good governance and road safety;
• youth and road safety;
• workplace road safety;
• partnerships for road safety;
• the Sustainable Development Goals and road safety.

We are proud to have been invited to this expert-panel to bring a focus to youth and road safety issues. Youth remains a predominant focus for the Commonwealth countries whose young people under 30 account for 60% of the population.

Our Head of Communications Manpreet Darroch joined the panel to represent youth and road safety and the UK he said, “It’s an honour to sit on this panel with distinguished global road safety practitioners. It is encouraging to see the new initiative focus on youth and road safety; highlighting the unprecedented challenges and opportunities to tackle the issue. Many efforts/statistics/reports recognize road crashes to be the biggest killer of young people but often fall short in addressing the opportunities of involving young people in meaningful participation in road safety. We will be championing the cause of youth participation in road safety on the panel; a paradigm shift from seeing youth as the problem, to rather working with youth to create a safe system of mobility”. 

Members of the Commonwealth Road Safety Initiative Expert Panel include:

• Dr Abdulgafoor Bachani, from Kenya, Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Arushi Baluja from India, Head, Department of Driver Training, Institute of Road Traffic Education IRTE, India
• Iain Cameron from Australia, Chair- Western Australian Road Safety Council, Road Safety Commission, Western Australia (CRSI Chairman)
• Christopher Cutajar from Malta, Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects
• Manpreet Darroch from United Kingdom, Head of Communications and Focal Point for Global Youth Network for Road Safety, YOURS – Youth for Road Safety
• Skye Duncan from New Zealand, Director, Global Designing Cities Initiative National Association of City Transportation Officials
• Dr Connie H. Hoe from Canada, Assistant Scientist, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Ahmed Najmul Hussain from Bangladesh, Director Administration and Road Safety Programme, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee BRAC, Bangladesh
• Dr Lucien Jones from Jamaica, Vice Chairman, Jamaican National Road Safety Council,
• Dr Emily Newhouse, MD, MPH, FRCPC, from Canada, Medical Health Officer from Vancouver Coastal Health, Canada
• Bright Oywaya from Kenya, Executive Director for the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT-Kenya)
• Dr Margie Peden from South Africa, Senior Research Fellow and Head of the UK Injury Programme George Institute for Global Health
• Adrian Walsh from the United Kingdom, Executive Director RoadSafe
• Professor Shaw Voon Wong from Malaysia, Director General, MIROS, Malaysia
• Jessica Truong from Australia, Vice President Programmes, Towards Zero Foundation (CRSI Co-ordinator)

The Secretariat of the CRSI is the Toward Zero Foundation (TZF), a UK charity under the patronage of HRH Prince Michael of Kent. The TZF is a member of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration and has consultative status with the United Nations (ECOSOC).   

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