Reporting back from GRSP Africa Road Safety 2016

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 27, 2023 | News & Blog

Africa Road Safety 2016 marked the 5th GRSP road safety event in Africa since 2012. The event this year was held in Durban, South Africa.

Under the banner, ‘The Challenges for Communities, Cities, Companies and Countries’, GRSP and partners brought together 120 stakeholders from more than 20 countries representing government, civil society, research bodies and the private sector for a comprehensive event comprising a range of stimulating capability building workshops, keynote addresses, high level panel discussions and plenary sessions over two full days.

South African Minister for Transport, Dipuo Peters, who also attended our 2014 event when it was last in South Africa, gave a rousing address in the opening plenary urging those with capacity to act, to act – and encouraging stronger collaboration across the country and continent to take road safety activity to scale. The South African Minister focusing on young people in road safety, drawing attention to the biggest burden facing youth globally; road traffic crashes.

Reinforcing the Minister’s words, United Nations Special Envoy for Road Safety, Mr Jean Todt, sent a personalised video message to participants of the event calling for greater coordination of efforts in Africa in order to reach the ambitious road safety targets as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals.

YOURS Director Mr Floor Lieshout met with South African Minister for Transport, Dipuo Peters

Together with thought provoking keynote presentations from GRSP, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the event focused on capacity building through a programme of 3 engaging panel discussions and 6 interactive workshops which addressed key aspects concerning data, children, youth, policing, the private sector and infrastructure.

We were involved in the youth workshop focusing on how we can activate young leaders to take responsibility for road safety as advocates, youth ambassadors and key actors.

There was also an open ‘Speak Up’ session giving participants an opportunity to share challenges and successes, to highlight their take-aways from this event, and to reflect on learnings from previous GRSP events.

Participants left feeling connected with other like-minded actors, enriched with ideas and examples of good practice and motivated to take learnings back to their community, company, city or country and strive for real change.

GRSP’s regional events have become flagship events on the road safety calendar. Since 2007, GRSP has conducted 14 such events in 10 countries bringing together more than 2100 road safety practitioners from over 50 countries to share knowledge and professional experiences, discuss successes and challenges, showcase good practice and build strong regional networks where previously few had existed.

Africa Road Safety 2016 was made possible because of the generous support from Event Partners Shell, Total and Toyota, and Event Supporters the Ethekwini Municipality and Alcolizer.

Kasi Road Safety – youth road safety action in South Africa!

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 27, 2023 | News & Blog

We spoke with the KASI Team recently at the GRSP Africa Summit in Durban, South Africa. They told us all about their innovative youth based work in preventing road crashes, particularly int he townships of South Africa. Through a range of creative means, from exhibitions to school visits and beyond, the KASI team are a great example of youth taking action for road safety.

The KASI Road Safey Team with South African Transport Minister.

Who is the KASI Road Safety team?
We are a team of entrepreneurs who recognized the lack of adherence to the laws regulating road usage in townships, (the term townships is used to refer to various kinds of settlements in different countries, particularly high populated and dense urban areas). Drivers conduct themselves differently when they enter the townships and as a result many road crashes take place. These crashes adversely affect government, businesses, families and has in essence turned our townships into “war zone”.

What does KASI Road Safety do?
Kasi Road Safety has and continues to cultivate progressive relationships with road users, related community organizations, media, government and the private sector in order to bring attention to the effects of Drink & Driving, Disregarding Traffic Laws, Car Spinning, Racing, Drifting & Speeding on public roads, Texting & Driving… amongst many traffic violations.

KASI Road Safety promoing the use of helmets on motorcycles.

Our public outreach platforms are created and are available for use by the private and public stakeholders we partner with.

Reach out to Government, Media, Corporate and Community to beseech their support to prevent the immense waste of human life on our country’ roads as South Africa holds a questionable distinction of highest road crash fatalities in the world.
Work as an ambassador group tocreate social will and help improve roadsafety in our communities and encourage compliance amongst youth towards traffic laws.
Sensitize masses by raising awareness about road fatalities and their grave consequences in our communities.
Develop cost effective road safety programs to increase knowledge, awareness and education amongst the South African road users regularly.
Strive to change the negative attitude and behavior of road users particularly amongst the young people through our different programs.
Promote positive attitude towards Law Enforcers and infuse sense of courtesy and concern among road users.
Regularly monitor local and international road statistics and developments in order to effect improvements in our communities.
Challenge young people driven by adrenaline to refrain from endangering their lives and that of other innocent roads users by getting involved in illegal motor sporting activities particularly “Spinning, Drifting & Drag Racing” on public roads.
Edge and encourage all tavern owners to pledge their support by promoting Road Safety in their place of business through putting up posters etc.

KASI Road Safety #DrivingASaferLifestyle

Greener, more efficient and sustainable transport will save trillions of dollars

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 27, 2023 | News & Blog

Greater investment in greener, more sustainable transport systems is essential for propelling the economic and social development that is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Expert panel finds that greener, more efficient and sustainable transport can save trillions and help achieve Sustainable Development Goals

Finding that global, national and local transport systems are hobbled by inefficiencies and a lack of sustainable investments, the expert panel issued a report entitled “Mobilizing Sustainable Transport for Development”, which provides 10 recommendations on how governments, businesses and civil society should re-direct resources in the transport sector to advance sustainable development.

The experts, members of the Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport, include representatives from aviation, road, rail, public transport and maritime industries and associations. The recommendations address issues of policy, technology and financing and grew out of the diverse perspectives and practical experience of the panel.

The report found that a transformational change to sustainable transport can be realised through annual investments of around US$2 trillion, similar to the current ‘business as usual’ spending of US$1.4 trillion to US$2.1 trillion.

Investments in sustainable transport, the experts found, could lead to fuel savings and lower operational costs, decreased congestion and reduced air pollution. The report also highlights the importance of road safety.

It is estimated that efforts to promote sustainable transport can deliver savings of up to US$70 trillion by 2050.

Writing in the report’s foreword, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that sustainable transport was essential to efforts to fight climate change, reduce air pollution and improve road safety.

“Sustainable transport supports inclusive growth, job creation, poverty reduction, access to markets, the empowerment of women, and the well-being of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.” – UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon

Focusing on important issues such as road safety, traffic congestion and climate impacts, the expert panel’s 10 specific actions include the establishment of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, the promotion of sustainable transport technologies and the increase of international development funding. The report calls for robust engagement by all stakeholders to ensure all members of society have access to jobs, markets, education and health care, through sustainable transport.

At present, the transport sector is responsible for approximately 23 per cent of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, and 3.5 million premature deaths result from outdoor air pollution annually, mostly in low and middle income countries. About 10 to 15 per cent of food is lost during processing, transport and storage given a lack of modern facilities, trucks, access to refrigeration, and poor roads. Nearly one billion people worldwide still lack adequate access to road networks, which increase isolation and marginalization and deepen social inequities.

Over 1.2 million people are killed annually in road traffic crashes, causing in addition to human loss and suffering, billions of dollars of associated costs which amount, in some countries, to 1-3 per cent of GDP.

“Transport can build prosperity in the broadest sense, enhancing the quality of life for all while protecting the environment and fighting climate change,” said Martin Lundstedt, CEO of Volvo and co-chair of the High-Level Group. “We need bold innovation and a true partnership among governments, civil society and the private sector.”

“Sustainable Transport is crucial for the improvement in the quality of life of people both in cities and rural settings, at a national and international level,” stated Carolina Tohá, Mayor of Santiago, Chile and the other co-chair of the Group.

“Sustainable Transport enables people to access better services, jobs, opportunities and family connections. It is also a space where people spend a significant amount of time every day, and therefore it needs to consider safety issues as well as conditions of dignity for users. Leaving no-one behind in the context of Sustainable Transport means that in the coming decades we are able to build transport systems that are inclusive, integrated, gender-sensitive and that have people’s needs at their core.”

Download the report on Mobilizing Sustainable Transport for Development here.

High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport
On 8 August 2014, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed members of a High-level Advisory Group on Sustainable Transport to provide recommendations on sustainable transport actionable at global, national, local and sector levels.

The Advisory Group, established for a period of three years, will work with Governments, transport providers (aviation, marine, ferry, rail, road, and urban public transport), businesses, financial institutions, civil society and other stakeholders to promote sustainable transport systems and their integration into development strategies and policies, including in climate action.

For more information on the report and the High-Level Advisory Group members, please visit: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/sustainabletransport/highleveladvisorygroup

Read about Global Advocacy at YOURS and our contribution to the Global Goals

Brian’s Column: Indicate where you’re headed, it will give you direction!

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 27, 2023 | News & Blog

Our regular columnist and pundit on all things youth and road safety in Africa is back to talk about his recent experiences. His article focuses on the simple act of indicating. Whether in a vehicle or on two wheels, indication is a fundamental language that communicates intentions to other road users. So why is it that people often neglect it?

21^st October 2016 could as well be referred to as a massive African disaster in the field of road safety. At least 55 people were killed and nearly 300 injured on that Friday when a packed passenger train travelling between Cameroon’s two largest cities of Yaounde and Eseka derailed and overturned. In a Telegraph report, the crash was a result of overloading and speeding.

Contrary to the traditional “Rest-In-Peace” approach, may actions be taken to ensure such an incident never occurs EVER AGAIN.

At the beginning of this week, I was driving to my younger brother’s introduction marriage ceremony (don’t ask when mine is) when a self-branded “Hot Shots” saloon car sped past me and 3 other vehicles on a narrow poor surfaced hell of a road that characterizes many of the roads in African rural areas.

A typical rural road in Africa.

But…but that’s alright had it not been the danger this overtaking bug of a fellow was putting himself and the rest of us in. He neither indicated to me that he was overtaking nor did he consider the road conditions including cattle crossing and school kids crossing!

Great snakes! I had my heart plunged into my perhaps then wide gaped mouth as I tried to reason with myself a sane driver could exhibit such an inconsiderate but brilliant art of negligence.

It’s not only the drivers. So do the pedestrians who just turn left or right into the road without following the “Look, Listen, Cross quickly when it’s safe to do so rule of the thumb”. Without standing and showing your determined and calculated intention to cross the road, it’s harder for a driver to stop the car without hitting you or skidding off the road.

In most of our roads, despite initiatives on Share the Road spearheaded by especially UNEP, we still lack lit pedestrian walkways. Most often, the existing walkways are shared with cyclists, commercial motorcyclists and cows.

There’re many ways of verbal and non verbal communication. When a cat is hungry, he will meow a lot rubbing himself around you. Some animals exude some chemicals into the environment informing their colleagues of danger, food or even love. On the road however, humans are limited to using their eyes for initiating contact with on coming vehicles or informing oncoming traffic with usage of hands although this can be a challenge for the elderly, people living with disabilities and children. Vehicles however, have a life saver button they call indicator lights. Many people don’t know this but by the indicator light shows which direction a vehicle intends to be going. For a cyclist, using a hand gesture can signal your next turn as well.

You will be shocked to learn that this is a life saving technique.

Thank me later.

Follow Brian on Twitter

The New Urban Agenda adopted in Quito, Ecuador – road safety included

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 27, 2023 | News & Blog

This century will see a substantial majority of the world’s population living in urban centers. The Habitat III Conference had, at its mission, the adoption of a New Urban Agenda—an action-oriented document setting global standards of achievement in sustainable urban development, rethinking the way we build, manage, and live in cities through drawing together cooperation with committed partners, relevant stakeholders, and urban actors at all levels of government as well as the private sector. The Agenda has been adopted and specific reference to road safety, child health and urban mobility have been included!

The New Urban Agenda (NUA) has been adopted at Habitat III

Highlights of the Agenda

Countries adopted a global, non-binding agenda for making cities safe, sustainable and resilient, at the close of Habitat III in Quito, Ecuador.
The New Urban Agenda aligns with many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and calls for effective linkages with the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and for an independent assessment of UN-Habitat, which will consider the possibility of establishing universal membership of its governing body
The UN University (UNU) notes the value of “resilience” as a concept uniting stakeholders, but cautions against approaches for “taming nature” rather than transforming urban land use and restoring ecosystems.

Habitat conferences take place once every 20 years. Since Habitat II took place in Istanbul in 1996, the world has changed from having a mainly rural population to having more than half the world’s people living in cities. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that, by 2030, 60% of world population will be urban dwellers.

The New Urban Agenda adopted at Habitat III aligns with many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 11 on making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. In preambular text, the New Urban Agenda also sets out aims to end poverty and hunger (SDG 1 and 2), reduce inequalities (SDG 10), promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth (SDG 8), achieve gender equality (SDG 5), improve human health and wellbeing (SDG 4), foster resilience (SDGs 11 and 13), and protect the environment (SDG 6, 9, 13, 14 and 15). The Agenda promotes a vision for cities that is grounded in human rights, and recognizes the need to give particular attention to addressing multiple forms of discrimination, including discrimination against people in slum settlements, homeless people, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and migrants, regardless of their migration status.

The New Urban Agenda & Road Safety

Tthe formal adoption of the agenda marks a significant achievement: the New Urban Agenda includes our core objective of a ‘safe and healthy journey to school for every child as a priority’. The NUA Declaration, the result of an inter-governmental negotiation which concluded in September, also recognises the importance of the Safe System approach for tackling urban road safety and highlights motorcycle safety as a particular urban priority.

Ecuadorian schoolchildren celebrate inclusion of Safe & Healthy Journeys to School in the New Urban Agenda.

Attending Habitat III, FIA Foundation’s Secretary-General, Saul Billingsley said,

“The inclusion of safe and healthy journeys to school in the New Urban Agenda is a significant result for our Global Initiative for Child Health & Mobility, and has formed the key message for our engagement here in Quito. There is strong recognition that urban mobility planning that puts people first and prioritises pedestrians and cyclists is absolutely crucial for combating climate change, air pollution and road traffic injuries, and for creating liveable cities that can cope with rising populations and growing mobility demand. Our focus on children brings together all of these themes and provides a compelling campaigning agenda and a powerful convening space to build alliances that can translate the New Urban Agenda into measurable action.”

KEY INCLUDED POINTS:
PLANNING AND MANAGING URBAN SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT

113.

“We will take measures to improve road safety and integrate it into sustainable mobility and transport infrastructure planning and design. Accompanied by awareness-raising initiatives, we will promote the safe system approach called for in the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety, with special attention to the needs of all women and girls, as well as children and youth, older persons and persons with disabilities, and those in vulnerable situations. We will work to adopt, implement, and enforce policies and measures to actively protect and promote pedestrian safety and cycling mobility, with a view to broader health outcomes, particularly the prevention of injuries and non-communicable diseases, and we will work to develop and implement comprehensive legislation and policies on motorcycle safety, given the disproportionally high and increasing numbers of motorcycle deaths and injuries globally, particularly in developing countries. We will promote the safe and healthy journey to school for every child as a priority”.

115.

“We will take measures to develop mechanisms and common frameworks at the national, sub-national, and local levels to evaluate the wider benefits of urban and metropolitan transport schemes, including impacts on the environment, the economy, social cohesion, quality of life, accessibility, road safety, public health, and action on climate change, among others”.

The FIA Foundation pubished some very interesting videos that focus on the key areas of road safety within the agenda. They are avaiable to view here:

Pedestrians:

Cyclists:

Air Quality:

The promotion of ‘Safe and Health Journey to School’ initiative relates directly to the promotion of the #SaveKidsLives campaign and the Global Child Health Initiative.

Get 20% off the EASST Academy Course for road safety managers.

by Youth For Road Safety | Dec 27, 2023 | News & Blog

Developed by EASST in partnership with Cranfield University and IRU Academy, this course is delivered online through 10 video lectures led by industry experts. Real examples are used throughout with accompanying material to read as you go. Rather than dry academic learning – this course is blended with case studies, animation videos and quizzes.

Why Take This Course?

This course will give you the skills to deliver and sustain a robust road safety management strategy. Because safe fleet is in everyone’s interest.

Businesses that adopt a thorough approach to driver safety can benefit from reduced insurance, less damage to vehicles and goods, better staff retention and a significant reduction in working time lost through accidents.

Road safety management systems work. And they work everywhere.

The course is online meaning a huge flexibility in taking the time out to learn.

Get 20% off the course with code: YOURS20

By the end of the course you will be able to:

Evaluate your current position and set new targets
Manage and assess driver behaviour
Ensure the safety of fleet vehicles
Identify necessary training and devise a programme
Interpret financial data
Understand how poor road safety affects profitability and reputation
Make a business case for road safety

Benefits Of Online Course

Learn on the move 24/7
As it’s online, the course is available for you to access whenever you like, wherever you are. You can access the training on your laptop, smartphone or tablet 24/7 and even learn on the move.

No geo-boundaries
With this course there are no geographical boundaries. It brings industry expertise to you. Which means wherever you are in the world you can access one of the most comprehensive training and expertise.

Save money
It’s also a lot less expensive than traditional classroom style training. You don’t have to take time off to do it. Learn at a time and a pace that suits you. The course is available for you right now!

Who Is It For?

Anyone with the responsibility for training, supervising and monitoring occupational drivers.

Fleet and Compliance managers
Transport, Health and Safety professionals
Managers of all levels with an interest in workplace safety
Employees looking to broaden their skills and enhance their CV

The course features a range of industry experts that walk you through the topics covered.

What Skills Will I Learn?

You know the importance of road safety but does everyone else in your workplace? As well as strengthening your logistical know-how, this course will help you develop the necessary leadership skills to communicate and implement your strategy effectively; whether it’s presenting a case for more investment to senior management, rolling out a new training programme or appointing key personnel.

Claim your 20% off the course with code YOURS20

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