The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety graduated its first Alliance Advocate cohort. The graduates have completed a state-of-the art training course -developed and delivered by YOURS- at FedEx Headquarters from 23 August to 1 September in Memphis, Tennessee, US.

“This is an important initiative for the Alliance in the years to come.” said Lotte Brondum, Director of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety. “The Alliance Advocates face a lot of road safety challenges in their home countries such as speeding in school zones. The training has given them the tools, knowledge, network and confidence to make a change that can contribute to overcoming these challenges. They have developed a clear plan for what they want to change when they get home, and we will follow their progress very closely and expect a lot from this investment.”

YOURS was in charge of the development and the delivery of the training. In very close partnership with the Alliance, we determined its strategy, agenda, trainers and methodology. “It was our aim to deliver the ‘best training experience’ the participants ever had.” said Floor Lieshout, lead-trainer. “I am incredibly proud of the Alliance Advocates and the work they have done during the training. I would also like to thank my co-trainer Mr Poghos Shahinyan – an amazing person and advocacy expert – all the other external speakers from Safe Kids Worldwide, Johns Hopkins University and various departments within FedEx for sharing their knowledge. In conclusion I would like to thank the Alliance for their trust in our organization and FedEx for their amazing hospitality”. 

The Empowerment Program encourages the design and implementation of initiatives that significantly reduce the risk of injuries and fatalities on the world’s roads, where 1.2 million people die in road traffic crashes each year. The program builds skills in communication, project management, and evaluation. Online webinars, mentorships and trainings are available for all Alliance members to learn from leaders and experts on various topics in the road safety field.

The Alliance Advocates will be role models who promote desired practices for helmet use, seatbelt use, speed management, drink and drive behavior, and safe school infrastructure. They also advocate for policy change in risk areas and hold government accountable. 

 Shane O’Connor, Communications Advisor, FedEx Global Citizenship.

The UN Road Safety Collaboration is pleased to announce that the Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week will be held from 8-14 May 2017. The Week will focus on speed and what can be done to address this key risk factor for road traffic deaths and injuries. Speed contributes to around one-third of all fatal road traffic crashes in high-income countries, and up to half in low- and middle-income countries.

Countries successfully reducing road traffic deaths have done so by prioritizing safety when managing speed. Among the proven strategies to address speed include:

• Setting and enforcing speed limits appropriate to the function of each road, for example:
  • Setting and enforcing a maximum speed limit of 50 kilometers per hour in urban areas;
  • Setting and enforcing a maximum speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour on roads with high concentrations of pedestrians, cyclists and motorized traffic;

• Enforcing speed limits through the use of automatic speed cameras;
• Installing intelligent speed adaptation technology in vehicles;
• Building or modifying roads to include features that limit speed such as traffic lights, roundabouts and speed humps.

The Fourth UN Global Road Safety Week seeks to increase understanding of the dangers of speed and generate action on measures to address speed, thereby saving lives on the roads.

All stakeholders – national and local governments, international agencies, civil society organizations, private companies, and the public generally – are invited to plan and host events marking the Week.

Advocacy materials for the Week will be available on this web page as they are finalized.

There is growing concern around the world about  drug  use  and  road  safety.  Drinking  alcohol  and  driving  is  a  well  studied  risk  factor  for  road  traffic  crashes,  injuries  and  deaths  but  drug-induced  impairment  of  driving  is  causing  increasing concern  in  many countries around the world

Psychoactive drugs affect the functioning of the brain and may lead to impaired driving (e.g. by delaying reaction time and information processing, reducing perceptual-motor coordination and motor performance, as well as attention, road tracking and vehicle control).

Establishing drug-driving laws and regulations
The type of legal framework varies according to the social, legal and economic characteristics of a particular jurisdiction, as well as the historical context of the development of laws designed to improve road user safety.

• Zero tolerance laws make it unlawful to drive with any amount of specified drugs in the body.
• Impairment laws make it unlawful to drive when the ability to drive has become impaired following drug use, often described as being “under the influence” or in similar terms.
• Per se laws make it unlawful to drive with amounts of specified drugs that exceed the maximum set concentration. The specific link between drug concentration, impairment and the risk of a crash still needs more research. To date, a few countries, including the United Kingdom, have adopted per se laws.