A group of Serbian students recently shared their campaign video with us on the trend of young using social media behind the wheel. In their efforts to raise awareness, the girls have created a campaign video focusing on “selfies” behind the wheel. Check it out here.

Eighteen-year-old Akash Shah, a city-based activist who spearheads the non-profit organization (NPO) Action For Pune Development, is busy making last-minute preparations for his big day. Shah has been selected to speak at the Fourth Global Meeting of NGOs dealing with road safety to be held in Marrakech, Morocco on March 13.

The event is being organized by the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, which represents over 130 NGOs dealing with road safety in 90 countries, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). Shah is the only youth delegate to be selected to attend the bi-annual meeting as a speaker this year. This year, the event aims at sharing knowledge, experiences and good practices on road safety. It will also encourage and mobilize NGOs to contribute to the Third United Nations (UN) Road Safety Week.

“Akash will share his experiences on the UN Road Safety Week’s official campaign #SaveKidsLives. He has been chosen as he has very successfully mobilized thousands of youth in India to sign the Child Declaration which is a key part of the campaign,” said Lotte Brondum, administrative director, Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety.

According to Lotte, Shah was asked to advocate for road safety by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Foundation and the alliance in January 2015. He has been asked to reach out to people with the ‘Save Kids Lives’ Campaign, which is an official campaign for the Third United Nations Road Safety Week in May 2015. The campaign is to sign the petition for children’s safety and the target of the alliance was to reach 1 lakh people globally. Shah reached a target of 25,000 supporters.

Representatives from the alliance said the global meet is a step towards preparations of NGOs ahead of the two important road safety events that will take place this year, the Third UN Road Safety Week in May and the Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Brazil in November.

For the Ministerial Conference, alliance members will finalize a joint statement from NGOs to governments titled ‘The Marrakech Declaration’, which is a call for collaborative efforts on road safety.As many as 150 participants from NGOs, experts on road safety and prominent guest speakers from the civil society, public health and the host country’s government are expected to attend the meet.

Shah has been involved in social work for the past two years. In 2013, he entered the Limca Book of Records for being the youngest person to establish a non-profit organization.

A group of Serbian students recently shared their campaign video with us on the trend of young using social media behind the wheel. In their efforts to raise awareness, the girls have created a campaign video focusing on “selfies” behind the wheel. Check it out here.

Governments, UN agencies and experts in road safety and sustainable transport convened at UN Headquarters in New York on 4 March to advance the agenda on road traffic injury in the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The briefing session, which was timed ahead of the forthcoming negotiations on the SDGs later in the month, was organised by the FIA Foundation and included 27 UN Permanent Missions, the World Health Organisation, the UN Environment Programme, UNICEF and the World Bank.

Leading the session were the UN Permanent Missions of the Russian Federation, the Government of Brazil, the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of South Africa. The session provided an opportunity for Governments that are negotiating the SDGs to engage with UN agencies and experts on the proposed target to halve road traffic fatalities in the post-2015 goals that will replace the Millennium Development Goals when they expire at the end of the year.

In the draft SDGs being negotiated at the UN, road safety is included in two targets, within the proposed Health Goal (3.6) to halve road traffic fatalities and injuries and in the Cities Goal 11.2 which calls for access to safe transport systems. The UN Secretary General’s December 2014 ‘Synthesis Report’ on the SDGs includes action on road traffic fatalities as a health priority.

Dmitry Masksimychev, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN spoke at the session. He said: “Road safety must become a global priority. It is important that the Sustainable Development Goals confront the carnage on the roads which is posing an unacceptable burden in many countries. This is an agenda for sustainable development and we have a duty to act and to save lives with road safety.”

Ambassador, Guilherme Patriota, Deputy Permanent Representative of Brazil to the UN said:

Brazil is hosting the Second Global High Level Conference on Road Safety in November 2015 which will review progress made in the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, and can be the opportunity to focus on implementation of a post-2015 SDG target on road traffic injury.

Delegates at the briefing session focused on how a post-2015 target on road traffic injury could be achieved. In his remarks during the opening session, Ambassador Kingsley Mamabolo, the Permanent Representative of South Africa to the UN said: “This is a man-made epidemic but we do not need to search for a cure. The solutions are well known: safe roads, safer vehicles, legislation enforcement and education, better post-crash care. Implementing these solutions can lead us to achieving a global target of halving road traffic fatalities. This is an ambitious target for the SDGs. But with sustained action and support we can achieve it worldwide.”

Representing their Governments, the UN Permanent Missions attending also included Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Columbia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Jamaica, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Qatar, Singapore, the Slovak Republic, Thailand, Uruguay and Zimbabwe.

Technical briefing presentations on the post-2015 target were given by representatives of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNEP, the World Bank, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the High Level Panel on Global Road Safety being convened by the FIA, and Embarq. 

On behalf of the WHO, Werner Obermeyer, Deputy Executive Director, WHO Office at the United Nations presented data from the 2013 Global Status Report on Road Safety showing that some progress has been made in reducing road fatalities particularly among high income countries adopting a ‘safe system’ approach to road safety but more progress needs to be made particularly among low and middle income countries. He concluded that a 2030 target to halve road traffic fatalities globally from the current 1.2 million per year to 600,000 worldwide would be ambitious but achievable.

The FIA Foundation presented its policy briefing ‘2015 – Safe Roads for All’, and the session was chaired by FIA Foundation Director General Saul Billingsley.

He said: “This session has provided a highly valuable opportunity to gather Governments who are negotiating the SDGs together and to hear from a full range of UN agencies and experts on the proposed target to halve road traffic fatalities, and how it can be implemented. We are entering the final stages of negotiations on the SDGs in the coming months so it’s crucial that there is support for retaining the target as we move ahead.”

In its presentation the FIA presented the proposed work of a High Level Panel on Road Safety to be launched by FIA President Jean Todt, which will aim to advocate and attract further global support for road safety with a view to implementation of an SDG target.

Representing UNICEF, Nicholas Alipui, Director & Senior Advisor Post-2015 Development Agenda, said:

“The proposed SDG target to halve road traffic fatalities and injuries is of vital importance to our objectives. Building on the Decade of Action for Road Safety we could stabilise and begin to reduce the level of casualties in the next five years post-2015 – but only if we significantly increase the level of resourcing and political commitment globally. And then through to 2030, with sustained commitment, an SDG target to halve the total road traffic fatalities worldwide, for countries at all income levels, would be both ambitious but achievable.

Participants at the session also pledged their support to the Save Kids Lives campaign which is calling for road safety to be included in the SDGs. The campaign has been launched ahead of UN Global Road Safety Week, 5-11 May which has road safety for children as its theme.

Drink driving is a well documented cause with scientific backing on how alcohol impairs driving to a large extent. Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is quite clear cut and now, drug driving is being given the same treatment in the UK. A new campaign by THINK! the road safety campaigning arm of the UK Department for Road Safety focuses on the effects of ‘paranoia’ on driving as well as the impairment effects of drug driving.

In the UK it is illegal to drive if your driving is impaired by drugs or if you have certain drugs above a specified level in your blood. If the police stop you and think you’re on drugs they will either test you at the roadside using a drug screening device or a “Field Impairment” test to assess your ability to drive.

If drugs are detected in your system or you are deemed impaired by drugs, you’ll be arrested and taken to a police station for blood or urine tests. If the tests show you’ve taken drugs or show a specified drug above the specified blood limits you could be charged with drug driving.

In the UK the penalties for drug driving are the same as for drink driving. If you are convicted you will receive:

• A minimum 12-month driving ban
• A criminal record
• A fine of up to £5000 or up to 6 months in prison or both

It’s illegal to drive if either, you’re unfit to do so because you’re on legal or illegal drugs; you have certain levels of illegal drugs in your blood (even if they haven’t affected your driving).

Alcohol and drug consumption by road users results in a higher crash rate. These substances impact on human behaviour and judgment. No person is too skilled, too big, or too clever to avoid the effects.