A delegation from YOURS is currently in attendance along with over 40 European youth delegates at the European Youth Forum for Road Safety in Brussels, Belgium. Day 1 of 4th Edition of the European Youth Forum for Road Safety has already seen some momentous actions taking place that are set to pave the path ahead for sustainable road safety action in Europe with clear focus on road safety for young people. We report back on day 1 at the forum and some of the key highlights and learning points from the forum.
The day began with clear policy orientations of the European Union presented by Isabelle Kardacz, director of the road safety department at the European Commission. Her presentation described strategy and actions for the coming decade 2011-2020. Mrs Kardacz expressed, “This youth forum is an important element for reducing the amount of young people being killed on Europe´s roads, you need to go away from this foum as you did last year and implement action´.
Mrs Kardacz also invited young people to ´give their input to the EU policy orientations´ and wished for the creation of a ´think tank´ to actively influence road safety at the highest level of decision making in Europe.
Youth leaders adopt the European Youth Declaration for Road Safety
One of the most momentous actions that has already taken place comes in the form of the European Youth Declaration for Road Safety. YOURS helped draft the declaration which calls for sustainable road safety action across Europe for the years ahead. The declaration will empower the European youth delegates to initiate action in their nations under the mandate of European Youth Ambassador for Road Safety. This is not just another declaration, among other things, its content focusses on:
- The road safety problem in Europe facing young people.
- The commitment of the European youth delegates to implement action for road safety.
- The importance of the contiunation of the forum in Europe.
- To encourage the development and implementation of policy and initiatives to make European roads safer.
Director of YOURS Mr Floor Lieshout presented about the background of creating a Youth Declaration and how to use this tool for advocacy, he said, “A declaration is as good as its implementation and therefore young delegates should actively make their voices heard using this tool as source of credibility”. His presentation is available in the attachments.
In other news, there were presentations of tools, statistics and research related to youth and road safety issues. It has been an intensive but fruitful day and YOURS will report on proceedings for day two tomorrow.
You can follow the debate on Twitter by searching the hashtag #EYFRS and let us know what you think!