4 April 2022 – YOURS – Youth for Road Safety through the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety has launched its latest art campaign called the #ClaimingOurSpace campaign. The campaign will use art and other forms of creative expression to capture the voices of young people in road safety and highlight why they should be meaningfully engaged when it comes to matters around road safety and sustainable mobility.
Youth claiming their space
Young people from around the world are claiming their space within the global road safety community and as part of the global agenda in preparation for the High-Level Meeting on Road Safety happening in New York this June 2022. Road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 29. Despite this, youth are rarely included in decision-making and project management efforts to address these issues.
YOURS and the Youth Coalition are firm believers in the power of young people to lead change and energize the road safety movement. The #ClaimingOurSpace campaign will enable young people to show local and global leaders the energy, creativity, and solutions youth can offer to help solve the road safety crisis.
“When it comes to road safety, as youth, we are now officially recognized as stakeholders in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action. The next step is to start seeing this implemented in real life, on a country and city-level. I would like to see my peers taking part in this campaign to show decision-makers that we are ready to join forces. I invite you to support us in echoing our message!” – Sana’a Khasawneh, member of the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety.
Art and road safety
The #ClaimingOourSpace campaign will be divided into two phases. The first will take place from the 4th to the 15th of April and will be a call for action for young people to get involved by sending in a power pose and a message for local and global leaders.
The campaign invites members to send in a “power pose” to show that they are rising to the challenge of addressing global road safety issues that affect them and their peers. The pose shows that they are claiming their space and are demanding to be included in efforts to curb road crashes, locally and globally.