At the end of November, our European CORE Group Representative Mr. Axel Druart hosted and chaired the European Youth Forum for Road Safety (EYFRS) in partnrship with the province of Crotone, Italy. The forum is a regular European Event organized by Responsible Young Drivers Belgium and supported by the European Commission. We give you an update here!
After a year and a half of constant awareness-raising activities and permanent networking to create a concrete road safety youth community, the EYFRS Youth Taskforce set the 5th Edition of the Forum in South Italy, hosted by the Province of Crotone, coordinated by Responsible Young Drivers, and supported by the European Commission (DG MOVE). The two-day conference took place on the 28th & 29th of November 2013, with a Pre-Forum organized by the Province of Crotone on the 27th. Its main objective was to transform this existing ongoing youth forum network into a referenced youth community acting as a recognized entity.
The Forum will as usual, welcomed two youth delegates from each of the 28 EU Member States (selected on the basis of their active involvement in road safety) to debate with experts on current road safety matters involving youngsters all across Europe, and hence come up with concrete and innovative solutions. One key purpose of the forum was for the participants to transmit their know-how to future generations, to reach hundred thousand other youngsters through common campaigning, and use the strength of this united youth community to make roads safer for all their young peers.
Delegates from over 28 countries across Europe came together to tackle road safety in th region.
This year’s topics were defined in line with the European Commission’s Policy orientations for road safety 2011-2020 based on the outcomes of 3 Workshops (in France, Greece and Hungary) which gathered young professionals and experts (the EYFRS taskforce).
The youth delegates widely debated on the following themes:
- Pedestrians’ safety (though the creation of a video campaigning),
- Public Transports (bringing up a strategy to promote and lobby its stakeholders),
- Alcohol & Driving (proposing new tools and improve awareness-raising activities),
- Enforcement (through education with youngsters and police forces),
- Social Media (aiming at creating a recognized European cyber entity & community),
- Sustainability of the EYFRS (thanks to the election of an informal Board of Directors committing to handle its management all through the decade).
A few pictures from the European Youth Forum for Road Safety 2013.
You can also see a ‘harlem shake’ from the EYFRS delegates in the video in the right column!
Message from the European Commission to the European Youth Forum for Road Safety
Fatal road crashes are still the most common cause of death for young people in Europe. Young car drivers, aged 18-24, still make up almost one fifth of all who are killed in car accidents – although the age group makes up only a tenth of the populati
Last year, Commission Vice President Siim Kallas addressed these issues at the Fourth European Road Safety Day in Nicosia, Cyprus. He talked about the importance of continued hard efforts towards the strategic target of halving the number of road deaths. In particular, he stressed the serious problems of drink-driving and drug-driving by young people, recommending a zero-tolerance approach for safety.
I am very pleased to see that the European Youth Forum for Road Safety picked up the Commission messages from last year and has taken them further in workshops and discussions throughout this year. Your meeting in Crotone provides the opportunity to take further steps. The future is in the hands of the young, so let’s make the most of this opportunity.
Szabolcs Schmidt,
Head of the Road Safety Unit; European Commission
Over in South-Eastern Europe, the first Bulgarian Road Safety Forum with international participation was held on December 4, 2013 in “Serdika” hall of the Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan.
More than a hundred experts from Bulgaria, Belgium, Hungary, Greece and the Netherlands took part in the forum. The chosen theme for 2013 was “Road Safety – Challenges and Solutions”. We have tried to minimize the handling of dry statistics in the program and involve less discussed issues concerning infrastructure (road safety audit), insurance (“bonus-malus” system), economics (financial impact of the problem), ISO 39001:2012 (safety certification), and innovations in the field of prevention of risks on the road.
Interesting conclusions from the Forum:
Mr. Daniel Vankov: “We need to be more and more creative in securing funding for prevention of traffic related risks on the road, because the issue is becoming less “sexy” on European level”. Read more about the Bulgarian Road Safety Forum here.