YOURS – Youth for Road Safety Head of Communications, Manpreet Darroch, joined UK Charity – Aik Saath: Together As One – in a webinar last Tuesday, February 23, on an event called “On Roads Night”. The webinar featured a discussion with YOURS on our global efforts to reduce the number of road-related deaths and injuries involving young people and how youth can lead efforts in helping achieve these actions.
Aik Saath – Together As One
Together as One a UK Charity based in Slough, United Kingdom. Through Aik Saath – Together As One, young people are able to lead a range of projects that help maintain the safety and cohesiveness of the local community.
In recent years, Together As One has delivered “Road Code” – a UK youth-funded project that equips young people with skills to be safe passengers, safe drivers, and to speak out when they feel unsafe.
To help further the Road Code, YOURS joined Together as One in an online meeting to meet with youth volunteers from the organization. The conversation was about how young people could create a real impact in local communities around road safety and sustainable mobility and an introduction to road safety as a global issue.
Getting to know the road safety factors young people face
During the discussion, the participants’ general knowledge of road safety was assessed. Most of the information shared was about the negative practices that contributed to a large number of road crashes in both local and global communities. When asked about what came to mind when road safety was discussed, the participants gave answers that ranged from applying seatbelts to overcrowded hospitals.
The meeting helped the young participants identify; the global road safety problem that young people face around the world, the regional trends in road safety across the world, and the key risk factors that can affect young people in different areas around the world.
Youth participants were also reminded of the importance of young people in the road safety movement. This ranged from simple initiatives like putting on seatbelts, getting involved in the decision-making process, or joining the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety.
For more context, the Global Youth Statement for Road Safety was presented and the volunteers were introduced to the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety and the work that it’s done since its launch last July 7, 2020.
If you want to make a difference and help reduce the number of road-related deaths and injuries locally and around the world, join the Global Youth Coalition!
As part of Aik Saath’s UK Youth/ UPS Road Code programme, the organization were asked to run a partnership event with an organisation that impacts change on road safety. They used the title ‘On Roads’ to market the session to their young volunteers to boost attendance and participation.
Rosa Hopkins, Training Lead at Aik Saath said: “The session with Manpreet opened our eyes to the global inequalities in road safety and the devastating impact that has for millions of families. It was inspiring to hear about Manpreet’s personal journey from a UK Youth Parliament member to global road safety activist. Aik Saath believe in the power of young people and share the vision that young people should be at the heart of solutions to problems locally, nationally, and internationally.” 