YOURS Executive Director Floor Lieshout and YOURS Communications Officer Maolin Macatangay join the House of Representatives’ Standing Committee on Transport 1st Meeting with the theme “Towards the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety: Sharing Responsibilities, Engaging Young People” last Friday, September 17, to talk about YOURS, the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety, and meaningful youth participation.
Sharing Responsibilities, Engaging Young People
According to the Thailand House of Representatives, road traffic injuries continue to be a public health and security thread for Thailand throughout the last decade. They note that road crashes are responsible for 20,000 deaths and one million injuries every year.
Despite efforts to improve the situation, the Global Status Report for Road Safety still reports Thailand to be one of the top ten countries with the highest road traffic deaths. According to data from the House of Representatives, one in three road traffic deaths in Thailand involved young people aged between 15 – 29 years old. Data from Thailand’s Department of Disease Control reports that the last decade has seen the loss of 53,000 young people to road crashes.
The Thailand Government has demonstrated efforts to save lives on their roads; the Master Plan for Road Safety (2017 – 2020) includes targets to promote road safety behaviors among young people. They have also enforced measures to curb drink driving by limiting the alcohol consumption of drivers through the Alcohol Control Act.
There are still some gaps that remain when it comes to addressing road crashes. Following significant developments on road safety at a global level and the local situation of road traffic deaths In Thailand, the Standing Committee on Transport of the House of Representatives organized a meeting following the theme “Toward the Second Decade of Action for Road Safety: Sharing Responsibilities, Engaging Youth”
YOURS Intervention
The House of Representatives invited YOURS – Youth for Road Safety to talk about interventions to engage and involve young people in road safety efforts in a session titled Young People and International Road Safety. To begin, YOURS Executive Director Floor Lieshout talked about the philosophy that guides YOURS in efforts to meaningfully engage and involve young people.
Floor talked about the importance of creating a system that protects young people instead of something that blames them. He discussed the safe systems approach which involves all stakeholders in efforts to eliminate fatal and serious injuries on the road.
He discussed the three-lens approach YOURS uses to guide its work by working with youth as beneficiaries, partners, and leaders. He talked about how YOURS continues to empower young people through resources, capacity development opportunities, opportunities for advocacy, and a platform to unite through the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety.
During her intervention, Maolin discussed how young people are claiming their space through the Coalition. She talked about the organization as an immediate response following the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety to unite global youth to address the different road safety and sustainable mobility issues from different regions and communities.
She highlights how the Coalition is empowering young people to make great and lasting impacts through different resources, capacity development initiatives, and partnerships.
To build a strong network, youth don’t need to look too far. Sign up to join the Global Youth Coalition for Road Safety and take action against the leading killer of youth worldwide; road crashes.
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