In his second article of the new year, our regular youth columnist giving us the low down on everything youth and road safety in Africa Mr Brian K Mwebaze gives us his latest insights. In this article, Brian explores the power of the 'girl-factor' in peer-to-peer messaging and draws strong parallels to campaigns using the power of women in influencing their loved males.

The Road Safety in 10 Countries Project (RS10) was  funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies back in 2010 to improve road safety in 10 low and middle income countries (LMICs). A consortium of partners iniated this program and worked in key areas of focus in improving road safety from road trauma care to the promotion of seatbelt and helmet use. The project has now received additional funding to continue its work.

In part 3 of our WYA feature, we put the spotlight on our South American, Guatemala and European, Belgium delegates. Over 400 young people came together on the foot of the Swiss Alps in April 2007 to discuss global road safety in a changing world. With over 100 countries represented at the United Nations HQ in Geneva, Switzerland, the youth empowering United Nations World Youth Assembly for Road Safety Changed many young lives. Youth delegates left the assembly as United Nations World Youth Ambassadors for Road Safety, we look at where they are now...

In the spirit of our five year celebration since the United Nations World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, we are putting the spotlight on organizations that were inspired to set up after the assembly. We start with the Canadian Road Safety Youth Committee that was set up by Canadian delegates to the WYA. YOURS will be featuring organizations set up with the assembly in mind in our special WYA five year feature.

Senegal's national football team have supported the Decade of Action for Road Safety by wearing the movement's iconic symbol, the Decade of Action Tag. The team are national heroes for aspiring young football stars in Senegal and act as beacons of hardwork and training in Africa. Bringing attention to road safety in Africa is an incredibly important as the continent remains the most affected with regards to road crashes.

In part 2 of our Where are they now? feature we put the spotlight on our Canadian delegates. Over 400 young people came together on the foot of the Swiss Alps in April 2007 to discuss global road safety in a changing world. With over 100 countires represented at the United Nations HQ in Geneva, Switzerland, the youth empowering United Nations World Youth Assembly for Road Safety changed many young lives. Youth delegates left the assembly as United Nations World Youth Ambsassadors for Road Safety, we look at where they are now...

We continue to feature a look back at the World Youth Assembly for Road Safety that took place nearly five years ago which initiatied the global youth movement for road safety. YOURS was the direct follow up of the WYA harnessing its momentum and energy into a global NGO for road safety. In this article, we look back at the dignitaries that supported the movement from the get-go!

Over 400 young people came together on the foot of the Swiss Alps in April 2007 to discuss global road safety in a changing world. With over 100 countries represented at the United Nations HQ in Geneva, Switzerland, the youth empowering United Nations World Youth Assembly for Road Safety changed many young lives. Youth delegates left the assembly as United Nations World Youth Ambassadors for Road Safety, we look at where they are now...

The number of accidents involving pedestrians wearing headphones is on the rise, a report suggests, prompting fresh warnings from road safety groups around the world. YOURS' Director Mr Floor Lieshout has been quoted in a Huffington Post article focusing on the new report that gives attention to being aware on the road and avoiding using earphones on the move.

The European Commission have published a leaflet entitled, 'How is your country doing?'. This leaflet shows the situation at the end of 2010 and the progress made since 2001. Its purpose is to allow Member States and European citizens to compare their situation and to encourage them to continue their efforts regarding road safety. It can be downloaded at YOURS.
 

Last year, Brian's first column received a warm welcome and he continues to shower YOURS with articles focusing on youth and road safety issues in Africa. In this article, Brian talks about the road fatalities taking place over the Christmas and holiday period and asks the question, 'Why are some road safety advocates inconsistent with their safety language?'. Brian gives us the low-down.

Its been almost half a decade since the United Nations World Youth Assembly for Road Safety took place at the United Nations building, Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland! As many of you know, the World Youth Assembly (WYA) was the foundation stone in the building of YOURS - Youth for Road Safety; a tangible road safety NGO that harnessed the energy of the assembly into a real movement for young people and road safety. YOURS celebrates the assembly's five year anniversary in the months to come!

Although our 2011 global road safety awareness campaign, The Embrace Life Campaign finished back in November, some young people were so inspired that they recently sent us some pictures in the spirit of the campaign. The National Youth Parliament of the Gambia came together and decided that although they couldn't take part in the campaign because of busy election training, they still want to make their mark.

The University of Otago Adolescent Mobility Health Consortium (AMHC) in New Zealand is pleased to announce its Inaugural Symposium on Wednesday 15 February, 2012. This will be a combined live and online event showcasing new directions in teen mobility, the paradox of speed, and the importance of parental and youth engagement in mobility choices. AMHC is changing the narrow paradigm of adolescent road safety focusing on crash risk, to the more potent and healthy vision of less teen driving through mobility modal shift from cars to active and public transport.

In our efforts to bring attention to road safety projects and organizations working with young people all around the world, this month, YOURS puts the spotlight on Avenir Sante. The French organization translated, Future Health works on preventing risky behaviour with young people on areas such as road safety, alcohol and drug addiction and sexual health. The organization was founded in 1998 and works with nearly 250,000 young people every year!

Welcome to 2012, a year full of promise and lots of incredibly exciting activities for road safety across the world! On January 1st, many people make an extra effort to uphold new year commitments and resolutions. We want to get active, lose those extra pounds gained during Christmas, quit smoking, make more time for friends and so forth. This year, why not include a road safety new year's resolution? Its easy and something that requires commitment for years to come; to be safe on the road, be a road safety ambassador and to preserve life.

YOURS would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you for 2012! New years are times for new year's resolutions and a time to create plans for a productive, fruitful and promising year ahead. YOURS Director, Mr Floor Lieshout would like to share his message for the new year and reflects upon our achievements for 2011.

The Embrace Life Campaign has been a creative journey. Hundreds of young people from around the world came together to show their unity for road safety in our 2011 global road safety awareness campaign. From India to Botswana, Canada to Columbia, Europe to Africa, the Embrace Life Campaign saw entries for our photo exhibition from around the world and we can now reveal our winner!

Around the world, road crashes claim over 1.3 million lives every year and this amount is disproportionately represented in the African region. In Kenya, Youths for Road Safety Kenya headed by Ms Sheila Atieno, our CORE Group representative for African English speaking countries has shared a touching initiative that couples road safety with blood donation to raise awareness of the cause in Kenya.