The YOURS Surreal Poster Series that was released in May last year to coincide with the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 have won an award at the world's most presitigous global awards for new product design and graphics; Good Design Awards by The Chicago Athenaeum, United States.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that since 1975 to 2008, figures have shown that the use of seatbelts in the United States alone has saved an estimated 255,000 lives! Although primary seatbelt law does not exist in every state in the US, it is clear, from the evidence presented by CDC that seatbelt laws and the use of seatbelts in vehicles save lives.

With global focuses shifting towards the growing crisis of road deaths of young people, USA Today; the American national media outlet features a headline on the issue. A report from the USA's National Road Safety Group highlights a growing problem: an increase in fatalities of 16 and 17 year old drivers after a declining trend in the past decade.

After almost half a decade since the United Nations World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, the youth movement for road safety has grown and is stronger than ever. In our last feature, we saw that the YOURS Staff team were all delegates to the WYA and have since dedicated their efforts to the youth and road safety cause. In part 5 of our WYA special feature, we take a look at the members of the CORE Group who attended the assembly.

The charity Brake, which supports people whose loved ones have been killed in a road crash, is appealing to men to acknowledge the greater risks they face on roads and make a ‘Pledge to Drive Safely’ this Valentine’s Day for the sake of those close to them – as a survey by Brake finds that nine in 10 women (89%) worry about people they love being killed on roads.

In the past few years, we have visited many events targeting young people with safe messaging and campaigns. 'Road safety is not attractive or appealing', has been an expression bandied around working groups who map the challenges facing their road safety efforts. It is this 'stereotype' given to traditional road safety activities that organizations, especially YOURS is working to change. How can something that can potentially safe your life so you can continue to enjoy it be 'uncool'?

After YOURS' rigorous process of recruiting and selecting our Coordinators of the Regions (CORE Group) late last year, the group is being brought together for the first time at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland to plan for the years ahead in their two year term as coordinators!

While Brian's bi-weekly blog is not due just yet, Brian recently informed us of a tragic loss of life of a young man in his homeland of Uganda. The story holds importance for us as Mr Willington Taremwa was only 27 years of age and was tragically killed in a road crash on his 27th birthday. The story has receieved national coverage and we feature one of those articles here today at YOURS.

Six Olympic champions and thousands of ordinary commuters have backed the Times campaign to improve the safety of cycling in towns and cities in the United Kingdom. Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Boardman, Rebecca Romero and Nicole Cooke, all of whom are Olympic gold medallists, joined Mark Cavendish, the world champion, in supporting the petition calling for a new covenant for cycling. Politicians, television personalities, leading businesses and ten city councils also pledged to support proposals to transform urban areas for bikes.

The YOURS team all took part in the United Nations World Youth Assembly for Road Safety in some capacity and now, five years on, are working in international youth and road safety at YOURS. We look at back at the team's impressions of the assembly and what they did afterwards as part of our special World Youth Assembly feature.

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.