On the occasion of the 1st UN Global Road Safety Week, WHO released a report on Youth and Road Safety, which shows that road crashes are the biggest killer of young people between the ages of 10 and 24 and take the lives of 400 000 people under the age of 25 every year.
To mark the first UN Global Road Safety Week, from 23 to 27 April, hundreds of events are being organized around the world, including:
In London, at an event organized by the Make Roads Safe campaign, the former Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher joined forces with Lord Robertson, the former Secretary General of NATO, HRH Prince Michael of Kent and a number of road safety organizations. They issued a powerful call for action to governments, urging that a commitment for road infrastructure projects should be accompanied by increased investment in road safety, and proposing that a ministerial conference on road safety be organized under the auspices of the United Nations.
In Ghana, the nongovernmental organization Amend organized a campaign named “Be Safe, Be Seen” to increase the visibility of school children on the roads through the distribution of reflectors as well as educational material on road safety.
In Brussels, Belgium, the European Commission is organizing a European Road Safety Day on 27 April, focusing on the themes of alcohol and drugs in traffic, training and education.
In Nigeria, the Federal Road Safety Commission will launch a road safety campaign aimed particularly at commercial drivers, to increase their understanding of the causes of crashes and opportunities for prevention. The campaign will draw particular attention to the importance of the use of the seat-belt.
In Vietnam, the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation will launch a one-year “Wear a helmet – no excuse” road safety campaign, the launch of which will include two outdoor rock concerts, helmet fashion shows, interviews with victims and survivors, and engagement of various media around these activities.
In Tucuman, Argentina, local government and nongovernmental organizations are working together to get all relevant institutions to sign an agreement to do more for road safety. Following the signing on 10 April, the municipality is devoting the month of April to road safety activities, including the introduction of new road safety curricula for schools.