From, with and for young people

Floor Lieshout

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• Road safety, a global problem• Why are young people @risk• YOURS• Why youth participation?• Summary

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• Floor Lieshouto 2001: Youth advisor Minister of Transporto ´02-´07: Manager Front Office TeamAlerto ´07-´08: Account-manager T&W Capgeminio 2009: Technical Officer WHOo 2010: Chief Executive of YOURS

• 30 minutes

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• Worldwide, road crashes are the leading cause of death among 10-24 year olds

• Every day more than 1000 young people die on the world´s roads

• Thousands more are injured

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• WHO predicts: unless more comprehensive global action is taken, the number of deaths and injuries is likely to rise significantly

• UN resolution calls for a Decade of Action: 11 May 2011

• Great momentum to increase comprehensive road safety efforts

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What is needed:• Designing safer roads• Improving the safety features of vehicles• Setting and enforcing laws: seat-belts, helmets,

child restraints, BAC limits for drivers, speed limits• Raising public awareness, education activities and

training• Influencing social values and norms

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• Brain development: between 20-25 yrs

• Prefrontal cortex:• Impulse control• Judgment• Decision-making• Reasoning

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• Social emotional system of the brain between 14-15 yrs• Social stimuli• Rewards

• Emotion wins from self-control

• Today I see an advert, tomorrow I buy it

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• Young people are more sensitive for social / group pressure / peer influence

• Some young people will take higher risks (negative and positive) than adults in search for a ´kick´

• Young males are higher at risk than young females

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• Inexperience among adolescents and young adults makes them less safe when driving a car or a motorcycle than older drivers

• Overestimation of their own skills

• Environment often not adjusted for their needs• Setting speed limits• Safe playgrounds • Safe school areas

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70%

25%

5%

•70% of young people are open for road safety messages and will behave OK in most circumstances

•5% are ´traffic criminals´ and will do whatever they want

•25% can go either way, hopefully they chose the biggest group (social validation)

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Civil Society

(International)GovernmentalOrganizations

Private Sector

Non- GovernmentalOrganizations

Researchers

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We believe...• that road crashes are preventable • road safety does not stop at our borders • in the high potential of youth • it is young people themselves who can be at

the forefront of making a difference

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• Under auspices of United Nations, WHO

• Creation of a Youth Taskforce– Strategy, mission, vision, objectives, roadmap, etc.

• Official launch during First Global Ministerial Conference in Moscow

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Advocate at a global level

Inspire, Connect and Unite young people

Develop capacities of youth advocates

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• Encourage to reach out to young people and increase youth participation:Youth have a right to participate in decisions

that affects themNext generation of stakeholdersDevelopment of skills

• Approach youth as part of the solution, not just as focus of the problem

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1) Young people are manipulated2) Young people are decoration

3) Young people tokenized

4) Young people assigned but informed

5) Young people consulted and informed

6) Adult- initiated, shared decisions with young people

7)Young people lead & initiate action

8) Young people & adults share decision-making

R. Hart (1992) – Florence, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre© Adam Fletcher – The Freechild Project

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• Boundless energy and motivation• Determination: the will to make a change• Skills in the new ´social media´• Abilities for peer education• Capacities as advocates• Expertise of our own youth culture

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• Road crashes: leading killer of young people• Road crashes are preventable• Young people are at risk because of:

• Brain dev. – inexperience – peer pressure – environment – overestimation of own skills

• About YOURS• Advocacy, Networking & Sharing, Capacity dev.

• Importance of youth participation

Invest in young people, they are the future!

Contact

web: www.youthforroadsafety.orgemail: floor@youthforroadsafety.org

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