Road safety injuries are quite common worldwide leading to death especially of young people. Youth themselves plays an important role in preventing these tragedies which can be done in various ways because the victims of road accidents are mainly youth. According to surveys conducted for the same, ‘Over 30% of road crash victims are children and young people under 25 years.’
Effective measures to make the road safer do exist like establishing and enforcing laws like the use of helmets, use of seat belts, mandating speed, mandating driving and drinking limits, improving post-crash care for victims and the list goes on and on but we are still struggling globally with increasing road crashes and accidents. We still lose nearly 1.3 million people from road crashes everybody and millions are left seriously injured which is spine chilling. We all know the causes of these accidents like non-use of seat belts, use substances that make you lose your senses while driving, non-use of helmets distracted driving, overspeeding (rash-driving), etc. but we hardly follow any measure to prevent road crashes. In India youth being the dominant age group can bring a noticeable change in order to prevent road accidents or road crashes.
- BE A ROLE MODEL:
Road safety starts with you. The very first thing that you should do is to protect yourself from getting injured and then only you would be able to prevent others from being injured. “Everyone should value their life” this attitude towards life should be brought into the picture.
Demonstrate that you have respect for your life and the lives of others as well by committing yourself to safe behaviour.
For instance, you can start to follow certain basic things such as: wear a helmet while riding a motorbike, use a seat belt while driving, not drive under the influence of alcohol or drug, not use mobile while driving, know how to react in case of a road crash.
- SPREAD THE WORD:
There is no need to be professional in the field to talk about road safety the focus should be on spreading your words among people around, it can be your family, friends, peers, colleagues or anyone you know. They all should know the basic road safety rules and should implement them as well in their daily life. You can also make them aware of the first aid kit or what to do at the time of a road crash. You can use social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and various others.
If words fail you can demonstrate certain lifesaving skills, be creative with your ideas or you can show them how car accidents happen by using audio-visual as when words fail action speaks. Usage of videos and photos can help your message to transfer across in a much easier way.
- CONNECT WITH OTHERS:
Living in a world full of social sites it is not difficult to interact with people or to connect them if not personally then at least virtually. You can start looking for those who are doing something in road safety, so do try to reach them out so that they can extend their help to more people. Try exploring with them and if possible, start working with them, more the people more the awareness. Once you know how to start try evolving your friends and family member for the same.
- CAMPAIGNS:
One of the most effective ways to reach out vast public and to spread awareness on a large scale one can always organize a campaign. Through these campaigns you can emphasize the basic road safety rules, can demonstrate how to react at the time of road crashes, can discuss the dangers of drinking and driving.
Can publicize new road signs and signals.
Can display posters, paintings, videos as visuals are more effective than mere words.
If affordable, one can also distribute helmets, jackets, vests, or retro-reflective strips.
- STREET DEMONSTRATIONS OR STREET THEATRE:
One of the catchiest things that will always grasp the attention of road siders is street demonstrations, theatre, rallies, walks, etc. This is the easiest way to interact with people personally, to direct your message, and there is a possibility that people might memorize your concept for a longer duration of time. So, for more influence or awareness the most effective method can be street rallies or street demonstrations. One of the main objectives of street theatre is to convey the idea through direct but brief and effective means.