Essay Road Safety Awareness

The competition was for young people aged 10 to 24 years and evaluation criteria depended on the creative expression and how well the theme of the competition was expressed.Sixteen year old Anupama Kumar from India won first prize and attended the World Youth Assembly to receive her award.The participants – which included politicians, heads of government and non-governmental organizations, transport owners, civil society members, and media personalities – highlighted the problems with the current traffic system, and recommended solutions to overcome the situation.

The competition was for young people aged 10 to 24 years and evaluation criteria depended on the creative expression and how well the theme of the competition was expressed.Sixteen year old Anupama Kumar from India won first prize and attended the World Youth Assembly to receive her award.

Winning Essay What can we do to improve road safety for children and adolescents? A child is killed in an accident every three minutes.

Road safety is increasingly becoming a major killer and a worldwide concern, particularly for young people. Media Management The media has been a largely overlooked factor in creating road safety awareness.

Celebrity endorsements, coupled with television messages on prime-time slots and peer education programmes would provide an accessible and engaging means of promoting awareness, particularly among young people.

They would convey the message that safe driving is “cool” driving, and constantly reinforce that drunken driving, using a cell phone on the road and driving without a seatbelt (or helmet) are not only dangerous, but “seriously unfashionable.” Celebrities could also actively encourage walking or cycling whenever and wherever possible.

In light of this situation, Democracy International and Dhaka Tribune organized a roundtable titled “Road Safety in Bangladesh: Causes and Remedies,” at the conference hall of the Dhaka Tribune on September 30, under the Strengthening Political Landscape (SPL) project – a project implemented by Democracy International under “Narir Joye Shobar Joy” (When Women Win We All Win) Campaign, jointly funded by USAID and UKAID.

Lipika Biswas, Senior Program Manager at Democracy International in Bangladesh, moderated the discussion.They called upon the government to take cautionary, effective, and prompt action to reduce this problem.It was also pointed out that the number of illegal vehicles, and unskilled drivers that lack even the basic training, are major reasons for the failing system.However, road safety campaigners say the new act will serve the interest of transport workers and labourers – and not the general public – as it was approved without consulting any passenger representative.Reckless driving, a tendency to overtake, a lack of use of foot over bridges, and an overall disregard for traffic responsibility shown by pedestrians are the main reasons behind the frequent road accidents.As part of her prize, her essay will be published in the upcoming WHO/UNICEF World report on child and adolescent injury prevention.You can read more about this competition on the UNICEF Website.Secondly, more attention could be paid to safe road design.For example, signs can be used to warn people, speed bumps and road bends can be added to calm traffic, and speed cameras can help to deter people from driving too quickly.Road accidents in Bangladesh have reached epidemic levels, with newspaper headlines reporting casualties on a daily basis.However, the issue came into the limelight after students, mostly teenagers, took to the streets across the country demanding road safety after two students were killed and 12 others injured by a speeding bus racing with another in the Kurmitola area of Airport Road in the capital on July 29.