In recognition of International Youth Day this month, we celebrate the many ways iRAP is partnering with youth and for youth to ensure their voice is included and needs prioritised in road safety projects and partnerships worldwide.
Did you know?:
- Half of the people on our planet are 30 or younger, and this is expected to reach 57% by the end of 2030.
- By 2050, the people who are under 25 today will compose more than 90% of the prime-age workforce.
- Road traffic crashes are the biggest killer of youth aged 15-29 years old, with an estimated 1,000 dying chaque jour on the world’s roads. It is estimated this costs the global economy US$3.5 billion each day.
Youth are our future and protecting them on their journeys and ensuring their safe access to education and life opportunities is essential to global sustainability.
Here’s just a few of the ways we’re engaging and prioritising youth in our charity’s strategic decision making, projects, partnerships and tools to empower young changemakers and prevent youth road trauma.
Strategic Guidance
Did you know? Raquel Barrios, Executive Director of the Global Youth Coalition – Youth for Road Safety (YOURS) is a member of the Carte iRAP, and Estiara Ellizar, YOURS’ Youth Leadership Board Member, sits on iRAP’s Global Policy Advisory Committee. As youth leaders with expertise in road safety, children’s rights and transport planning for sustainable cities, they are providing important input to the development of our charity, helping to guide the development of tools and partnerships for youth road safety impact.
Partnerships for Impact
iRAP partners with more than 36,000 partners worldwide to help make our roads safer. This includes the many global organisations working at the coal face of youth road safety such as: YOURS, the FIA Foundation Child Health Initiative, Safe Kids Worldwide, UNICEF, AIP Foundation, Federation Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA), Cities for Children, Fundación Gonzalo Rodríguez, AMEND, Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety and its member NGOs, Global Road Safety Partnership, International Road Federation (IRF Geneva), Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport (EASST), World Resources Institute (WRI), FedEx, 3M, Prudence Foundation, PATH, Walk21, and more. These partnerships are driving evidence-based advocacy for safer youth journeys, increased road safety capacity, and tools and investment to improve high-risk roads.
Tools Shaping our Understanding of Road Risk and its Elimination
In addition to iRAP’s comprehensive suite of Outils RAP to improve road infrastructure safety, these are particularly pertinent to youth safety:
Système de notation par étoiles pour les écoles (SR4S) is an award-winning evidence-based programme of tools, training and support to measure, manage and communicate the risk children are exposed to on their journey to school. In use in 80 countries, SR4S assessments are helping to inform advocacy and strategic investment in infrastructure upgrades saving lives and preventing serious injuries every day. It is estimated that the safety of 495,309 students is being positively by the programme. En savoir plus ici.
Le Application d'engagement des jeunes (AEJ) is an innovative tool that allows young people to easily identify and report road safety conditions around their schools. YEA helps young people actively participate in improving road safety, giving them a voice in shaping their communities. To date, 3,760 users have placed more than 20,000 pins to identify where they feel safe and unsafe on their journeys to school in Vietnam. The use of YEA is now scaling, empowering safer school journeys in Chile, South Africa, and Peru. En savoir plus ici.
CycleRAP CycleRAP est une méthode simple, abordable et rapide d'évaluation de la sécurité des infrastructures routières et cyclables. Utilisé dans plus de 30 pays, il vise à réduire les accidents et à améliorer la sécurité, en particulier pour les cyclistes et les autres usagers de la mobilité légère, en identifiant les lieux à haut risque sans nécessiter de données sur les accidents. En savoir plus ici.
Projects Transforming Youth Road Safety
As well as thousands of partner-led iRAP and Star Rating for Schools projects transforming road safety in 135 countries, the following projects are transforming our understanding of youth road safety risk and evidence-based action for global impact:
Le AI&Me Project was a groundbreaking success in empowering youth to drive real change in school zone safety across Vietnam. Led by the AIP Foundation in partnership with iRAP and supported by Fondation Botnar, the project combined artificial intelligence, big data analysis, and youth participation to assess and improve road conditions in three cities of the country. It led to the development of a Big Data Methodology to identify high-risk school zones in the cities, empowerment of over 1,800 young students with mobility and road safety skills; development of the YEA app and its use by youth to indicate high-risk areas; prioritisation of schools for further road safety analysis using SR4S and improvement; and a Citizen Portal embedded in five provincial government websites to support dialogues with communities and decision-makers toward a healthy and safe environment for young people to thrive. The initiative was awarded the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award and named one of PMI’s Most Influential Projects of 2024, showcasing its success as a model for how technology and youth-led advocacy can transform road safety for the next generation. En savoir plus ici.
Le Google AI for the Global Goals Project now follows and is leveraging AI tools for road safety to promote a safe environment for children around schools Vietnam-wide. The project is funded by Google.org and led by iRAP, with project partners including the AIP Foundation, ANDITI, and the Faculty of Electric Engineering and Computing, and the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, University of Zagreb. En savoir plus ici.
Also in Vietnam, and following the success of Ai&Me, the Empowering Youth for Liveable Cities program is now underway from 2024 to 2027. It focusses on activating digital tools to create more accessible, user-friendly platforms that amplify youth voices in mobility issues; empowering young people to translate their ideas into effective solutions and confidently present them to decision-makers; and stakeholder engagement, encouraging policy-makers to meaningfully engage with young leaders at all stages and levels of policy and decision making. It is a collaborative effort between AIP Foundation and its key partners, Fondation Botnar, FIA Foundation, iRAP and YOURS. En savoir plus ici.
Financé par l'UE ‘Projet ’ Approches prédictives pour un environnement urbain plus sûr » (PHOEBE) vise à renforcer la sécurité routière des usagers vulnérables, en particulier ceux qui recourent à la mobilité active et aux trottinettes électriques. Il s’appuie sur les atouts des outils d’évaluation de la sécurité routière de iRAP ainsi que sur les capacités de simulation et d’intelligence artificielle d’AIMSUN pour proposer des outils de prévision de la sécurité harmonisés, intégrés et à la pointe au niveau mondial, qui tiennent compte du genre, de l’âge et des niveaux de capacité dans le cadre de la mobilité de demain. En savoir plus ici.
Renforcement des capacités
Formation iRAP et Accréditation are helping to build the road safety knowledge and skills of youth across the world. In February, iRAP joined more than 150 young leaders from over 130 countries in Marrakech for the 3rd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety. Held as an official side event of the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, the Assembly provided a dynamic platform for youth to drive the agenda, and iRAP conducted a hand-on Star Rating for Schools training with Abertis Foundation. En savoir plus ici.
Over 87,000 people have received iRAP training in how to eliminate road infrastructure risk, including for youth. Of them, nearly 8,500 people have been trained in Star Rating for Schools. Programmes such as the SR4S Youth Stars Master Trainers for university and college students, are empowering the ongoing on-training of young changemakers world-wide.
iRAP International Women in Engineering Grants are supporting the professional development of young female engineers, helping to improve road safety in their countries, and beyond.
Data Insights by Age and Gender
Le iRAP Safety Insights Explorer is a valuable tool shining a light on the true scale of road crashes, the safety of the world’s roads, and the positive impact that can be made with investment. It allows you to explore:
- Estimations des nombres et des types de blessures qui surviennent pour chaque pays selon l'âge et le sexe.
- Évaluations par étoiles et attributs de conception clés pour plus de 500 000 km de routes dans 84 pays.
- L'argumentaire économique en faveur de l'investissement dans des routes plus sûres, y compris l'impact salvateur qui consiste à garantir que la majorité des déplacements s'effectuent sur des routes classées 3 étoiles ou mieux pour tous, dans tous les pays.
For youth insights, explore the Tool and age filter here.
International Youth Day is celebrated on 12 August and this year, with the theme ‘Local Youth Actions for the SDGs and Beyond’, the unique role of youth in translating global ambitions into community-driven realities has been highlighted.
We are proud to support our youth #RAPCommunity and the many inspiring organisations cultivating and empowering projects, programmes and ambitions for safer journeys – to save lives and prevent serious injuries for our most vulnerable youth.