World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims
November 15 marked World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDR). WDR remembers the many millions killed and injured on the world’s roads, together with their families, friends and the many others who are also affected by road crashes. This year, GRSP provided guidance to grantees of the Global Advocacy and Grants Programme, funded through the Bloomberg Initiative for Global Road Safety, on strategic and innovative ways to leverage this global event to assist their advocacy campaigns.
In Russia, GRSP grantee Russian Red Cross (RRC) marked WDR by holding a high level meeting in collaboration with the Safety Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. The event brought together over 30 representatives of state and public organizations and the media to present the results of a survey they had conducted on the need for quality certified child restraints that are properly labeled and come with a detailed manual in Russian. During the meeting, participants agreed to develop a roadmap to bring Russia’s legislation into conformity with standard regulations in order to remove from the market goods that fail to meet safety requirements.
In Kenya, GRSP grantee Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital partnered with other grantees, ASIRT Kenya and Usalama Watch Initiative, and the National Transport & Safety Authority (NTSA) to host an event at the hospital to urge the National Assembly to pass the Traffic (Amendment) Bill, 2014. Key supporters included an official from the Ministry of Education, officials from the health and education sectors, and the Director of Road Safety at the NTSA. GRSP grantee Handicap International (HI) also marked WDR publishing an editorial in the Standard Newspaper in which HI called on major stakeholders in Kenya to support the passage of the Bill.
In Cambodia, GRSP grantee Advocacy & Policy Institute (API) marked WDR with a knowledge sharing event in Bakan District between primary leadership figures, including the District Governor, Deputy District Governor, Chief of Referral Hospital of Bakan, and members of the deputy district police and the public. The main focus of the event was to raise and maintain public awareness of the new Road Traffic Law’s upcoming implementation in January 2016.
Finally, in India, GRSP grantee VOICE and its partners held a series of events in key target locations including, Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Lucknow (Utter Pradesh), Cuttak (Orrisa), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Patna (Bihar), Kolkata (West Bengal), Chandigarh (Punjab and Harzana), Rajkot (Gujrat) and Jaipur (Rajasthan). The events included public demonstrations and the signing of petitions to place pressure on the government for the passage of a strong Road Transport Safety Bill (RTSB) in India. In every state the petition was submitted to the relevant Government Authorities to support the national campaign to pass a strong RTSB in India.
