“STEVE” steps out to end deaths on the roads
New Animation Campaign Exposes the Hidden Dangers on the Roads Which Kills 3,000 Everyday
On 11 May 2011, at the launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety, the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) and YOURS – Youth for Road Safety have initiated an innovative campaign to build awareness and end death and injuries on the roads.
STEVE – a quirky, lively and poignant animation was developed through discussions at the First Regional Youth Assembly for Road Safety in Oman in February 2011. Deaths due to road crash injuries is the number one killer of youth between 15 and 29 years old.
“It was clear the way we have been communicating our message on road safety wasn’t reaching the people most affected by this disaster,” said Nellie Ghusayni, progamme officer at YOURS. “We need to go where people, especially the young people, were getting their information and tailor the format of the messages so it’s appealing to them. A fresh take on the subject using video seems to be the best way to capture their interest and get the youth involved.”
Under the creative direction of Mark Woodward from Airspace Studios, STEVE was born. The animation video project aims to give the viewers a different perspective on road safety by focusing on the hidden danger on the roads.
“Just over 100 years ago mankind introduced a new form of transport to the world, and with every car comes enough energy to kill,” says Andrew Pearce, Chief Executive of GRSP. “But humans cannot sense this energy until it’s too late. We hope STEVE can shed an important light for everyone and energize people to take action. Everyone can make a valuable contribution in helping to solve this man-made disaster.”
Roads, human’s greatest conduits for progress and communication, are also the stages for great human tragedy. Someone dies on the road every 30 seconds bringing the annual number of deaths to approximately 1,3 million – or ten aircraft crashes every day. The people dying are likely to be young and previously perfectly healthy – perhaps a bread-winner, a husband, a mother, a daughter or a son. The economic burden of the global carnage on the roads is a staggering $ 500 billion worldwide.
Every year more than 50 million people are injured by road crashes, many of those disabled permanently. Almost half of those who die in road traffic crashes are vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists. The goal of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety is to stabilize and then reduce the number of lives lost.
The Global Road Safety Partnership works to prevent road crash death and injury in low- and middle-income countries by working to implement effective solutions in partnership with business, government and civil society organizations. A hosted project of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, based in Geneva, Switzerland, GRSP’s vision is a world free of road-crash death and injury. www.GRSProadsafety.org
YOURS – Youth for Road Safety is the first global youth led nongovernmental organization acting to make the world’s roads safe for young people. YOURS operates on three pillars: advocating for youth and road safety on the global level, inspiring, connecting, and uniting youth around the world, and developing capacities of young people to become road safety advocates and implement road safety projects www.youthforroadsafety.org
Airspace is an independent design studio based in Dubai focused on storytelling. www.airspacestudio.com
