Index

Get Involved Memory Quilt Project
8th Global Meeting in El Salvador
United Nations Global Road Safety Week 15-19th May 2023

Drink Driving Victims Quilt Project

SADD, run by a victim whose son, Chas, was killed in a DUI crash, exhibited Drink Driving Victims Memorial Quilts at the October 2023 Global Alcohol Policy Alliance Conference. About 500 delegates and alcohol experts from around the world attended this event.

The conference theme was “People Before Profits” looking at the serious ill effects of alcohol abuse on society, and the aggressive marketing by the alcohol industry to get more people, and especially women, in LMIC, to drink alcohol. Best practices to bring down alcohol harms were discussed, and it was felt the same passion, methods and emphasis that was used to reduce cigarette smoking, should be used on alcohol.

Drink Driving, and its’ devastating effects on victims and their families and global health services, seem to be the “forgotten” pandemic. DUI was hardly mentioned at the Conference, even though it is one of the biggest contributors to alcohol related harms and deaths. The WHO estimates that between 5% and 35% of the 1.19 million annual global road deaths are alcohol related that is between 59 500 and 416 500 who people die annually. Here we are not even looking at the effect of DUI on those who are injured annually (40 ++  million people are injured world-wide!)

As you know, very often people talk about the statistics of those killed on the roads, but they forget the names and faces, and the traumatized families left behind.

As civil society activists what we did was making quilts, like was done to highlight the victims of HIV in the USA , as a reminder to the public about how many people are affected by drink driving in South Africa and the world, and to also honor our dead loved ones. 

We feel the time of being silent is over, and we need to be more verbal and angry! NGO’s are the only voice our loved one/s have, so we must make them very loud and clear! 

These were totally unacceptable and preventable deaths. They are not “God’s Will” or “Allah’s Will”- these crashes and deaths/injuries were caused by irresponsible drink drivers.

As part of the research, Global Alliance Road Safety NGOs were asked:

• if drink driving is a problem in their country.
• what solutions could bring down incidents.
• to share victims’ stories and photos as testaments.

40 NGOs from 34 countries participated, and said what their country needs to do to bring down DUI. These comments are displayed on the World Quilt and SADC Road Safety NGO Alliance quilt.

9 quilts were displayed, which created a great deal of awareness and debate on the high impact of DUI, in SA and the world.

Networking, when discussing the quilts, enabled SADD to introduce and connect NGOs and alcohol experts in 10 countries.

We hope to continue with the quilt project, and display the quilts at international and national conferences.

Click to enlarge

Margie Peden from George Institute for Global Health, WHO Centre on Injury Prevention & Trauma Care, Johns Hopkins Uni-USA, Uni New South Wales-Australia, looks at the quilt

Click to enlarge

Philippines delegates viewing the quilt

Click to enlarge

World Quilt

Click to enlarge

Togo Quilt

Eighth Global Meeting In El Salvador

05 -10^th March 2023, San Salvador, El Salvador

Caro Smit attended the Eighth Global Meeting of Nongovernmental Organizations Advocating for Road Safety and Road Victims (Global Meeting) in San Salvador, El Salvador.

The Global Meeting, whose theme is Rethinking road safety: Mobility for people and planet, brought together 214 participants from 61 countries.

1.3 million people die on the world’s roads every year. A global target has been set to reduce road deaths and injuries by 2030. To achieve this, urgent action is needed to implement road safety actions that have been proven in practice to save lives and reduce injuries. Safe roads are essential to enable people to go about their daily lives and to access work and education.

To play our part in achieving the 2030 target, we NGOs explored what accountability in road safety means and how we can keep our governments accountable for global commitments.

The Global Meeting was organized by the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety (the Alliance), and co-hosted by the Vice Ministry of Transportation of El Salvador and the World Health Organization (WHO).

During the symposium, Alliance members presented the San Salvador Declaration, calling for evidence-based road safety actions, including specific policies and implementations to protect pedestrians, bikers, and motorists; transparent and accountable investment to make roads safe; and involvement of road safety NGOs in decision making. http://www.roadsafetyngos.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/San-Salvador-Declaration.pdf

The opening remarks were by Edgar Romeo Rodriguez Herrera, Minister of Public Works and Transport of El Salvador, Nelson Eduardo Reyes Rivas, Vice Minister of Transportation of El Salvador and Lotte Brondum, the Alliance’s Executive Director.

The keynote speakers at the event were Etienne Krug, Director, Social Determinants of Health, WHO and Jean Todt, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety.

United Nations Global Road Safety Week 15-19th May 2023

UNGRSW 23 OV summary

Click to enlarge

“Councillor for Ward 60 — Mark Kleinschmidt — says traffic signalling outside Oaklands High School has been improved — but not to the extent that lives will be saved.

While last week’s demonstration was underway — Kleinschmidt crossed the busy intersection — to experience first hand — what learners are faced with on a daily basis…

Clip: “I experimented….I pressed the button, it took about 2 or 3 minutes before the green man came on…and then, my crossing the road took about 10 seconds…but to change, it took about three seconds, so I had to virtually run across and I actually signalled to a taxi to slow down.”

Kleinschmidt says taxi lawlessness is also a major problem in the area.

The councillor adds he’s had 60 kilometer speed restriction boards erected — but this is still far too fast….

Clip: “I have already, for Chukker Road Sports Complex, I’ve applied for traffic calming and I was told that it’s a Class Schedule 5 road, an arterial road, which forms a busy thoroughfare but the loss of life cannot stress enough the need for some form of traffic calming.”

Kleinschmidt has vowed to continue to work hard to get the speed reduced in that area.

Words of signs and changes needed Oaklands school. Sept 2023

Click to enlarge