Young people pledge to help make a difference on our roads

08 Dec 2007

Media Release - 8 December 2007

Young people from The Reach Foundation, emerging film-makers and talented musicians today fronted the launch of a new campaign to help combat the youth road toll.

‘The Pledge’ event at Federation Square was held to raise awareness about the issue of youth road trauma and involve young people in finding solutions. The idea is that young people make a personal pledge about what they can do to stay safe on the roads.

“Road trauma is the leading cause of death among young people worldwide and in Victoria, around a third of all driver and passenger deaths are people aged between 16 and 25.  It’s incredibly sad, because crashes are preventable,” said Dallas Currie, emcee for ‘The Pledge’ event and Youth Facilitator with The Reach Foundation.

“This campaign is about young people wanting to make a difference and making a pledge to do their bit to keep themselves and their mates safe on the roads,” she said.

“Everyone here today has gotten involved because they care about the issue.

“People made pledges at the TAC’s mobile cinema today, but anyone who missed out can also make a pledge online at ipledge.com.au”.

The youth driven initiative follows the World Youth Assembly for Road Safety, held at the United Nations in Geneva this year to address road safety at an international level.

From the Assembly, a Youth Declaration for Road Safety was created and adopted by the 400 participating delegates representing more than 120 countries, including eight young Australians.

TAC Senior Manager for Road Safety, David Healy said the pledge campaign supported the youth road safety strategy adopted by TAC and its road safety partners.

“A peer to peer approach means the style and language and the message resonates much more strongly and the issues are much more relatable when they come from other young people,” said Mr Healy.

“Even though the pledge campaign is directed at young people, the reality is that we all have a role to play in keeping our roads safe”.

‘The Pledge’ event was held with the support of the TAC, RACV, VicRoads, and Mushroom Marketing. It featured performances from the Custom Kings, Bobby Flynn, Borne and Lemonsmile.

As at midnight, Thursday 6 December 2007, 76 young people (aged 16-25 years) have lost their lives on Victorian roads this year.