Road Safety Week |18 November 2022

The session with the youth was well attended (Photos: Joena Meme)

Let’s talk road safety…with the youth

Youth from different institutions gathered yesterday at the Dockland Auditorium for an open dialogue on ‘Let’s talk road safety’.

This was organised by the Seychelles National Youth Council (SNYC) in collaboration with the department of land transport.

Some members of the Road Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC) together with a representative from the police force were the ones answering the questions from the youth.

Marie-May Larue, information and communication officer at SNYC, explained that this session was to mainly raise the awareness of the youth of the dangers on the road and also security on the road.

“This will be mainly to empower them so that they can share these information to others and also to hear the concerns of the youth.”

The vice-chair of the Road Safety Advisory Committee, Wilson Denis shared that “among the accidents registered, 40% are from the younger population mainly riders of motorcycles and bicycles. We also acknowledge that many decisions made in the past did not include the youth. Now that we have the communication plan, we want the youth to be more proactive. The best is to start interacting with the youth now and establish the relation with youth organisations in order to bring changes in the process. The suffering of the families after an accident cannot be described and we want the youth to understand the implications of an accident.”

Mr Denis shared that the RSAC has been in existence for some time but in July this year a new group of people – 15 in total – was appointed.

“The Committee consists of representatives from partners and stakeholders involved in the safety of our roads such as the department of transport, education, health, the police, Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC), Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Insurance companies, Taxi Association, Car Hire Association, Seychelles Media Commission (SMC), Drug and Alcohol Council (Dac) and insurance companies, among others.”

Their main objective is to provide a forum for sharing ideas and programmes are to promote all aspects of road safety, advise the government on road safety policies, encourage work base policies and initiatives for employees, and to commission and contribute towards research on accident causes and consequences.

Vidya Gappy