WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SOCIETY DAY
The current global statistics on the situation of road safety paints a gloomy picture in which 3,400 people die daily because of road accidents, 1.24 million lives’s lost annual globally on our roads. Young adults, aged between 15 to 44 years, account for 59% of this figures. It is crucial to note that this population represents the majority of the work force within our societies, thus the economic loss is significant.
With advances in ICT, we have become more connected than ever. Information transfer and access has been made easy with development of smart phones and other ubiquitous technology. ICT has enabled us to chat with friends and family in different continents, transfer information at high speeds; get first hand news of events happening around the globe, all this available at the touch of a button. With this, we have become more distracted from our everyday duty of being cautious when on our roads. The result has been increased deaths on our road, with 1.3 deaths globally of which 59% of those being young adults of ages between 15-44 years. This represents a significant group that drives most economy’s, thus the economic loss is significant.
Contrary to all this, ICT has benefited our road safety campaigns through development of intelligent solutions such as anti-collision systems, intelligent highways that monitor traffic flow, global positioning systems that warn us about road conditions to night vision systems that have made driving at night much safer.
The theme for the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) 2013, “ICTs and Improving Road Safety”, endeavors to bring awareness on the role of ICT towards road safety improvement. It is our hope that even as we progress with new developments in ICT, we should at all cost strive to avoid distractions caused as a result while on our roads. Let this day be the first step we take towards achieving the goals set out in the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.
The World Assembly of Youth (WAY) would like to call all youth, youth leaders, members, and partners as well as supporting organizations to address this issue of ICT and road safety improvement with the uttermost importance, through innovative and collaborative ICT solutions. We believe the generation today should be the most responsive part of societies when any changes are felt due to the existence of new technological advancements. They should avoid the negative fortuities that result from it by informing others on the risks and becoming more informative on safeties. As Ernest Greenwood once said, “Accidents, and particularly street and highway accidents, do not happen - they are caused.”
With advances in ICT, we have become more connected than ever. Information transfer and access has been made easy with development of smart phones and other ubiquitous technology. ICT has enabled us to chat with friends and family in different continents, transfer information at high speeds; get first hand news of events happening around the globe, all this available at the touch of a button. With this, we have become more distracted from our everyday duty of being cautious when on our roads. The result has been increased deaths on our road, with 1.3 deaths globally of which 59% of those being young adults of ages between 15-44 years. This represents a significant group that drives most economy’s, thus the economic loss is significant.
Contrary to all this, ICT has benefited our road safety campaigns through development of intelligent solutions such as anti-collision systems, intelligent highways that monitor traffic flow, global positioning systems that warn us about road conditions to night vision systems that have made driving at night much safer.
The theme for the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) 2013, “ICTs and Improving Road Safety”, endeavors to bring awareness on the role of ICT towards road safety improvement. It is our hope that even as we progress with new developments in ICT, we should at all cost strive to avoid distractions caused as a result while on our roads. Let this day be the first step we take towards achieving the goals set out in the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.
The World Assembly of Youth (WAY) would like to call all youth, youth leaders, members, and partners as well as supporting organizations to address this issue of ICT and road safety improvement with the uttermost importance, through innovative and collaborative ICT solutions. We believe the generation today should be the most responsive part of societies when any changes are felt due to the existence of new technological advancements. They should avoid the negative fortuities that result from it by informing others on the risks and becoming more informative on safeties. As Ernest Greenwood once said, “Accidents, and particularly street and highway accidents, do not happen - they are caused.”
Source: http://www.way.org.my/
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