A stitch in time saves lives

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement marks May 8 every year as World Red Cross Day. This day is very significant for the Red Cross as it is the birthday of Henri Dunant, its founder. The year 2009 will also mark the 150th anniversary of the battle of Solferino that made Henri Dunant reach out to help wounded soldiers and began to formulate a vision that would lead to the creation of the Red Cross Movement in 1863.

The Malta Red Cross Society was established on October 24, 1991; it is auxiliary to the government and the law to make provision for the recognition of the Malta Red Cross Society. It was unanimously approved by Parliament in June 1992. The Society wants to use this day to highlight its activities during the next 10 days as part of the Fourth European Red Cross Road Safety Campaign.

European Red Cross branches in Malta and Gozo are in fact joining 19 counterparts across the European Union in this road safety campaign this month with a series of activities and media exposure to raise awareness.

The local campaign, being held over the next three weeks, starting from today, is focused primarily on children and young people who are vulnerable road users and, as drivers who have just acquired their licence, highly likely to be involved in accidents.

The themes of the campaign are: You've Only Got One Life. Take Care, for children; One Life. Keep It, for teenagers and young adults and One Life. Protect It, aimed at adults. The main objectives of the campaign are to: increase European visibility for road safety issues; collect best practice tools for road safety and first aid and proactively share this throughout Europe; and encourage individuals, communities, organisations and governments to improve road safety.

The campaign is supported by the European Commission. Indeed, Jacques Barrot, vice president of the European Commission, then in charge of transport matters, said on the launch of the European Road Safety Campaign: "I very much welcome the launch of this campaign on this first European Road Safety Day and the European Commission is proud of being one of the campaign sponsors. The objective of making our roads safer is one that we all share and one where we can all make a contribution."

Other sponsors of the campaign are Toyota Motor Europe and Tom Tom, the world's largest portable navigation solutions provider.

With over 43,000 people killed in road accidents in the EU each year and over 1.8 million people injured, at a cost of €160 billion, the campaign wants to play its part to help the European Commission achieve its target of halving the number of road victims by 2010.

Since 2001, EU Red Cross national societies have collaborated on road safety campaigning with a focus on promoting road safety awareness, first aid skills and good road safety practices. Over 57 per cent of all road victims die in the first minutes following a crash, before the arrival of emergency services. Up to 80 per cent of preventable pre-hospital deaths may be due to airway obstruction and occur before the arrival of paramedic help. The Red Cross strongly believes that first aid is a cost-effective, safe and simple way to save lives in an emergency. Each of us can learn and be prepared to give the right help immediately to the victims of a crash. With over three million Europeans receiving training from the Red Cross in first aid each year, the Red Cross sees a natural affinity with road safety and accident prevention.

According to Luc Henskens, director of the Red Cross EU office: "Across Europe road traffic accidents kill more than 100 people every day. These deaths are not inevitable - the reason why the issue has been recognised as a priority for European Red Cross national societies".

The Red Cross, as a leading provider of first aid, endeavours to make first aid education compulsory at different stages of life and promotes the road safety culture in Europe.

Through various initiatives the Malta and Gozo branches of the Red Cross aim to raise awareness, influence behaviour and build community capacity, mobilising communities to take action to reduce road traffic accidents in their neighbourhoods.

Four key messages for young people are: drinking and driving do not mix; take a first aid course; don't talk on your mobile while driving; and wear a seatbelt - it can save your life.

A three-minute cartoon will be shown on Paqpaq! on TVM in the coming weeks. This has several positive messages, revolving around the nine lives of a cat, Turbo, including crossing the road when the lights go green at a Pelican crossing, not driving dangerously, not drinking and driving, the need to wear a helmet when driving a scooter, not weaving in and out of traffic, wearing safety equipment when on skateboards and attending a first aid course.

Since 2001, the EU Red Cross national societies have delivered three pan-European road safety campaigns. Through these campaigns, the Red Cross reached millions of people, informing them on preventive road safety measures and teaching them simple first aid techniques in case of accidents.

The Malta Red Cross Society also participated in the Third Red Cross Road Safety campaign in 2005-06, which was aimed to encourage individuals, business and governments to improve road safety under the motto Bringing European Road Safety Together - A Tour In Europe.

Malta has the lowest ratio of persons killed per million registered cars - 61 as compared to 121 in the UK and 129 in Germany. In Malta there were 16,138 road accidents in 2007, with 1,209 traffic casualties. There were 14 traffic fatalities, an increase of four over the previous year. In the last quarter of 2007, there were no fewer than 277 traffic casualties, three fatalities and 62 who suffered grievous injuries.

The trend has continued in the first three months of this year, with 263 traffic casualties, three fatalities and 58 suffering grievous injuries.

The Malta Red Cross Society wants to see a corresponding decrease in the number of road accidents and it is confident that the contribution of those trained to give first aid, plus education of all those involved, especially young drivers and children, will make the difference.

Prof. Fenech is president of the Malta Red Cross Society.