589 Empowering cities to solve their own road-safety issues via youth-led, community-driven multi-sectoral action backed by data and technology under the mentorship of experts

Background This abstract discusses the road safety policy internship program, an impactful ground-level flagship project of the Indian Road Safety Campaign backed and funded by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Govt of India, which has inspired and enabled youth to take meaningful action for road safety in their communities by collaborating with stakeholders. Objective To inspire students to become changemakers by examining everyday observations such as broken traffic lights, a lack of traffic signs, potholes, and other hazards that make their surroundings unsafe and collaborating with authorities to get them fixed. Program Description Policy Internship is a four-phased program undertaken by students in their degree studies under the mentorship of road safety and urban planning experts. Phase 1:- Identify a location having problems pertaining to road safety or a major traffic-related issue. Phase 2:- Stakeholder Analysis and mini road-safety audit to understand the difficulties and get possible suggestions for mitigation measures. Phase 3:- Design detailed feasible solutions with the help of case studies and consulting with experts. Phase 4:- Detailed Report mentioning all the data collected and solutions designed. Liaise with the authorities to get the solutions implemented. Outcomes and Learnings Over the past six years, the program has seen participation of over 2500 interns and ground-level changes at over 50 locations in 15+ states of India. This program has evolved from being a small project only for civil engineer undergrads to a more structured, step-by-step, mentored, and impactful process for anyone willing to solve a road safety problem, irrespective of technical knowledge. Implications Local governments can adopt this program to engage citizens in communities who not only wish for but also contribute to safer roads. It can be incentivized and streamlined within community participation programs to ensure sustainability. Conclusions The Policy Internship Program reaffirms that meaningful youth engagement and empowerment can go a long way in solving crises such as road traffic crashes. The program gave the students first-hand exposure to the problem and taught them how to crowd-source solutions and use the administration's help to implement solutions.