Italy | Association

A.R.Co.92 – Association for Rehabilitation of the Comatose (a non-profit organisation of public utility), with headquarters in Rome, provides assistance to people in comas and to those who, having regained consciousness, must face everyday life, often having to deal with disorders, whether these be neuromotor, cognitive or behavioural. A.R.Co.92 has approximately 400 members throughout Italy.

In order to support the European Road Safety Charter, in addition to our regular activity focussing on assisting post-comatose patients to recover, we will also carry out further measures in order to ascertain the causes of numerous road accidents and thereby be able to limit them in the future.

We have ascertained that the majority of people involved in road accidents are between 18 and 35 years of age, with a clear prevalence of men.

In order to study and verify this phenomenon, we will hold a survey course on the issue (10-15 sessions lasting at least two hours each). This will be a free service we will provide to higher education institutions in Rome who would like to participate. Each meeting will involve 20 students.

We will teach young people to recognise and control, not only ‘external factors’ such as drug and alcohol intake, and so on, but also ‘internal factors’ that can influence a person’s state of mind.

With regard to external factors, we will heighten their knowledge of the effects of using alcohol and soft drugs, thus helping them to identify risk behaviour. In addition, we will provide them with tools of a psycho-pedagogical nature to increase introspection and build their capacity to make responsible decisions, thereby helping them to grow emotionally.

The courses will take place from September 2006 to June 2010, and will be carried out in association with deans and professors. The aim is to understand young people in order to act with a view to preventing further accidents.