Road Deaths Hurt Latinos Hardest: These Steps Can Prevent Them

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1 Featured Topic: The Next Frontier of Suicide Prevention

A suicide prevention organization among LGBTQ+ youth

that has been in the United States for decades is expanding to Mexico.

From there, he plans to establish himself in the rest of Latin America and the world, according to Edurne Balmori Palacios, executive director of The Trevor Project in Mexico.

Why It Matters

: One in 20 people in Mexico identifies as LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans,

queer and other diverse sexual orientations and gender identities).

Most are between 15 and 29 years old, according to official data from June.

• Almost 29% of people who identify as LGBTQ+ reported that they have considered or attempted suicide.

• The rate is 3 times higher than between heterosexual and cisgender people.

Details

: The Trevor Project has about 700 crisis counselors and serves more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ youth in the US.

• It is now hiring dozens of people in Mexico to launch its 24/7 crisis helpline this October.

• It will also offer chat online and on WhatsApp (unlike in the US, where it works by regular text message), Balmori added.

"Mexico let's say that we are like the pioneer country and at the same time a guinea pig"

EDURNE BALMORI the trevor project mexico

The Trevor Project Mexico will

start with only the emergency contact system.

But Balmori commented that they already have plans to replicate other programs:

• The mental health surveys that each year look at the biggest struggles for LGBTQ+ people.

• Alliances with other organizations and authorities to promote public policies for the benefit of communities of sexual and gender diversity.

  For example, legislation to prohibit the activities of groups that falsely claim to be able to "cure" being gay (the so-called "conversion therapies" that in many cases involve forms of psychological torture).

Edurne Balmori PalaciosPhoto illustration by Aïda Amer/Axios / Photo courtesy of The Trevor Project

One of the biggest challenges

in Mexico is reaching people in indigenous areas or remote parts of the country, Balmori said.

But The Trevor Project is already trying to network with local organizations.

• "Mexico let's say that we are like the pioneer country and at the same time a guinea pig," the executive director said in an interview, and will be an example to go "to all of Latin America and other parts of the world."

The fact:

This August, the Chamber of Deputies will hold the LGBT Youth Parliament for the first time, special sessions to develop twenty bills that protect communities of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities in Mexico.

2. DACA is defended in court

Lawyers and activists who support Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) appeared Wednesday in federal court to preserve the program.

• DACA protects more than 600,000 people who were brought to the US by relatives as children.

News Momentum

: Both advocacy groups and the Joe Biden administration are asking the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a year-old ruling by a federal judge in Texas that found DACA illegal.

• With this, the possibility of new applications for DACA immigration relief was suspended.

  Although people who were already registered can still renew their permits.

Dreamers are in suspense over a new judicial threat against DACA: "these judges are quite conservative"

July 6, 202202:29

In his own words

: "Now that a decade has passed, ending DACA would cause extraordinary disruption to recipients, their citizen children, employers and states," said Jeremy Feigenbaum, the New Jersey attorney general who spoke on the case.

Pending

: The appellate court in question, located in New Orleans, is expected to issue its decision later this year.

3. How to avoid road deaths

State and local authorities and artificial intelligence companies

are working to improve road safety at a time when traffic deaths have risen precipitously in the United States.

To note:

The rate of deaths from traffic collisions is particularly high for Latinos and black people, regardless of the mode of transportation, according to a study published in June by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

News Momentum:

Every year 1.3 million people die in crashes around the world.

The United States recorded 43,000 deaths in 2021, the highest number in 16 years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, in English).

• Last week, UN countries unanimously agreed to work to cut deaths in half by 2030.

The core data

: For road safety, visually delimiting the spaces through which cyclists, pedestrians and cars move “is the ideal solution, especially given that safety regulations and the application of speed limits are lax compared to other nations Matthew Raifman, an environmental health specialist at Boston University and co-author of the study that found much higher rates of road fatality for Latinos and blacks, said in an interview.

• He added that it is important that the measures take into account racial and ethnic disparities, such as the fact that majority black and Latino neighborhoods tend to have less road infrastructure.

Details

: Low-cost measures like reflective trim that make signs even more visible can reduce crashes by 15%, said Wes Guckert, president of The Traffic Group.

An example of a reflective border US Department of Transportation

• Other possible measures include more street lighting near pedestrian crossings;

  that bike paths are surrounded by raised barriers;

  or that sidewalks have a bulge at crossing points.

  The latter makes people near the road more visible to cars and sometimes forces vehicles to slow down a bit so that if a collision does occur, it is less damaging.

• In Hoboken, New Jersey, several of these measures have been implemented and in recent years there has not been a single road death, official data shows.

Companies

are also working on mechanisms to reduce traffic deaths and injuries.

• Software company Derq is developing artificial intelligence that it says can alert drivers if a pedestrian is approaching the middle of an intersection.

  In June, Derq presented his plans to Florida authorities for a possible state contract.

• Starting this month, all new car models marketed in Europe will have to have software that can give drivers audible warnings (if they are looking at their phones, for example) or even vibrate the accelerator pedal if the car is going too fast. above the speed limit.

• Other companies use artificial intelligence and camera analytics to help cities learn where and when the most crashes happen, and implement security measures there.

But, but, but:

Having more security measures requires political will, and can spark complaints, Raifman stressed.

• In recent years, initiatives such as speed bumps (residents of Austin, Texas, managed to get them removed) or barriers dividing bicycle lanes (businesses in New York say customer parking has been reduced) have caused controversy.

• Sometimes the choice authorities must make is "between zero deaths or happy voters," Guckert said.

4. Latinos have to take more care of the wallet

Hispanics and black Americans face

slightly higher inflation rates from 2021 compared to whites or Asians.

Details

: The inflation figure, which is at a sky-high 8.6%, doesn't reveal much about how different households suffer from it.

But research from the New York Federal Reserve found that there are real differences depending on whether people live in rural or urban areas, or whether they own a car or a home.

Make a budget, not go to the supermarket hungry and other tips to save in full inflation

June 21, 202201:50

• Generally speaking, Latinos spend more of their money on transportation, such as cars that need to be refueled.

  They thus saw notorious price increases.

• Black people spend relatively more money on housing, mainly because they tend to rent and rents have risen more than fixed-rate mortgages to buy a home.

• People of Asian descent and non-Hispanic whites spend slightly more on education.

  Those prices have increased but less than other categories.

The intrigue:

Researchers at the New York Federal Reserve warn that actual gaps in the impact of inflation may be larger than their estimates.

5. Key news in Latin America and the US.

1. A new report reveals that a Uvalde police officer

 had the killer in his sights before he entered the school but missed the opportunity to shoot him down before he shot students and teachers.

• Some of the 21 fatalities -- 19 children and two teachers -- likely "could have been saved" on May 24, according to the report by ALERRT, a Texas State University training center that studies shootings.

A report reveals the failures of the police during the Uvalde massacre

July 7, 202202:15

2. Nicaraguan police forces seized

government buildings in five municipalities by force on Monday and installed new mayors to replace the regents, the only ones in the country who were from opposition parties, according to reports.

• The occupation order was attributed to the president, Daniel Ortega, and the vice president, Rosario Murillo.

  This is the latest move to quell dissent in the nation, and it comes four months after local elections.

• Ortega and Murillo, who according to international observers were irregularly re-elected in November, have imprisoned dozens of opposition leaders and forced, with laws that restrict funding, the closure of hundreds of NGOs.

6. Too deep!

A historic stadium in Mexico

 hosted its first women's softball game last weekend.

Mayan women star in the first women's softball game at the Kukulcán Álamo stadium in Mérida

July 4, 202201:23

Details

: Around 15,000 spectators gathered at the Kukulcán stadium in Mérida, Yucatán, for an exhibition match between the Natividad de Sucilá team and the Amazonas de Yaxunah team, the latter made up of Mayan women who play barefoot.

• Natividad won 14-12, but all the players celebrated.

Pachanga Thursday

Carmen and Wil Rodríguez Courtesy of Aimee Vargas.

Background by Axios Visuals

We love a good love story, and today we bring you the story of Carmen and Wil Rodríguez, who celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on May 28.

The couple lives in Rockland County, New York, and has two children and four grandchildren.

His family informs us that the Rodríguez will receive a special blessing during mass this Sunday.

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