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For example, there have been many traffic incidents involving nitrous oxide in recent years. Hallucination, fainting or paralysis in the legs.

Most young people find the use of laughing gas in traffic dangerous. Nevertheless, there are young people who participate in traffic with nitrous oxide. This is due to self overestimation and a misjudgment of the risks. Young people also find it annoying to address the driver as a passenger about nitrous oxide use in the car. This is apparent from research by youth organization TeamAlert.

Dangerous traffic situations

The use of nitrous oxide in traffic is a worrying problem among young people in the Netherlands. For example, there have been many traffic incidents involving nitrous oxide in recent years. Hallucination, fainting or paralysis in the legs: these are various side effects that make laughing gas life-threatening in traffic. For many young people, however, the car is the place to use nitrous oxide. For example, a (stationary) car offers a lot of comfort and privacy. As a result, the threshold for starting the car is less high, which leads to dangerous traffic situations.

Laughing gas own responsibility

TeamAlert investigated the use of laughing gas among young people in traffic. Many young people do not feel responsible for the use of laughing gas by others. They do not want to interfere in the behavior of others and hardly talk to each other about the use. Although young people think that laughing gas is dangerous in traffic, one in four young people find it annoying to address a driver about the use of laughing gas. This is evident from the TeamAlert research. There is no desirable social norm among these young people to address each other.

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The use of nitrous oxide in traffic is a worrying problem among young people in the Netherlands.

“How do you address someone else?”

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To tackle the nitrous oxide problem in traffic, TeamAlert recently launched the 'Rij Ballonvrij' campaign for the third time in a row. With this campaign, TeamAlert combats the use of laughing gas among young people in traffic. The focus in the campaign this year is on passengers to address their driver about nitrous oxide use. 'Don't be a clown in traffic. How do you address someone else?' is the central message here. To kick off the campaign, TeamAlert recently with a playful action at the Stationsplein in Almere.

“The number of accidents involving nitrous oxide is far too high, I find that worrying. The government is therefore urging to tackle the use of laughing gas in traffic. In addition to enforcement, we focus on information and awareness, in which young people are a very important target group. It's great that TeamAlert makes the risks clear to them.”

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