Diplomats for road safety
Good road safety management is essential to creating a safe system where road fatalities are obsolete. However, one of the ongoing challenges to achieving good road safety management is a lack of awareness and engagement amongst key policy makers, parliamentarians and diplomats.
To stress the importance of road safety in Belarus and push for change, EASST partners the Belarusian Auto-Moto Touring Club (BKA) hosted a special event aimed at engaging diplomats in road safety issues and encouraging them to be responsible road users themselves.
The event, which was held on 22nd April in Minsk, was attended by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and over 100 representatives from the diplomatic and consular corps as well as employees from various international organisations in Belarus along with their families.
Visitors were given the opportunity to test-drive a rally car with anti-skid technology as well as participate in activities including workshops on safe driving led by Belarusian motorsport champion Sergei Ovchinnikov, a demonstration on extinguishing a car fire but the Ministry of Emergency Situations, first aid training provided by the Belarusian Red Cross Society, and a MAZ (Minsk Automobile Plant) demonstration by silver prize-winners of the Dakar 2018 world rally – and much more.
The BKA also used the event to showcase their work on disability, mobility and road risk, inviting local enterprises run by people with disabilities to present their work at a trade fair within the event.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Vladimir Makey also used the opportunity to reaffirm Belarus’ commitment to the new UN road safety resolution passed earlier this month
The event was held with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus and JSC “BPS-Sberbank”. Activities were covered by the all the major media channels in Belarus, including ONT (“Nation-wide Television”), CTV (“Metropolitan Television”) and the state informational agency BelTA.
The links to the media coverage of the event:
http://ont.by/news/our_news/yshli-v-zanos.-diplomati-sdali-ekzamen-po-ekstremalnomy-vozhdeniyu
http://ont.by/news/our_news/diplomatam-proveli-master-klass-po-kontravarijnomy-vozhdeniyu
http://www.belta.by/society/view/aktsija-diplomaty-za-bezopasnost-sostojalas-v-silichah-299687-2018
