In Georgia, where 1352 people were either injured or killed on the roads in the first 10 months of 2016, EASST partner, the Partnership for Road Safety (PfRS) called on drivers to #slowdown for their loved ones as part of their Global Road Safety Week activities.
Working in collaboration partners ranging from Georgian President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, to local schools and businesses, PfRS held a variety of events and activities across the country aimed at both celebrating Georgia’s achievements in improving Road Safety and highlighting the on-going risks on Georgian roads.
During the week, the PfRS were awarded a special prize by the Ministry of Internal Affairs for their active performance and achievements in road safety in Georgia.
Slow down for your loved ones
Children’s road safety was a key message behind the week’s events. Trainers from the Partnership for Road Safety visited three different schools in Tbilisi and Kutaisi providing road safety education sessions to over 100 school children. Road safety is vital for children and young people because children are both less able to recognise dangerous situations and physically smaller so more likely to be hurt by an impact. The lessons therefore focused on speed awareness with children using a Speed Radar to measure the speeds of different objects coming towards them. They also received reflectors to wear at night so that they are more visible and road safety education books to take home.
With road traffic collisions serving as the leading cause of death amongst 15-29 year olds globally, the PfRS made sure to arrange events targeted specifically at this age group and which were broadcast by the main national TV channels. For example, working with university students from the Georgian-American University PfRS held a ‘street walk’ where, along with other famous people, students took to the streets holding banners and calling on drivers to slow down. While, a team of celebrities, professional drivers and road safety experts held a masterclass on safe driving at the university where students and visitors were able to test special road safety simulators, giving them an idea of what it’s like to flip your car or crash at high speed.
Other events during the week included: a conference held by the National Center for Disease Control involving representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development, Ministry of Education, City Hall, Patrol Police and NGOs to discuss actions relating to the National Road Safety Action Plan that was launched earlier in the year; a meeting organised by the National Probation Agency to discuss the current situation and problems related to road safety in Georgia and ways of addressing these issues; and a dedicated feature on Imedi’s morning TV show, EASST’s Gela Kvashilava talked about the licensing system for drivers, novice drivers and the need for technical examination.
