In rural regions of Moldova where there is no street lighting and vehicles, animals and people all share the road, the risk of road crashes is particularly high. Facilitated by EASST and the Automobile Club of Moldova (ACM), the project began in 2014 after a consultation with local villages through which a need for help with equipment to improve the visibility of agricultural vehicles on the roads was identified – particularly at night and during the winter months. Last year, over 5000 all-weather high visibility items were donated by the Kier Group to the village of Hicesti to improve farmers’ safety on the roads.
On 9th September a new batch of donations from Kier arrived in the village of Chetrosu and were distributed to owners of horse carts and agricultural vehicles for use when they are driving, as well as cyclists and people with motorbikes. The ACM along with the IT Service Department (STI) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs organised an event in partnership with the Mayor of Chetrosu, who invited local police and authorities, to present recipients with high-vis vests and polo-shirts as well as giving out leaflets with useful information for farmers and horse cart drivers about keeping safe and talking to them about road risks and visibility issues in rural areas.
After the donation ceremony, the ACM and the ProtectMD Foundation conducted a road safety workshop for 70 parents from Chetrosu as part of the REPEMOL project “Do you know about road risks?” While, children who came by on their bicycles were happy to receive reflective wristbands.
As a result, with special thanks to the Kier Group and the US Embassy in Moldova agricultural workers in the village of Chetrosu are now safer on the roads.
For Kier, these donations of high-vis clothing have significantly reduced the quantity of good-quality, useable equipment going into landfill sites in the UK. The high-visibility clothes are being distributed as part of a US Embassy-aided project supporting community policing. For more info visit: http://saferoads.md/index.php?view=news&t=high-visibility-for-farmers-in-hincesti
For more information on the REPEMOL project visit: http://saferoads.md/index.php?view=news&t=road-traffic-education-is-also-imoirtant-for-parents
