Young Generation of Tajikistan and EASST support community-led school zone road safety interventions in Rudaki

EASST partner NGO, Young Generation of Tajikistan (YGT) has delivered low-cost infrastructure upgrades to improve road safety around three high-risk schools in Rudaki, a district near the capital Dushanbe, which suffers from a particularly high rate of road traffic casualties.

The project is part of EASST’s regional initiative advocating for safer school zones supported by the FIA Foundation Advocacy Hub.

In 2021, Tajikistan’s Traffic Police reported 85 child fatalities and 260 injuries from road traffic crashes—half of which involved pedestrians—with speed identified as a contributing factor in over 65% of cases. Our aim therefore has been to promote the benefits of speed management amongst local authorities and the traffic police, and empower school communities and residents in calling for safer school zones to protect child pedestrians. Through this, we hope to establish an evidence-base for a more strategic approach to school zone safety at the wider district level.

From the outset of the project, YGT has worked closely with the Traffic Police in Rudaki to identify and assess high-risk 15 school areas. Starting with a shortlist of 15 schools, they jointly selected three schools for further intervention based on a combination of crash data, police insight, and school zone infrastructure assessments: Schools No. 1, 15 and 85.

To build public awareness and ensure solutions reflected local needs, YGT organised a series of public meetings and workshops to better understand perceptions and attitudes to road safety around the selected school areas. They found that 1 in 5 parents, teachers and residents were aware of serious incidents involving children around at least one of the selected schools, with 80% of our representative sample agreeing that speeds should be lowered. Across the board, it was felt that inadequate infrastructure (especially lack of traffic signals) was the main issue to be addressed.

Using this community feedback along with behavioural observations and technical school zone assessments, YGT collaborated with local authorities, engineers, and international road safety experts to co-design low-cost, evidence-based infrastructure interventions, which balanced international best practice with local road design standards for maximum impact.

In early 2025, the interventions were installed at each of the three schools. They included the creation of clearly marked out school zones with signage and painting, new zebra crossings, clear speed signage, a clearly marked out pedestrian route through the school car park at school no. 1, and barriers around the entrance to school no. 85 to separate the gate from vehicles and allow students a safe place to stand.

The project has generated widespread interest from local communities and authorities. Post-installation assessments revealed that students, teachers, and parents felt noticeably safer, with fewer reports of speeding and unsafe drop-offs. However, school No. 85 continues to face issues with high vehicle speeds. In response, EASST and YGT have recommended the installation of traffic lights and speed enforcement cameras, and are actively pursuing how to achieve this with the support of the local authorities.  

Overall, the project has demonstrated how community engagement, evidence-led design, and strong partnerships can deliver meaningful change for child road safety at a local level: creating an example that can be replicated and developed across the district and nationally. YGT will continue this work throughout 2025 to deliver further training for the police and authorities in Rudaki on the Safe System Approach and need for a holistic, strategic approach to school zone safety, using the three schools as an example of best practice.

It is hoped, with the development of a new National Road Safety Strategy underway, that the project will contribute to the inclusion of a formal target to improve school zone road safety—with reduced speeds and safe infrastructure as core indicators of success.