Each year 1.2 million men, women and children around the world lose their lives as a result of road traffic collisions. Hundreds of thousands more are injured on the world’s roads, some of whom become permanently disabled. While there are growing efforts in different parts of the world to prevent road traffic injuries, capacity remains a problem.
On the 24-26th of October 2014 the Road safety fundamentals and interventions’ sub-regional workshop took place in Chisinau, within the Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia (TRACECA) Road Safety II Project funded by the European Commission. Partners of the project are the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) (hosted by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies), the Automobile Club of Moldova, the Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport (EASST).
This workshop aimed to address the problem of capacity for road traffic injury prevention by providing guidance to professionals working in a wide range of disciplines involved in different aspects of road safety.
The workshop was delivered by road safety experts as Mr. Ian Hughes – GRSP, Mrs. Emma MacLennan – Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport, Mrs. Liana Ghukasyan – GRSP, Mrs. Tatiana Mihailova – Automobile Club of Moldova and was attended by representatives of road safety related organizations from Moldova and Ukraine.
The event was also joined by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Republic of Moldova, Mr. Serghei Diaconu, who shared the success of the reform of MIA and the Police in Moldova and also explained about the anti-corruption measures and the importance of NGOs and civil society’s involvement.
During the workshop, there were revealed many common causes that affect the level of road safety, both in Moldova and Ukraine: drivers’ professional skills and qualification, road safety culture of pedestrians and drivers, lack of systemic educational programs for all road users (especially for children).
The focus of the seminar was given to the problems associated with road accidents, various risk factors, as well as to ne need to implement constructive strategies in the beneficiary countries of the TRACECA project.
As outcomes of this workshop: two working groups were established - two strong partnerships which will implement the proposed plans (including educational programs for children) in their own countries during the project.
The workshop helped participants to expand their knowledge about road safety and acquire important skills to develop and implement control and prevention programs, taking into account existing risk factors.
