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Last year alone, nearly 40 per cent of car accident victims were children under the age of 10. According to psychologists and traffic experts, in order to change these statistics, it is necessary to teach children road safety rules in a visual and engaging way.
For this reason, for the second year in a row, socially responsible business partners gathered to create educational project “Be Safe on the Roads”. “Girteka Logistics”, “Circle K”, “Volvo”, “Lithuanian Police” and “Save the Children” will seek to draw attention of children and their parents in order encourage safer behaviour on the roads. To do this, for the second year in a row partners present a children which presents the most important traffic rules in a playful way.
“It is important to realize that it is only you who is responsible for your own safety on the roads, so it is necessary to respect yourself and those around you, to follow the generally accepted norms of behaviour. Still it is really important to raise awareness and understanding of safety on roads from an early age,” says Renatas Siaurusaitis, Chief Specialist of the Administrative and Traffic Supervision Division of the Lithuanian Police.
“As the company that manages the largest truck fleet in Europe, we feel obliged to make our contribution to road safety. For many years, we have been organizing and contributing to various initiatives to promote road safety, and one of the key tools for this remains the education of the public, especially the little ones for them to learn and apply road traffic rules.
By implementing the information campaign – publishing an educational book for children and sharing useful information on one of the most popular news portals in Lithuania 15min.lt as well as on other channels, we will contribute to increasing road safety,” says Simonas Bartkus, Head of Marketing and Communications at Girteka Logistics.
Safety on Lithuanian roads, in his opinion, is the responsibility of each of us. Therefore, as the dark season of the year approaches, and as children return to schools, more attention needs to be paid to this.
“Through educational programs, together with our partners, this year we again are teaching children and teenagers how to behave safely on the roads near large vehicles. With this initiative, we aim to explain and show how vulnerable road users can better understand the risks of approaching a truck, driving nearly or crossing a carriageway. One of the most important goals we set is to help prevent traffic accidents and create a safe future for us and our children,” says Laurynas Bričkus, Marketing Manager of Volvo Trucks Lietuva.
According to R. Siaurusaitis, more than half of the pedestrians involved in the traffic accidents die during the dark hours of the day, and every third person suffers serious injuries. Statistics show that pedestrians are eight times more likely to risk their lives when walking on an unlit road without a reflector.
To avoid accidents involving pedestrians, both cyclists and drivers of vehicles should behave more responsibly: wear a reflector, wear a brightly coloured vest or other clothing with reflective elements (then the driver will be three times more likely to notice).
“Helping children is a priority area of our company’s social responsibility, so upon children returning back to schools, we aim to remind all road users to be more careful and make sure we see each other on the roads”, says Renatas Alekna, Circle K’s Director of Commerce and Marketing in Lithuania.
The paper version of the children’s book is being distributed at Circle K petrol stations, and the electronic version can be downloaded at www.buksauguskelyje.lt. You can find the project on the news portal 15min.lt HERE.
