Turkey
Exchange programme highlights road-safety developments in Turkey and Russian Federation
Road-safety experts visit the traffic-control directorate in Ankara, Turkey. Photo: WHO/Natasha Konovalova
The Road Safety in 10 Countries Project, RS10, focused on seat-belt use and speed control during its first stage. Meeting in Ankara, Turkey on 7–9 December 2011, members of the project teams in Turkey and the Russian Federation discussed progress so far, along with police officers and experts in social marketing, road-safety legislation and training.
The participants also reflected on problems in implementing activities and how to tackle them. Representatives of the Russian and Turkish delegations shared their experience with implementing legislative initiatives, strengthening enforcement on key risk factors and organizing media campaigns.
In the Lipetsk and Ivanovo regions of the Russian Federation, for example, a public information campaign was conducted with initiatives including “Two Sh” ( “sh” is the first letter of the Russian words for chocolate and penalty), “Belt for Daddy” and “Father Frost”. Afterwards, the rate of seat-belt use significantly increased from the baseline measured before the campaign.
In Turkey, activities had focused on commercial drivers. Regular training, including the use of simulators, proved to be very effective in improving road safety.
The exchange programme included a visit to the modern information technology (IT) centre of the directorate for traffic control and surveillance in Ankara. Using, cameras set at various places throughout the city, operators can monitor the situation not only on the roads but also in pedestrian areas. According to the Turkish police, general crime rates in the city decreased by 60% over a year.
For the next two years, RS10 will focus on improving the legislative and regulatory bases of road-safety initiatives, strengthening the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and working with particular target groups.
RS10 global road safety programme
RS10 is under way in 10 countries around the world: Brazil, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Kenya, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Viet Nam. With financing from Bloomberg Philanthropies, six partner organizations implement and coordinate activities with government organizations and NGOs in the countries. These partners are WHO, EMBARQ (the World Resources Institute (WRI) Center for Sustainable Transport), the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Johns Hopkins University, United States of America), the World Bank’s Global Road Safety Facility, the Global Road Safety Partnership and the Association for Safe International Road Travel (United States of America).