The purpose of the team “Safety always and everywhere” is to encourage responsible behaviour on the pavements and roads in our town and create a harmonious driving environment for people riding bicycles, rolling Gyro Scooters, skateboards, roller-skates.
The ideas
Our small town is situated in the Far North. The streets of our town are covered with snow most of the time but from May till September most teenagers and people of all ages move on the pavements and roads riding bicycles, rolling Gyro Scooters, skateboards, roller-skates. Because of the lack of special places, cyclists, Gyro Scooters, skateboarders, roller-skaters are seen everywhere. It’s not safe to use suсh means of transport near schools and kindergartens. Dangerous school territory and school grounds are very attractive for riders.
In Russia, Gyro Scooters appeared in 2014. They are becoming more and more popular among teenagers and young people. The absence of driving rules for Gyro Scooters and Segway is one of the causes of accidents on the pavements and roads. The Russian government pays special attention to this problem because Gyro Scooters are technically complicated and speedy means of transport and decides to develop special road rules and signs to regulate their owners’ behaviour. Moreover, the government claims the necessity of registration Gyro Scooters like other vehicles.
We collected statistics and reports on the Internet about accidents caused by riders’ irresponsible behaviour. We know that the traffic accidents in our region increases by 15% including teenagers and young people using Gyro Scooters and other two-wheeled vehicles.
Also, we carried out a questionnaire to learn about our dwellers’ opinion about the necessity of additional places for cyclists and implementing a special sign banning rolling Gyro Scooters and Segway next to schools and kindergartens. About 50 teenagers and young people took part in our survey in a social network Vkontakte answering 2 questions:
- Do the residents of our town need a special place to roll or ride?
- Is there a necessity of implementing a special sign banning rolling Gyro Scooters and Segway near schools and kindergartens?
79% of the participants of our survey agreed that we need special places for cyclists and other riders in our town. 55% agreed that a banner would provide safety for small children and junior students.
The initiatives
The objective of our activity is to understand the danger of irresponsible behaviour on the pavements and roads. Through publication in the social nets and organizing the contest to design the road sign banning rolling Gyro Scooters, we want to pay special attention to this problem and to teach riders how to be responsible in their behaviour.
What we have done:
- We have published the information about our project in Vkontakte.
- We have written a letter to our city manager with the request to widen pavements or roads (when they are repaired) to give space to cyclists and Gyro Scooters.
What we are going to do:
- We are going to give the advertisement and organize the contest among high-school students to design the road banning sign for using Gyro Scooters in September 2019.
- We will cooperate with our local road police department to choose the best design and implement this sign.
We are for safety always & everywhere!
