Everyone has to do their part to make road safety a reality and there’s no better place to start than the local community - which is what a group of Romanian students decided do with their initiative to improve road safety around their school
The ideas
Tenth grade students from Liceul Technologic Meserii si Servicii Buzau in Romania wanted to help improve road safety in their community, so they began by discussing the different dangers that exist in their own town of Buzau. They decided that the worst thing for Buzau in regards to traffic is the extremely high number of car accidents, putting all community members at risk. They concluded that some of the factors behind these accidents are not having enough traffic lights and the terrible rush hour traffic.
They then identified the things they could do in order to reduce the number of car accidents. They worked in groups to design posters with their ideas and initiatives, and a spokesperson presented their work. Then they voted for the three best ideas for a safer environment in Buzau: putting traffic lights at every zebra crossing; building underground passages for pedestrians; and building a zebra crossing in front of the high school.
They presented these three great ideas to all of their school colleagues and together they voted on the one that they most wanted to make reality: it was the zebra crossing in front of their school.
The initiatives
The students implemented their campaign at the high school level and spread awareness of the zebra crossing campaign by making a PowerPoint presentation to the other students, by writing an article about the initiative for the school magazine, and by arranging a local radio interview. They also planned a visit to the city council to make their idea come true.
They named the campaign ‘We Can Save Lives’ and encouraged every student to do their part by respecting the rules of the road. The students are still waiting to hear from the city council about the zebra crossing, but even if they are denied they can consider the initiative a success. This is because they helped to educate themselves and others on road safety and good behavior and pedestrians and drivers, which alone is enough to make a difference and save lives.
