Our story is all factual. It is a video and we've based it on what people here in the Netherlands (based in Almere) know about road safety, and if they keep themselves safe on the road. We also share facts to make them more cautious.
The ideas
This project was a positive concept for us students, knowing that we had to send a message to the society of Almere. Working together and sharing thoughts was another great thing for us as a group, learning how to accept other opinions and make a final decision on something. We shared thoughts about how we wanted our project to be achieved. We had come up with the idea of attending a local primary school to explain to the younger children what they should know about road safety, and its benefits. We wanted to share our thoughts with them for their own safety and driver safety. We came up with an example: make sure to keep eye contact with the driver. Later on we realised the idea of attending the primary school was overrated for the groups that were participating.
Starting from scratch was a minor issue, but we had to come up with quick ideas and use our knowledge to come up with something new. We decided to interview locals around Almere, asking what they knew about road safety, from kids to teenagers to the elderly. It was a great experience for us due to the fact that everyone had their own opinion about crossing the road, cycling with music, texting while driving etc. During the process of this project we faced many challenges and changes of planning. We shared plenty of ideas within the group, until we had decided on a final piece we wanted our project to focus on. Road safety is a big concern not only for pedestrian safety but also for drivers. We had written down what kind of road safeties there are: signs, stoplights, road surface marking etc.
The initiatives
Our initiative is to inform as many people as we can about road safety and what are some do's and don’ts. A lot of people neglect the small details that could become a major accident on the road. We asked and interviewed as many people as possible, and although many did not allow us to film, they were glad to answer questions. We also went around Almere to show the video (by iPad). Many were in shock of the statistics and many were conscious of their own mistakes on the road.
The initiative was to make people aware and become safer on the road. We believe that we have helped many people of Almere to be so.
