138 th “ Vasil Zlatarski ” School Sofia, Bulgaria Road Safety Challenge 2014

138th “Vasil Zlatarski” School Sofia, Bulgaria

Road Safety Challenge 2014

OUR TEAM CONSISTS OF 5 STUDENTS FROM THE 9TH GRADE AND A LEAD TEACHER. WE FOUND OUT ABOUT THE ROAD SAFETY AUDIT CONCEPT ON THE INTERNET AND WE TRIED TO REACH AS MANY PEOPLE AS WE CAN. ON THE LAST STAGE OF OUR INITIATIVE WE GATHERED 210 PEOPLE, 180 OF WHOM WERE YOUNG PEOPLE.

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First stage -Our audit

We audited the crossing "Shipchenski prohod" and "Copernicus" streets in "Slatina" municipality near our school by observing for an hour the violations carried out by drivers and pedestrians. Out of 75 vehicles and 15 pedestrians during the audit:57% did not keep distance;76% changed lanes without turn signal;93% entered a restricted area or went in wrong direction;48% cut-off another driver or a pedestrian;70% of the parked vehicles were in a no-parking zone;40% of the pedestrians crossed on red light;20% of the pedestrians crossed on an unmarked location.

What did we notice?

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Observations and conclusions:

►1) Road markings are not observed.

►2) The two traffic lights for the cars and also for the pedestrians signal at the same time.

►3) The cars which are driving forward drive on the left lane and they break the laws of Bulgaria. 4) There are parked cars on the right lane which jam the traffic.


Our proposals: 1) To ban left turns on “Shipchenski Prohod” Boulevard. 2) To ban parking in the first 100 metres after every crossing. 3) To reorganize the traffic lights for conflict-free crossing of vehicles and pedestrians.4) If the left turns are banned, the lane on the tram rails can be opened. 5) To make the crosswalk on “Shipchenski Prohod” boulevard and “Lidice” street raised with running lights.



The Second stage • The second stage of our

initiative was planning and implementing a meeting in our school with representatives of the local authorities (municipalities), Ministry of Interior and Civil Society within the World Day of Remembrance for the victims of traffic accidents. The meeting was held on 18.11.2013 and was attended by representatives of the Slatina Municipality, a Police Inspector, the headmistress and the deputies of the 138th „Prof. Vasil Zlatarski" School, teachers and students.


We finished the meeting with the message:

We will succeed together!

BETWEEN NOVEMBER 2013 AND APRIL 2014 OUR TEAM UNDERTOOK DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES ON “ROAD SAFETY CHALLENGE 2014” INITIATIVE. THE ACTIONS ON REGIONAL LEVEL STARTED BY INVITING STATE OFFICIALS AND FINDING PUBLIC SUPPORTERS TO ASSIST IN ORGANIZING AND IMPLEMENTING THE CAMPAIGN. AT THIS STAGE THE FOLLOWING PARTNERS IN THE FORTHCOMING CAMPAIGN JOINED THE INITIATIVE:

- ‘’OPEN YOUTH’’ ORGANIZATION WHICH SUPPORTS US FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. THEY PROVIDED SIMULATORS, ALCOGOGGLES AND DIFFERENT PRIZES FOR STUDENTS;

- FOUNDATION ‘’FAIRYTALE ABOUT THE ROAD”;

- FAMOUS BULGARIAN ACTOR KALIN SURMENOV;

- EXPERTS FROM SOFIA MUNICIPALITY;

- MEDIA: BULGARIAN NATIONAL RADIO; TV CHANNEL “KANAL 3”; AUTO BUILD MAGAZINE;


The Third stage – the campaign

The aims of the campaign were:

To spread the results of the audit;

To attract the attention of the public and in particular the road users;

To raise the pending issues with the road infrastructure in front of the institutions;

To train and educate the youngsters in safe behaviour on the street;

To transmit our message to all road users;

Our campaign took place on 9th April 2014 on the playground of 138th "Prof. Vasil Zlatarski" School and included:

alcogoggles simulating different level of alcohol in the blood without using any; driving simulator in risky situations – a high-tech 3D platform designed to recreate the

real driving experience in virtual reality; specially developed scale that shows how heavy a person becomes during a crash at 50,

90 or 130 km/h; a puzzle showing the participant the inability to focus on two different activities at the

same time; educative interactive spectacles on road safety with fairytale characters for pupils 7 – 13

years old; alcogoggles games and competitions with prizes for students; poems, songs, posters and paintings on the topic of road safety; presentation of the results of the audit and our message; distribution of brochures;

Presenting the results of the audit

Poems and songs

Famous Bulgarian actor Kalin Surmenov

And with Municipality representatives

Simulators, puzzles and scales

alcogoggles games and competitions

media

138 th “ Vasil Zlatarski ” School Sofia, Bulgaria Road Safety Challenge 2014

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