Young Moscovites learn about safety at the Children’s Road Safety Town

09 November 2014

An educational road safety project has opened in Moscow. The Children’s Road Safety Town is a training centre aimed at young road users and offering a variety of activities, both theoretical and practical. The educational programme at the road safety park is aimed at children between the ages of five and ten. Sessions are free of charge and are offered in the form of courses which take place over a period of three months.

During the first six months of the project the organisers expect to work with around 500 children. The core idea is to teach children how to stay safe on the roads and to reduce the number of accidents involving younger road users. The project is an initiative of car manufacturer, PSA Peugeot Citroën, and is being implemented by expert centre, Road Safety Russia.

The road safety park can be found at the Central Children’s Therapeutic and Education Centre, 1A ul. Gospitalnyi Val.

The opening of the Children’s Road Safety Town began with a press conference with Christophe Bergerand, CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroën in Russia and the CIS, Vadim Melnikov, Director of Road Safety Russia, Inessa Nikolaicheva, Director of the Central Children’s Therapeutic and Education Centre, Artem Ivanov, Head of Road Safety Awareness and Media Relations at the Moscow Department of Road Traffic Safety, and Ella Tyuktyeeva, a leading expert from the local education department.

Christophe Bergerand, CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroën in Russia and the CIS, began by saying, “Corporate social responsibility is an integral part of business development. In 2011, through the automotive group, we set up a fund called ‘World in Motion’. We use this fund for work on safety and we set up projects to teach adults and children about responsible behaviour on the roads. When we are designing cars we focus primarily on the construction elements and active and passive safety systems but we also realise that ultimate responsibility lies with the driver. It’s only by working with drivers, pedestrians and other road users that we can take road safety to a new level and it’s essential that this work begins in early childhood.”

 

The Children’s Road Safety Town provides children with opportunities to learn about road safety from a very young age, covering topics such as how to cross the road safely, how to use public transport and safe use of bicycles. Vadim Melnikov, Director of Road Safety Russia, emphasised the significance of the project: “The most important thing about teaching road safety is to keep reinforcing the message. Of course, children need to start off learning about road safety from their parents. But this early education must be continued and road safety parks are an important link in the chain. They enable pre-school and school-age children to take part in excellent educational activities which combine theory and practice. In addition, it should be noted that this is a long-term project – over the course of three months every child will be able to learn the rules of road safety.”

According to Artem Ivanov, Head of Road Safety Awareness at the Moscow Department of Road Traffic Safety, the first road safety park was opened in Moscow in 2006, which represented a major breakthrough. There are now 54 similar parks and the number of road traffic accidents involving children has fallen. “Often, even if they know the theory, children are unable to make the right decision when faced with a difficult situation on the roads”, he added. “This happens because they don’t have the opportunity to translate their theoretical knowledge into practice. These road safety parks allow children to make mistakes without it costing them their lives. We can work through their mistakes in the classroom and explain the right way to act in a particular situation. Creating these pretend but realistic scenarios teaches children how to make the right decisions on the roads without having to stop and think about it.”

Following the press conference, the participants and guests were able to watch how the theory sessions work at the Children’s Road Safety Town. The classroom used for the theory lessons is equipped with educational posters, a special magnetic board on which different road situations can be simulated, an interactive display with visual and audio prompts which explain road regulations to the children and other training simulators. The children learn about the rules of the road with the help of teachers from the Children’s Therapeutic and Education Centre.

The road safety park has been built to cater for the practical sessions and includes all the main elements of road infrastructure: road markings, signs, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, public transport stops and even a level crossing. The activities in the road safety park provide a chance to put theoretical knowledge into practice and make learning about road safety more fun. To mark the end of the event, the organisers ceremonially switched on the traffic lights and the Children’s Road Safety Town was officially open! Pre-school and young school-age children then took part in the first practical session which was led by young traffic inspectors. In total around one hundred children took part in the event.

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