Public awareness on road safety

TIRANA, Feb. 2 – Ten national and international organizations partnered to create the Albanian Coalition for Road safety and launched a campaign aiming to increase public awareness and educate the public on road safety measures and advocate for responsible driving.
Road traffic injuries are a national public health and development problem in Albania and their magnitude is rising at alarming levels. Traffic related accidents in Albania are 3.5 percent higher than in other Eastern and Central European countries.
The most recent statistics released by the Albanian State Police for the year 2009 illustrate that last year there were 1465 road traffic accidents; 378 people lost their lives; 374 people suffered serious injuries and 1081 people suffered light injuries. Approximately 85 percent of the accidents have happened due to imprudence of the drivers and violation of traffic rules, causing the death of over 300 people during 2009. Over 20 percent of the accidents have occurred while driving over the speed limit. 60 accidents have happened due to drunk driving and as a result 18 people lost their lives. A high number of accidents, over 200, were caused by the imprudence and violation of traffic rules from the pedestrians. Most of the victims and people involved in accidents were between 24 and 35 years old and over 80 percent of them were men.
Improving public awareness and understanding of road safety is an essential component in reducing the level of traffic related injuries and deaths.
The 10 organizations involved are: Albanian State Police, Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Telecommunication , The United Nations in Albania, World Vision, Pameca EC, World Bank, Ora News, Eagle Mobile, American Embassy in Tirana, Albanian Red Cross, SweRoad and the Automobile Club Albania.
The campaign called “Mendohu Mire” will include television and radio spots, talks shows, public information materials, SMS text messages, special feature news reports and educational activities in schools.