Students from the English International School in Moscow know that awareness and education are key to improving road safety, so they worked together to create a professional website loaded with great information and videos.
The ideas
Five students from the English International School in Moscow realized that their city has some serious problems with road safety, and improvements are being made too slowly! They decided to do their part for road safety and speed up the process. The 15-year-olds chose information as their weapon to combat traffic accidents, and decided they would especially focus on pedestrian safety in Moscow.
As they began to brainstorm about information to include on the website, they realized they had a lot of avenues to explore – respecting others on the road, citizens’ general awareness of road rules, actions taken by the local government to improve road safety, and the differences in road safety issues between low and high income countries, the development of technologies making people safer, what the government does to keep you safer and what can you do to be safer, to name just a few!
They also began to recognize some of the reasons why people don’t always respect road safety. For example, people sometimes violate rules for personal benefit, and others do not respect their local environment. The students took a positive attitude when faced with challenges like these, and stuck to their conviction that education can change attitudes and behavior for the better.
The initiatives
They got to work gathering all of the information they wanted to include and used a number of different methods to get it. They did everything from conducting internet research, to talking to experienced drivers about their experiences and opinions, to going out onto the street and observing for themselves whether or not Moscow drivers take road safety seriously.
Once they had what they needed, they used their skills in communication and technology to develop a professional website full of useful and interesting content and videos, as well as a separate YouTube channel. One of their top videos shows the area around a local Moscow junction, where they show viewers what has been done to make it safe and what still needs improvement. A real eye-opener!
The students know how important it is to get the community involved, so they offer plenty of opportunities for visitors to leave comments and take surveys on the website. Regular updates, useful tips and interesting content are more reasons to visit the site – and visit often! They also created leaflets for a flyer campaign, and created and presented two school assemblies.
The public response to all of their actions has been receptive and positive. Their videos are being viewed, visitors comment and participate on the website, and someone even contacted them to thank them for distributing such an important informational flyer. The Moscow community is ready for road safety awareness, and these five students at the English International School are ready to share it!
