[sustran] SUSTRAN News Flash #29

[Carlos Cordero V.]

At 09:36 3/02/98 +0530, you wrote:
>> 
>> 5. PROJECT ON YOUTH ROAD SAFETY IN LAOS: FEEDBACK WANTED
>> Save the Children Australia in the Lao PDR is initiating a one year pilot
>> project to improve road safety among youth in Vientiane.  Despite a ratio
>> of just 1 vehicle for every 26 people, the Lao PDR presently has the
>> highest rate of road accident fatalities per capita of any ASEAN country
>> except Vietnam.  Solutions will ultimately involve improvements in both the
>> driving environment and traffic law enforcement.  But SCA believes a
>> significant reduction in road accident fatalities can be made by simply
>> increasing knowledge of safe, courteous, legal driving practices among
>> young people.  The legal age for driving a motorised vehicle is 18, yet
>> people who are obviously younger--sometimes significantly younger--can be
>> seen driving motorcycles in Vientiane every day.  SCA's pilot project will
>> begin by conducting research to determine what these urban youth already
>> know and think about road safety.  This data will then serve as a basis for
>> designing educational materials including a safety pamphlet and video, and
>> a road safety curriculum for the schools. The project also includes funds
>> to assist the government in setting up a computerised database on road
>> accidents, and to stage one or more public road safety events.  SCA
>> welcomes ideas and suggestions from workers and programs that are trying to
>> reduce road accidents in their countries.  [Source and Contact: Dr. Anna
>> Gillespie,  Save the Children Australia, PO Box 2783, Vientiane, Lao PDR;
>> Tel. (856-21) 31 3837; Fax  (856-21) 41 5432; E-mail:
>> scauslao at loxinfo.co.th].
>
>
>Such efforts have not been particularly useful in the past.  You have to 
>first understand the factors associated with road accidents in a 
>particular situation.  It is wrong to assume that accidents are taking 
>place because children have not been "educated".
>
>					Dinesh
>
>
>The same thinking about the role of education in road safety is everywhere,
just take a look to the Indian transport minister point of view:

"Vekatraman, the transport minister, said much of the blame (of poor road
safety) lies with with the unsafe attitudes of poorly trained drivers.
But he could not deny that the state of the country´s  roads plays a role"
from The Nation - Bangkok news paper dec 27 1997
>
>Carlos Cordero
Ciclored Lima, Peru > 

>> 
>> 
>
>
end
Carlos Cordero Velasquez
CICLORED

e mail: ccordero at amauta rcp.net.pe
Parque Federico Blume 158 
Lima 18
PERU


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