20 September is World Insurance Awareness Day. In several countries World Children’s Day is celebrated on the same day. Eight Central and Eastern European countries are taking this day as an opportunity to unite in actions to increase child safety, with a focus on road traffic.
Children behave differently in road traffic: They see, hear and feel differently, perceive their environment from a different perspective and are distracted more quickly. This makes them particularly vulnerable to accidents. Children need the greatest possible protection and support to be optimally prepared for a safe life. Despite all efforts, however, serious accidents involving children happen every day.
Thanks to huge efforts of police and road safety institutions, adequate actions of civil society, infrastructural modifications and technical/digital developments, the frequency and severity of accidents show decreasing trends. But the numbers of fatalities are still high, so comprehensive cooperation is needed to achieve the target of the European Commission’s Vision Zero initiative.
In order to reduce accident risks especially for children as effectively as possible, insurance industry, road safety associations, public authorities and educational institutions from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia have now joined forces to set a common sign for child safety on 20 September. Participants in the initiative from the Bulgarian side are the State Agency for Road Safety (BABDP), the Association of Bulgarian Insurers (ABZ) and the Guarantee Fund (GF).
The aim of the joint initiative is to provide children with useful assistance in recognising dangers and correct behaviour and to draw attention to the fact that everyone of us has a crucially important role in taking care of children, one of the most vulnerable road user groups. The prevention activities range from playful safety training for children and theatres to online quizzes and social media campaigns. With topical focal points, such as the safe way to school and correct behaviour in poor visibility conditions, particularly risky situations are specifically addressed.
The Association of Bulgarian Insurers, together with the Guarantee Fund, is planning a number of attractive activities dedicated to the initiative and aiming to focus public attention on the topic of road safety for children.
- On September 20, the online test game "No mistakes on the road" is launched. In addition to testing and enriching their knowledge of road safety rules, children and adults, schools and other educational institutions will be able to win an award. For this purpose, participants will have to find the "mistakes" in 10 road situations presented in the test.
- With an social networks information campaign, ABZ will appeal to parents, drivers and the whole society to pay more attention in order to protect the most valuable thing for all of us - our children.
- Among the planned activities is the creation and staging of a children's play dedicated to road safety.
See the Video “Together for Child Safety in Central Europe”!
Project Partners:
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AT |
KFV (Austrian Road Safety Board) |
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AT |
VVO (Austrian Insurance Association) |
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BG |
SARS (Bulgarian State Agency Road Safety) |
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BG |
ABI (Association of Bulgarian Insurers) |
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BG |
The Guarantee Fund |
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HU |
HUO (Croatian Insurance Bureau) |
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HU |
MABISZ - Association of the Hungarian Insurance Companies |
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HU |
KTI (Institute of Transport Sciences Non-profit Ltd.) |
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PL |
PIU (Polish Chamber of Insurance) |
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PL |
KRBRD (National Road Safety Council) |
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RO |
UNSAR (National Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies in Romania) |
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SLO |
STSA (Slovenian Traffic Safety Agency) |
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SLO |
SIA (Slovenian Insurance Association) |
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SK |
SLASPO (Slovenská asociácia poisťovní) |
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