The first stage of the annual Road Safety Week is taking place in Ukraine on May 12-17, 2020. Given the situation and conditions in which Ukraine and the world are now – for the first time in a remote format.

The goal of the Week still remains to draw public attention to the problem of injuries and deaths on Ukrainian roads and to find ways to overcome it. We all understand the dangers of coronavirus infection, but road traffic injuries are another invisible “epidemic” that takes lives every day. Every year, according to various statistics, Ukraine loses more than 3,000 citizens in road accidents, about 30,000 are injured. Our scientists estimate the losses of the state due to the premature death of Ukrainian citizens as a result of an accident at the equivalent of almost UAH 7 billion every year. It is unfortunate, but since the beginning of 2020, even despite quarantine and a significant reduction in road traffic, the number of road accidents in Ukraine has not decreased, and even increased, compared to the same period last year. In total for the current four months in Ukraine there were more than 45 thousand road accidents, with victims – 6794 that is 8% more for the similar period of last year. There is an increase in the number of road deaths by more than 15% – since the beginning of this year, 950 of our citizens have been killed in road traffic injuries.

We are used to the fact that every year Road Safety Week is a large-scale event across the country which includes conferences, forums, seminars, school lessons, flash mobs, social events for children and parents, etc. All events are supported by the Government of Ukraine, in cooperation with the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the State Transport Safety Service, the Patrol Police Department of Ukraine, a number of interested agencies and organizations, media. The International Charitable Foundation “Assistance to Victims of Road Accidents” together with the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine are permanent co-organizers of the Week.

Unfortunately, we have to change the traditional format of the Week this May, but we will continue to involve different audiences in all possible ways, discuss ways to improve the situation on the roads, and remind of simple things that depend on each of us as road users. For example, for schoolchildren who are already accustomed to participating in the annual National Lesson on Road Safety, the Foundation’s specialists together with representatives of the patrol and juvenile police of Ukraine prepared a small and interesting video lesson on traffic rules, as well as a video master class on providing emergency care in case of an accident у разі You can view them on the website of the International Charitable Foundation, the YouTube page “Safe Country”, the page of the Road Safety Week on Facebook, and other resources.

Traditionally during the Road Safety Week, the International Charitable Foundation “Assistance to Victims of Road Accidents” together with the Ministry of Education of Ukraine initiates the annual youth photo and video competition within the national project “Safe Country”. This year the competition becomes international for the first time – thanks to the Foundation’s partnership with UNESCO, International Action Art and others, the competition goes international, and children and young people from other countries will be able to join it.

Thus, the organizers and partners of the competition support the initiatives of caring creative youth around the world how to make countries to live safe in all areas – unique children’s photos and videos become social advertising that encourages society to follow safe rules. This year, the two already well-known themes of the competition – “Youth for Road Safety” and “Anti-Bullying in Educational Institutions” will be joined by a third studio video work on any of the topics of the national project “Safe Country”, which is – road safety, ecological safety, safety of life, safety of children. School TV studios, amateur production studios, creative teams of educational institutions are invited to perform studio video work. For more information on the conditions of the event, see our website in the Competition section. 

Now, during the quarantine period, we recommend students and their parents to view on the Foundation’s website those photo and video works that were submitted to the competition in previous years (archive of works). This is a great opportunity, especially on the eve of summer vacation, to once again remind us of safe behavior on the street, near water etc., that safety depends on us. We are convinced that these works will be a great lesson for children, and perhaps inspire them to new ideas on how to do this world better. We will look forward to the new children’s photo and video works sent to the competition, in order to celebrate their best authors with wonderful gifts at the end of this year.

Also during the Road Safety Week, we encourage blood donors to join our regularcharity event to give blood for the victims of the accident “Give blood to save lives” . Now, during the quarantine period, all blood transfusion centers in Ukraine are particularly acutely lack of donor blood, so the help of anyone who is able to give blood will be extremely valuable.

We hope that by the end of this year, the danger associated with the coronavirus pandemic in Ukraine will pass, and the second stage of the Road Safety Week in November will take place as usual. We will remind, preliminary it is planned for November 9-15, 2020.