Russian road safety success celebrated at conference on Road Safety in 10 Countries project

Thanks to a road safety campaign, the use of seat belts has increased from 57% to 78% among drivers and front-seat passengers in the Lipetsk region of the Russian Federation over an 18-month period. The campaign was launched as part of the Road Safety in 10 Countries project, coordinated by WHO.

These and other results were presented at the first Russian conference on the Road Safety in 10 Countries project in Lipetsk on 26–27 July 2012. The conference was opened by Dr Oleg Korolev, Governor of Lipetsk region, and attracted over 200 participants.

The Road Safety in 10 Countries project has been running in the Russian Federation since January 2010. At the halfway point of the project, the Lipetsk Regional Administration organized an international conference to assess progress so far and to discuss future activities. The conference was attended by a diverse range of stakeholders and by a panel of international experts from WHO headquarters, WHO/Europe, the WHO Country Office in the Russian Federation, the Global Road Safety Partnership, Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Impressive road safety results

Thanks to an innovative social marketing campaign and to enhanced enforcement by the police, seat-belt use has steadily increased in Lipetsk. Strong results were also reported on speed control, which is a risk factor for road safety and notoriously difficult to address. The launch of the WHO campaign on speed control in combination with stricter enforcement by police officers increased the proportion of drivers complying with speed limits from 53% to 64%.

The number of people driving cars at very high speeds (30% over the speed limit) was also successfully reduced from 10% to 4%. This dramatic reduction in both the number of “high-risk drivers” and the average speed in the region will make roads safer for all road users, especially pedestrians. The reduction in speed and the improved wearing of seat belts are expected to save lives and cut costs in the regions participating in the project. Similar success has been reported for seat-belt use in Ivanovo, the other pilot region in the Russian Federation. Representatives from other regions expressed interest in adopting the project implementation approaches. 

Next steps for project

The conference was followed by a round-table discussion among international experts, federal representatives and regional stakeholders on the next steps in the implementation of the Road Safety in 10 Countries project. Participants reflected on the key elements of the project’s success in the Russian Federation: strong political will, advocacy, high levels of professionalism, good coordination, implementation of activities based on evidence and, above all, the engagement of the police in all phases of the project to ensure strong enforcement on the key risk factors.

The consensus was to continue the programmes to further improve the current levels of seat-belt wearing and speed control. New activities planned for the end of 2012 aim to reduce fatalities among pedestrians, who still account for 35% of all road traffic victims. Qualitative and quantitative research will inform the design of public relations initiatives, tailored to increase drivers’ and pedestrians’ compliance with traffic rules to ensure the safety of this vulnerable group of road users.

The representative of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ms Kelly Larson, expressed full satisfaction with the results of the project in the Russian Federation and praised the Governor and the Lipetsk Regional Administration for “setting an excellent example” on the implementation of road safety interventions, which other regions could learn from.