Pedestrian safety depends on driver attitudes and behaviour

28 February 2014

The “Pictograms” advert will be the central element of the new nationwide road safety campaign “Brake in advance!” This campaign is an initiative of the General Department of Road Traffic Safety of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Russian Association of Motor Insurers (RAMI). Information support is provided by the NGO Road Safety Russia (rsrussia.org). The campaign objective is to reduce the number of accidents caused by drivers failing to observe the rules for uncontrolled pedestrian crossings. Our task is to inform drivers that it is very important they reduce their speed in good time before a zebra crossing.

The General Department of Road Traffic Safety, RAMI and Road Safety Russia have been working hard for many years to improve driver attitudes and behaviour in Russia. Pedestrian safety is an important aspect of this: annually, pedestrians account for one third of all road accident deaths.

In 2012, a nationwide road safety campaign entitled “The Walk of Life” aimed to promote the use of pedestrian crossings. Its results are best demonstrated by the statistics. In 2013 the number of accidents involving pedestrians in places other than pedestrian crossings fell by 6.5%. However, despite the overall fall in the accident rate, in 2013 the number of accidents at pedestrian crossings increased by 10.3% and the number of deaths by 7.5%. In most cases, drivers were to blame. They break the speed limit, fail to observe the rules for pedestrian crossings, and ignore red traffic lights. Clearly, driver attitudes and behaviour need to improve. 

This is the problem that is addressed by the new “Pictograms” advert.  The advert shows a typical situation that is common on the roads: a driver is driving too fast and is not preparing to slow down as he approaches a pedestrian crossing. It has not entered his mind that there could be people on the crossing. Just then the pictograms “come alive” and force the car to stop.

The advert explains to viewers that a pedestrian crossing sign is a warning to slow down in good time, as the pictogram on the sign represents real people. A child could run out onto a zebra crossing at any moment or an adult could suddenly step out from behind a parked car.  When a driver starts braking in good time before a pedestrian crossing, they can easily stop if a pedestrian appears on the crossing.

The advert will be shown on national television channels from today.

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