"Development of Partnerships to Reduce the Number of Road Accidents in Chisinau and Tiraspol” training
Chisinau and Tiraspol will work together to reduce the number of road accidents. This partnership was discussed on 1st of November, during a training organized by the Automobile Clubs of Moldova and Transnistrian region within the „Support to Confidence Building Measures” Programme, funded by the European Union and co-funded and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme in Moldova.
Experts in road safety from “Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership” and the Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport (UK) shared their experience in creating local partnerships to reduce the number of car accidents in the United Kingdom. Representatives of road police department, municipal transport unit and non-governmental organizations from both banks of the Nistru river have come up with a common vision on undertaking similar initiatives in Chisinau and Tiraspol.
Serghei Diaconu, head of Moldova’s Road Police Department, mentioned „Each life lost on the roads of Moldova „costs” the national economy about 511 000 USD. 41,8% of the total number of car accidents in Moldova take place in Chisinau, in which hundreds of people’s lives are lost. That is why it is very important that all authorities responsible for road safety and civil society join efforts to find solutions”.
Hubert Duhot, Project Manager at the EU Delegation to Moldova, said:„We hope that this project will bring together authorities from both banks of Nistru river to increase awareness about the road safety measures which will ultimately reduce the number of road accidents and save people’s lives”.
UNDP’s Resident Representative in Moldova, Nicola Harrington-Buhay, stated that the timeliness of the workshop was relevant more than ever as the UN General Assembly proclaimed the period 2011-2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety. „This event is a step forward in Moldova’s commitment to reduce the number of road accidents by 50% by 2020. The partnership between Chisinau and Tiraspol in ensuring better road safety will save lives of people from both banks of the Nistru River”.
The training is part of a series of activities carried out by the project „Development of Partnerships to Reduce the Number of Road Accidents in Chisinau and Tiraspol”, implemented by Automobile Clubs of Moldova and Transnistrian region in partnership with the Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport from Great Britain. Apart from trainings, the project will produce analyses and reports on road safety, will develop strategies for creating partnerships in Tiraspol and Chisinau and will undertake practical activities on road safety and social information campaigns.
On November 2, the experts from “Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership” had a visit to Rescue Service and Road Police Department from Chisinau to see what equipment is used in Moldova and how do these two departments work, since post crash response is vital in saving lives of crash victims, but which is still neglected in our country.
On the same day there was organized a working meeting at the world Bank Office in Moldova. The goal of the meeting, involving the three participant groups of ACM, ACT and UK, was to discuss the vision and proposals of Moldovan and Transnistrian experts (from Transport Department, Road Police, Education, Health and Rescue Departments) upon the partnerships creation on reducing the casualties number in both cities.
Mrs. Emma Maclennan EASST Director suggested to focus on the most problematic district of each city and to implement a pilot-project tackling the main problems specific for namely that region, also the local experts expressed their opinions related to this.
On November 8, as a continuation of mentioned events, will be organized a round table with the participation of EASST experts from Armenia and Ukraine, involving our Moldovan and Transnistrian local experts, who will work in identifying the main issues, provide solutions and work out a plan of activities.
