The Association for the Promotion of Child Safety (APSI) launches today a national awareness campaign for the prevention of being run over by children and young people, aimed at drivers, taking advantage of the start of another school year.
Every week more than 20 children and young people die or are injured as a result of being run over, which represents 32% of all road accidents in these age groups.
Most of these pedestrians are run over between the ages of 10 and 14 (ANSR data, APSI Analysis, 2015), in residential areas and during home-school journeys.
The campaign aims to raise awareness among all those who drive about the special vulnerability of children as pedestrians and the need to change behaviors that increase the risk of being run over at these ages – such as excessive speed, parking on pedestrian crossings or sidewalks and stopping in 2nd row.
According to Sandra Nascimento, president of APSI, “walking is a child's right, in addition to healthy and sustainable behavior. The safety and mobility of the child cannot be compromised by the excess of cars and the abusive behavior of the drivers”.
The campaign will run from September 14th to October 4th and will be present on generalist and cable television channels, on some internal circuit television channels, radios, magazines and national and local newspapers, as well as on social networks.
Thousands of flyers by the PSP and GNR Safe School with educational establishments and by numerous driving schools and car inspection centers across the country, which joined the campaign.
At the same time, the image of the campaign will “circulate” on sugar packets, on some public transport and on billboards in several cities, with the support of various municipalities and companies linked to transport.
On September 17, from 8:00 am to 10:00 am, PSP, GNR and APSI will be at the door of some schools in Lisbon, in a joint STOP operation.
In this educational action, which in some cases will include the participation of children, drivers will be approached and sensitized to the need to adapt their behavior near schools and other places with children, as a way to avoid being run over.
This APSI campaign is supported by the Ministry of Internal Administration, the National Road Safety Authority and the Insurance and Pension Fund Supervisory Authority.
APSI would like to thank all partners at national and local level without whom it would not have been possible to put this campaign “on air” with the desired dimension and impact.
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