ERS Charter visits Cyprus

15 January 2016 08:30 – 11:30
Altius Hotel
Nicosia
Cyprus

Organiser

Reaction, Youth for Prevention

Objectives

The Cypriot European Road Safety Charter workshop took place on the 15th January 2016 in Nicosia, at the Altius hotel, in the framework of the National Road Safety Conference.

The event brought together more than 60 Cypriot Road Safety stakeholder to discuss the current road safety situation in Cyprus, with a special emphasis on young users.

The event was opened by high level representatives from the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education.

The Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Mr.  Marios Demetriades, pointed out that despite a fifty percent decrease in road accidents since 1997, in 2015 the number rose again compared to 2014 - a fact that causes concern among all the stakeholders in the field of road safety.

Health Minister George Pamporides said that road accidents constitute a major public health issue and underlined that they are the leading cause of death among those under the age of thirty-five.

The representative of the Education Minister Costas Kadis, reading the Minister’s greeting, said that children should be trained in proper traffic education and that actions should be taken in schools, families, and communities. In conclusion, he said that action is needed at the individual and collective level.

After the introduction, a session on good practices and experiences of accident prevention took place. The European Road Safety Charter representative explained that the ERS Charter’s main focus is to motivate its members to undertake preventive actions focused on young members of the public and invited all the participants to submit good practices.

Several ERS Charter members were attending and had the opportunity to share their experiences in the field of road safety and youth; among them was Mr. George Stavrou from the grammar school which organized the annual Road Safety Week to raise student awareness of the importance of road safety. Mrs Alexia Yialloruridou from the CYTA (Cyprus Telecommunications Authority) presented their initiatives to raise awareness of the importance of wearing helmets while cycling.

Contact details

Email

reactioncy@gmail.com