Education and promotion of safety – tools to tackle the number of traffic accidents in Lithuania

In 2017 Lithuanian Transport Safety Administration started a campaigned which attempted to reduce the number of accidents in railways. The campaign revolved around education and communication with Lithuanian people and different groups of society. Successful results and the increased attention to safety problems in railways inspired administration to continue its mission and expand it by promoting safety in roads as well.

The education and promotion of safety to society involved different strategies and platforms. LTSA together with its partners managed to launch a successful project with two significant social advertisements. Both ads actively circulated in social networks and national television and caught attention of Lithuanian people. Following this, LTSA actively shared news, information and warnings about safety requirements in railways. Different news and announcements have been printed in local newspapers and could have been seen in biggest new outlets. More importantly, different public institutions expressed their interest and helped LTSA to share these messages with everyone – this included hospitals, police stations, etc.) Together with representatives from Lithuanian police LTSA organized different events related to prevention of possible railway accidents. Participants have been informed about safety rules, were given brochures which will work as a friendly reminder on how to act in roads and railways.

To increase the spread of its messages LTSA also searched for new partnerships with different Lithuanian institutions. In 2017 administration actively worked with churches and schools across the state which ensured that information provided by specialists was not lost and reached those who are the most vulnerable in railways and roads – young children and elderly.

Positive results from 2017 and active engagement of other institutions in Lithuania proved that focus on education and promotion of safety could be an important tool to reach the goal of LTSA’s strategy – to reduce the number of traffic accidents in country. Administration hopes to reach even better results in 2018 with increased emphasis on education of Lithuanian society.