This spotlight series is dedicated to showcasing the best practices shared by ESRC members. Each month, we highlight a different member’s innovative road safety initiative. By presenting these success stories, we aim to create a collaborative environment where others can recognise, celebrate and adopt lessons learned and best practices.
Our March spotlight features the ‘Safe Road Project’, established by Hellas Direct in Greece. The project aims to improve children’s road safety on their journey to and from school, by restoring faded pedestrian crossings and strengthening the link between road safety education and safe infrastructure.
Why this initiative has been recognised as Good Practice of the Month
This initiative stands out because it combines education with visible improvements to the streets, helping children learn safe road habits while experiencing practical changes on their daily routes. By transforming school crossings and highlighting the transition from vehicle-focused streets to pedestrian-friendly spaces, the initiative demonstrates in action how safety can be improved for all road users. Its wider influence is seen in municipalities taking further steps to repaint other crossings, showing that the project not only protects children but also inspires broader community engagement in creating safer streets.
Key inspiration behind the initiative
The project was driven by the recognition that while road safety education for children is a priority, faded or barely visible pedestrian crossings leave children vulnerable to road crashes on their daily journey to and from school, undermining the road safety messages they are taught. This revealed a clear gap between awareness and safe infrastructure in the urban environment. Recognising that safer roads require both educating children to ensure safer habits for the future and practical improvements, Hella Direct launched the Safe Roads project to take direct action, restoring school crossings in cooperation with municipalities and helping create safer routes for children.
Project activities
Launched in 2022, the initiative addresses road safety both inside and outside schools. In the classroom, students take part in interactive experiences that teach them about road safety and its importance, including immersive VR exercises that simulate real life scenarios, making the lessons interactive and impactful.
Outside schools, the teams work in collaboration with local authorities and the schools to revamp pedestrian crossings, making children’s everyday routes safer. Schools and local authorities act as the project’s partners, inviting the team to work on-site and supporting the initiative by becoming ambassadors who help promote safer streets in their surroundings.
Outcomes of the initiative
The Safe Roads Project has successfully engaged schools, local authorities and communities across Greece in improving road safety for children. The project’s impact has been evaluated using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. High social media interaction with posts documenting crosswalk restorations and school visits helped to raise awareness on road safety. In addition, a dedicated online submission form collected requests from parents, teachers, local authorities and even students, which were then prioritised based on urgency, location and logistical feasibility. Assessments conducted with school staff indicate that students consistently adopt safer behaviours around school crossings, including using designated crossings, waiting for vehicles to stop, and encouraging family members to drive more carefully. The project also tracked the number of crossings repainted and the geographic spread of activities to measure both scale and equity of impact.
The initiative has reached a wide audience through school visits, experiential activities and crosswalk improvements.
The initiative has already reached 80 municipalities, repainted approximately 800 pedestrian crossings, visited over 100 schools and engaged more than 20,000 students. There has also been significant interest nationwide, with hundreds of requests from schools, municipalities and citizens seeking to participate. The results from feedback by schools, parents, and local authorities shows that children quickly apply the lessons learned, demonstrating the project’s strong implementation and tangible impact on both behaviour and community awareness around road safety.
For more information
Read more about the project here – explore the project’s activities and outcomes in further detail.
If you want to develop a similar strategy at a national level, contact the project lead, Elina Nomicou, at elina.nomicou@hellasdirect.gr
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