EBRD assists Tajikistan in Promoting safe roads

By  Trend

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) assists Tajikistan in promoting the road safety, the bank reported.

Together with the Eastern Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Transport (EASST) and the Young Generation of Tajikistan (YGT), the Bank is running a road safety media and public awareness campaign in Dushanbe to promote the use of seat belts and highlight the benefits of eco-driving.

"Posters, leaflets and billboards now inundate the city’s streets, illustrating the benefits of wearing a seat belt as well as saving fuel and protecting the environment through eco-driving. Striking video messages are now playing on Tajik television as part of the campaign, showing the fatal consequences of not wearing a seat belt even on short journeys and at low speeds," the bank reported.

The country’s traffic police is also committed to the initiative and announced that new sanctions and enforcement regimes are being introduced for non-use of seat belts.

Final results will be assessed at the end of the campaign in 2018 to determine whether attitudes to seat belts and wearing rates have changed. But the transformation is already underway.

The public awareness campaign is being organised in close collaboration with the local authorities and civil society partners in Dushanbe dedicated to the ‘Year of Youth’ in Tajikistan.

The EBRD is supporting the road safety and eco-drive project in Tajikistan as part of its overall commitment to safe and sustainable transport in alignment with the UN “Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020”, and in collaboration with the ADB (Asian Development Bank) and the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Programme (CAREC).