
AVENUE Project Dissemination Event –
Presentation and Demonstration of road safety equipment
from the R.S.I. “Panos Mylonas”
Zappio Conference and Exhibition Centre, November 8th 2011
Road Safety Institute (R.S.I.) “Panos Mylonas” in cooperation with the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) has presented the European Programme, AVENUE (Actions for Vulnerable, Elderly, Novice Drivers and road Users in Europe) for Traffic Safety. This programme initiated by R.S.I. and supported by the European Commission (DG MOVE) aims to educate and mobilize citizens through experiential activities and the creation of NESTs (Networks & Education for Safety andTraffic). 9 European countries are participating in the project: Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg, Holland, Poland, under the coordination of R.S.I.
Divided in three parts the event started with the presentations of partners’ best practices on road safety, continued with the European Citizen’s Award presented to R.S.I.’s President Mrs Vassiliki Danelli – Mylonas and came to its end with the presentation and demonstration of the educational equipment that R.S.I. “Panos Mylonas” acquired for the establishment of the NESTs (National, Local, Mobile); the presentation was attended by journalists, corporate members, Traffic Police Officers, politicians and European Partners from 23 countries.
During his speech Mr. José Fernandez Garcia, from the European Commission Directorate – General for Mobility and Transport stated that “reducing traffic fatalities 50% by 2020 and having zero fatal crashes by 2050 is our main target”. From her part, the President of R.S.I. declared that “it is very important to keep up, doing our best for road safety. Economic problems will someday be part of the past; the loss of someone you love however cannot be overcome. Young people, the future and hope of our country are the ones mostly killed on the road. AVENUE project addresses the vulnerable, raising the awareness, educating and helping them to be safer”. Mr. Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of ETSC explained why his Organization supports R.S.I.’s initiative: “It is a very important project that is going to leave a great heritage to all European citizens while there will be return of the costs to us all thanks to the reduction of road traffic crashes and injuries”.
Greek NESTs are established in Athens (National NEST, Foundation of the Hellenic Cultural World), Patras (Local NEST, University of Patras – Sciences & Technology Museum) and there will also be a Mobile NEST for the rest of the country.
This year the European Citizens’ prize was awarded to Mrs Vassiliki Danelli - Mylonas, President of BoD Road Safety Institute “Panos Mylonas” for her outstanding contribution to the fight for road safety, helping raise awareness of the problem and enhance the safety of road users. The ceremony took place during the AVENUE dissemination event in Zappio and the award was presented by Spyros Danellis, Member of the European Parliament and Representative for the event, who said: “This is the first time that a Greek person and Organization is awarded with this prize and for a cause concerning road safety. It is not irrelevant to this award that Greece has the worst position in road fatalities in Europe of 27. The fact that today R.S.I.’s efforts are recognized in a European level it is a challenge to all of us, creating an environment where road traffic fatalities will not belong to reality. R.S.I. “Panos Mylonas” belongs in a world with no frontiers and in order to achieve its goal to save lives, it utilizes science and research to improve its methods and tools as we all should be doing; both civilians and politicians trying to see the effectiveness of our actions in everyday life. I wish that your work becomes an example to everyone of us and moreover I wish to you and your colleagues in R.S.I. to be strong and keep up with the same pace”.
The last part of the whole event had to do with the presentation and demonstration of R.S.I.’s educational equipment: roll-over car, belt sledge, driving simulator. The specific equipment will be used in order to make people understand in an experiential way the values of seatbelt use, proper speed, the difficulties that can occur during a crash and of course be aware of the proper way to use the road every day.
AVENUE project is 30% funded by the European Commission (Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport) and is kindly supported by Olympus and Diageo Hellas, as well as Ethniki Asfalistiki insurance company and the Athens’ International Airport. In a period of time that Greece has so many major problems R.S.I. “Panos Mylonas” is trying to do the best for the protection of life in the roads of our country with important initiatives in terms of information and education of our fellow citizens on road safety.
For more information: +30 210 8620150, +30 6984 111206, +30 6984-111205, info@ioas.gr
We would also like to inform you that during the AVENUE dissemination event in the 7th and 8thof November 2011 the following took place:
1. ETSC (European Transport Safety Council) meeting with the participation of 30 partners from 23 European countries.
2.
i. Lecture on “Distracted Driving” from Professors George Yannis (NTUA, Greece) and Oliver Carsten (University of Leeds, UK). After the presentations Q & A as well as discussion on this important matter followed. Distracted driving provokes 30% of traffic accidents.
Important information and presentations can be found in the following link: http://ioas.gr/uploads/docs/306.pdf.
ii. The new advertising campaign from R.S.I. “Panos Mylonas” concerning distracted driving has been announced and the TV spot has been presented, with the participation of one of Greece’s most famous young actors (Memos Begnis).
3. Meeting of partners in the AVENUE project in order to discuss decide the next steps of the programme.