
A good idea...
On October 20th, the Road Safety Institute “Panos Mylonas” (RSI) together with the “Responsible Young Drivers” (RYD) organize a huge action to promote road safety in general, to increase public awareness and to show youngsters that drinking and driving do not mix: the European Night Without Accident.
The goal is to meet the youngsters in their own world and to communicate with them directly. This is greatest strength of the Road Safety Institute (RSI) and the Responsible Young Drivers (RYD).
The volunteers, all between 17 and 29, take up their place outside the nightclubs
AUTOKINISI (Maroussi), ENVY (Monastiraki), The HALL (Thissio)
where they encourage each group of youngsters to choose a “designated driver”. This chosen driver agrees with the action. He or she will then have the commitment to stay sober all night.
The concept is really simple, it is free and on a voluntary basis. The Responsible Young Drivers neither use a repressive or pretentious approach, nor do they use a ‘father-mother’ tone. Young people refuse those attitudes and even do not want to understand them. RSI wants to underline the importance of responsible behaviour behind the wheel.
In order to be recognized as a ‘designated driver’, the volunteers ask them to wear a bracelet. When he or she leaves the nightclub he or she can voluntarily take a breath analysis to see if the commitment was honoured. If the analysis is positive, the “designated driver” is rewarded with some presents offered by our partners and sponsors. If not, the volunteers encourage the person to let his/her car on the side or to hand over the keys to a friend who did not drink any alcoholic beverage.
... that spreads throughout Europe
The Night without Accident was first launched in Belgium in 1995. From the first action it was a great success. The public gave the volunteers such a great and positive welcome, that RYD decided to organize this action yearly.
On Saturday, October 20th 2007, the European Night without Accident takes place in 15 European countries: Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, France, Greece, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Sweden, Portugal, Cyprus, United Kingdom and Ireland.
Since 2003, The European Commission supports the European Night without Accident.
On October 20th 500 volunteers and 180 nightclubs will participate in the European Night without Accident.
Information: 210 8620150