More than 300 experts from across the country received online training to improve the effectiveness of traffic safety policy at district level. All 28 District Road Safety Commissions took part. The training was carried out by a team of State Agency Road Safety (SARS), including experts with experience in road control, safety chain, road infrastructure design and safety, etc.
The training sessions were attended by representatives of district administrations, municipalities, district departments of responsible institutions, and non-governmental organizations included in the composition of local commissions. The topics were grouped into four main modules: i) General concepts and scale of the problem; ii) Road Safety Strategy 2021–2030 and action plans thereof; iii) Elements of the preparation of district road safety programs and reports; iv) Role and importance of commissions as coordination structures. Following the presentation of theoretical aspects and case studies in each module, discussions took place and participants made suggestions for work optimization.
Such training will be carried out on a regular basis and will cover various aspects of road safety. Based on the experience of the past year, SARS has also developed methodological guidelines aligning the requirements to the activities of district commissions. They also regulate the level of representativeness of each participating institution in order to involve medium and senior management experts who can implement the decisions taken at district level.
Central-level experts will now be able to participate online in the sessions of district commissions. Based on methodological guidelines, such a possibility has already been created. Representatives of the State Agency participate in each session and the management of other competent authorities (e.g. Traffic Police, Road Infrastructure Agency, Emergency Services, etc.) will be able to participate online at any time and carry out follow-up controls on the implementation of decisions taken. These measures improve the link between central and district level road safety policies.
Foreign and national experiences unequivocally show that the effectiveness of road safety policies is directly linked to activities and actions at local and district levels. At the same time, a number of district commissions across the country had not met for years. Therefore, since 2019, SARS has made consistent efforts to step up their work, with training and methodological guidance aimed at setting a new basis for the roll-out of road safety policies over the next decade.