Road safety knowledge should be tested in the 7th grade. This is one of the proposals under discussion to improve training at a very early age, Chair of State Agency “Road Safety” (SARS) Malina Kroumova announced during the “Drive smart, get there alive” discussion organized by 24 Hours newspaper. Discussion participants included also Interior Minister Mladen Marinov, Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Rosen Zhelyazkov, and Deputy Minister of Education and Science Tanya Mihaylova.
The Ministry of Education and Science and SARS are jointly developing a new Concept to improve road safety training, as was made clear during the event. Accordingly, a discussion on a check of children’s knowledge before the age of 14, when they are allowed by law to drive a bicycle on the road, is also underway. “We need to be sure that children have basic knowledge of traffic rules, road signs, while being aware of their responsibility when they are on the road and knowing how to keep safe”, Malina Kroumova stressed. This is still a draft proposal which is being discussed with the non-governmental sector.
Malina Kroumova added that the driving license course is only one element of our preparation to be road users, which should start at a very early age. “No one can teach us to be responsible on the road and good drivers at the same time, for only a few months. The driving license course is certainly important, yet it is just one practical element of the whole training: how to cross the street, how to take care, even how to help in an incident,” explained the Chair of the State Agency.
“Training is one of the central themes for road safety. While effective measures along these lines will take time, they will yield genuinely sustainable results. Therefore, all institutions, together with the sector and NGOs, have to work very actively in this direction”, Malina Kroumova added.