"TURN TO LIFE AND
WIN"
YOUNG PEOPLE &
ROAD SAFETY CAMPAIGN
CYTA JOINS FORCES WITH THE POLICE
CYTA joined forces with the Police
and organized a Road Safety Week (June 25-30), under the banner
“Turn to life…” The campaign aimed to raise awareness of road safety
issues among young people at the start of the summer holidays.
Young People & Road Safety Week was announced on
Thursday 21 June 2007 in the Lecture Hall of the Road Safety Park at
Police Headquarters in Nicosia. The campaign included radio spots
and outdoor messages, a text message competition, the distribution
of printed matter in places frequented by young people as well as
information and offers at cytashops throughout the island.
A press conference on the issue was addressed by the
Minister of Justice and Public Order, Sophocles Sophocleous, and the
Minister of Communications & Works, Haris Thrasou, both of whom
praised the joint endeavour by the Police and CYTA.
In their welcoming remarks, both the Chief of Police,
Iakovos Papacostas, and CYTA Chairman Stavros Kremmos expressed
their pleasure over the realisation of the joint campaign as well as
their hope that the message would be heard by young people. At the
same time they drew attention to the fact that the problem of young
victims of traffic accidents is a serious one that concerns not only
Cyprus but the whole world.
Mr Kremmos stressed that, in the context of its
social responsibility, CYTA did not stop at words but had a
substantial record of action on this important issue.
Referring to the campaign, Mr Papacostas noted that
for a country’s road safety standards to improve, policing plays a
significant role as does the systematic education and enlightenment
of the public. He added that current efforts focus on these two
strands and aim at accident prevention and the adoption of correct
driving habits.
In the presentation that followed, CYTA CEO Nicos
Timotheou noted among other things how the Organisation’s
sensitivity on the subject of Road Safety had been translated into
an active social contribution, in particular when CYTA decided to
become one of the first European organisations to sign the European
Road Safety Charter in 2004. Pointing out the Organisation’s
significant work in this area, Mr Timotheou referred to the CYTA
Footbridge at the entrance to Nicosia and to the Organisation’s
initiative to invest in educating young Cypriots on this issue. He
also noted how CYTA’s activities had won praise from Europe, which
constitutes a particular honour for the Organisation.
In his presentation, the Head of the Traffic
Department, Doros Achilleos, said that the problem of road accidents
afflicts all modern societies around the world, underlining that
Cyprus is paying its own high price - last year, he said, there were
81 fatal accidents and 86 deaths. He went on to stress that
information and publicity play an important role in the cultivation
of road safety awareness and, by extension, in the raising of road
safety standards, an area in which the Traffic Department has made a
great investment. He also noted that the Police had intensified
their activities, implementing a policy of zero tolerance towards
the main causes of fatal and serious accidents such as driving under
the influence of alcohol, excessive speed, the failure to wear a
seat belt or a crash helmet, chiefly when such violations are
committed by young drivers since they are the ones who belong to the
high risk groups where road accidents are concerned.
CYTA Public Relations
June,
2007
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