Project ‘Safety on the Road – Life is a journey, let’s make it safer’ – Interview with Dr. Edoardo Italia Vice-President of the Italian Red Cross

The project ‘Safety on the road – Life is a journey, let’s make it safer’ is launched

Road safety, road-related behaviour and respect for the environment are always extremely topical issues, even more so in recent years when mobility and its use are radically changing. The presence of more and more different types of vehicles and the increase in the number of them requires a further effort in prevention and education of young and even older citizens.

This is why the Italian Red Cross and Bridgestone have joined forces in the creation of the project ‘Safety on the road – Life is a journey, let’s make it safer’.

Following proper rules of conduct is certainly the first way to prevent emergency and rescue situations and, for this reason, it has always been a topic dear to Emergency Live and its readers. If a project of this kind involves the Red Cross, whose activities we have always tried to report, given its importance in the management of all types of emergencies, it was inevitable that our publication would give resonance to the initiative and its contents.

With this in mind, we thought the best thing was to have it told by the two organisations promoting the event, namely the Red Cross and Bridgestone.

That’s why we interviewed Dr Edoardo Italia Vice-President of the Italian Red Cross and Dr Silvia Brufani HR Director Bridgestone Europe.

The interview

Today, we have the pleasure of sharing with you the words of Dr Edoardo Italia, in this first part of our report dedicated to this fine initiative.

Could you give us an overview of the road safety project that the Red Cross is carrying out in collaboration with Bridgestone?

With a view to contributing to the United Nations Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021/2030 and also in line with the objectives defined by the Italian Red Cross Youth Strategy, the Italian Red Cross has entered into a partnership with Bridgestone. The ‘Sicurezza on the road – La vita è un viaggio, rendiamiamolo più sicuro’ (Safety on the road – Life is a journey, let’s make it safer) project, which began in May 2023, aims to promote road and environmental education, as well as the adoption of healthy, safe and sustainable behaviour, through training, information and recreational activities aimed at the community, with particular regard to young people.

What is the specific role of the Red Cross in this project?

The project will be developed in three phases: summer camps, activities in schools and activities in squares. Italian Red Cross Volunteers will be directly involved on a national scale in all phases.

In particular, in the first phase eight Italian Red Cross Committees, located all over Italy, will be involved in the realisation of summer camps for children between 8 and 13 years old and young people between 14 and 17 years old. The camps will be organised by suitably trained Youth Volunteers and will include training sessions on road safety and environmental sustainability, through experiential and participative activities during which the children, while having fun, can strengthen their knowledge of safe behaviour.

In the second phase, suitably trained Volunteers will organise meetings with children in first and second grade schools, to talk about road safety and the prevention of risks linked to incorrect behaviour through the use of formal, informal, peer and experiential education methodologies. More than 5000 students throughout Italy will benefit from the training courses, lessons and webinars organised by our Volunteers.

In the last phase of the project, our Volunteers will take to the streets. The Committees involved will organise more than 100 events aimed at the entire community, with a special focus on the younger segments of the population. Many interactive and experiential activities will be proposed with the aim of raising participants’ awareness of risk factors and healthy and safe behaviour.

All the activities planned will be supported by a Toolkit on road safety, drawn up by the Italian Red Cross with the technical support of Bridgestone, which will provide all the Volunteers involved with useful suggestions and indications for the correct and effective implementation of the interventions.

Could you share with us some of the short and long-term objectives of this project?

The general objective of the Project is to promote road and environmental safety education, and to contribute to the prevention of risks linked to incorrect behaviour.

The specific objectives of the project are to

• raise community awareness of healthy, safe and sustainable behaviour;
• informing the population about the correct behaviour to adopt in the event of road accidents and how to call for help;
• increase young people’s awareness and knowledge of road and environmental safety;
• strengthen the younger generation’s sense of responsibility;
• increase the skills and knowledge of Red Cross Volunteers in road safety education training.

How will the project help to promote responsible driving behaviour among young people who are about to become new drivers?

Through peer-to-peer, participatory and experiential teaching models, young people involved in activities in summer camps, schools and squares will learn the principles of road safety and general rules of the road.

With the support of the Red Cross Volunteers, young and very young people will become more aware of the risks of misbehaviour and will be sensitised to adopt responsible and safe behaviour. The hope is to induce them to be responsible pedestrians and drivers, aware of the risks and prepared to adopt correct behaviour in case of emergency.

How do you think this partnership with Bridgestone could influence and shape future road safety projects promoted by the Red Cross?

The Italian Red Cross has always been committed to promoting healthy and safe lifestyles and, in particular, our Youth Volunteers are promoters of awareness-raising initiatives aimed at their peers, using the peer education method.

The partnership with Bridgestone will help broaden and consolidate the experience acquired by the Association in road safety education, and will enable it to reach more and more people through numerous initiatives aimed at the community carried out in schools, squares and other places where people, especially young people, gather. In addition, the Road Safety Toolkit, prepared with the technical support of Bridgestone, will help to broaden the Volunteers’ knowledge of methodologies and practices for teaching road safety education. In short, this partnership makes us stronger and ready to face future road safety challenges.