The
Red Cross contributes significantly to road safety and injury
prevention through its own education activities and has proven
itself to be a valuable partner across Europe. Through partnerships
that Red Cross has been able to increase its reach, and thanks
to its network of volunteers has taken its education programme
directly into communities. However the Red Cross can further maximise
its reach by forming partnerships directly with communities and
supporting them to take action on their most important issues.
Education messages may encourage individuals to take action to
improve their own safety whilst using the road, such as wearing
a seatbelt and driving carefully, but with community action the
results may impact on the whole community.
What
is a community?
Before developing approaches to community action it is important
to define what a community is. A community is a group of people
with joint ownership of, or a common position on, something. A
community could be a town, a street, a school, a demographic group
(young or elderly) or people in a common situation (people who
walk to school).
What
is community action?
Community action requires a group of individuals from a community
to come together, recognise the problems that their community
faces and take action to reduce these problems. From within the
community they can generate support for their action and encourage
others to contribute. If an organisation can inspire a community
to act on road safety then the impact of their work can be multiplied.
One or two volunteers supporting a community may be able to achieve
lasting change.
The community action approach has a range of benefits. It involves
potential beneficiaries in the development of an initiative, therefore
ownership of the outcomes can be high and the response is more
likely to be appropriate and responsive to local needs. For those
directly involved in taking action it is also an opportunity to
develop personal skills, which make this approach especially useful
for work with young people.
Some
examples of community action
Previous community action groups have decided to: Deliver first
aid and road safety peer education in their community
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Surveyed local people to find out their attitudes and behaviours
towards road safety
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Raise awareness of dangerous parking near schools amongst parents
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Make a DVD to show young children safe ways of walking and cycling
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Work with the Police to stop and shame bad drivers and reward
good ones
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Campaign for lower speed limits and improved pedestrian crossings
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Work with the local media and make a petition to generate support
for road safety improvements
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Make deals with other communities ‘we’ll drive carefully
through your streets, if you do the same through ours’
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Work with their local football club to get anti drink driving
messages on players shirts
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Produce car stickers urging other motorists to reduce their
speed
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Place road safety posters in religious buildings, reminding
worshippers to drive carefully during festival periods
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Raise funds for a speed indicator device that flashes a smiley
or frowning face depending on the drivers speed
