Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – On the heels of the UN Road Safety week and on the eve of Children’s Protection Day, the General Directorate of Road Safety of the Ministry of the Interior of Uzbekistan, International Public Foundation ‘Zamin’ and UNICEF, are launching a road safety campaign geared on creating safer roads for  children in Uzbekistan and today called on authorities, communities, families, young people and children to support safe and healthy journeys to school.

The campaign, a first of its kind, is putting children first and will aim to support the implementation of a national roadmap on road safety, including road safety for children across Uzbekistan.

Global data shows that road traffic is the number one killer of young people aged 5-19 years. Everyday an estimated 3,000 children and young people are killed or seriously injured on the world’s roads. More than half of road traffic deaths are among pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. These deaths are largely preventable. Evidence shows that children and youth are most at risk on the streets where they live, play and travel to school.

In Uzbekistan, 1,139 road accidents with children happened in 2020, and this figure is 243 for the first four months in 2021. As a result, 1,143 children received injuries of varying severity, and 285 children died.

 “We are confident that an integrated approach can help reduce the number of children injured as a result of road traffic accidents. Working with children is one of the key tasks of the Road Safety Concept adopted in the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2018-2022, which includes comprehensive engagement with children at every stage - with parents and peers, in preschool educational institutions and schools, at home and in the street”, said Olim Saidov, Head of the General Directorate of Road Safety of the Ministry of the Interior.

Further, a recent U-Report survey, with the participation of 7,500 young people over the all country, shows major gaps in ensuring children’s safety on roads in both urban and rural areas of Uzbekistan.

According to the majority of respondents (75%), students mostly get to school on foot, yet half of the respondents believed that the road to school were not safe (51%). In the city of Tashkent, the percentage was higher – 60%.

Only 37% of respondents confirmed that materials and posters on road safety are available in their school, in addition to textbooks. They suggested inviting traffic police experts to lessons (19%), teaching traffic rules in schools (18%), setting pedestrian and bike paths (16%), and limiting the speed of cars on roads near schools to 30 km/h (14%).

 “On the eve of 1 June – Child Protection Day, UNICEF wants to reiterate that every child has the right to use safe roads, and every child must have safe and healthy journey to  and from school,” said Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Representative in Uzbekistan. “All of us – authorities and communities, school administrations and teachers, families and parents, as well as children themselves, play an important role to prevent road accidents and protect children from injuries and death on roads. This is our collective responsibility,” he added.