Georgian road safety campaigners are leading a drive to increase seat belt use with a new TV advert and a lobbying campaign aimed at the country’s legislators.
The Partnership for Road Safety organised a high level meeting on 6th April to promote its seat belt campaign, which is co-funded by the FIA Foundation as part of the FIA Foundation’s new Global Seat Belt Vaccine Initiative. Mrs Sandra Roelofs, the First Lady of Georgia; Mr. Gigi Tsereteli, Vice-Speaker of the Parliament; Mrs. Rusudan Kervalishvili, Vice- Speaker of the Parliament; and representatives from various parliamentary committees participated in the meeting. The meeting was also attended by representatives of some of the campaign’s other donor organizations such as USAID, BP and the Ministry of Education and Science.
Gela Kvashilava, Chairman of the Georgian Partnership for Road Safety, presented to the politicians on the “Social and Economic Cost of not using the Safety Belts” and encouraged adoption of new legislation to require seat belt use on motorways and other major roads. The Health and Social Issues Committee is expected to arrange meetings on these issues in the Georgian Parliament in the near future, and to initiate a legislative bill within months.
The Partnership for Road Safety has also launched a new TV commercial “Buckle up for Love” to promote awareness of the need for seat belt use amongst car users ahead of any possible legislation. To see the TV commercial follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7S1Tm5bvCg
The Georgian seat belt campaign is one of the national programmes supported by the FIA Foundation’s new Global Seat Belt Vaccine Initiative, which directs catalytic funding and technical assistance to seat belt initiatives. Other focus countries in 2010 will include Armenia, Ukraine and Mexico.
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