Training News

Road Safety Conference
The road safety conference aiming to discuss the road safety issues with the university students and the representatives of the relevant stakeholders, was organised on June 7, 2011 in East Mediterranean University. The presentations delivered in the event were on the activities, outputs and the results of the EU funded Road Safety Education and Campaigning project (Mr. Tamer Altunay), road safety policies and studies from the EU and Turkey (Prof. Dr. Mustafa Ilıcalı), the activities of DG Police to improve road safety (Mr. Faik Gümüş), road safety problem of our community and cooperation environment (Dr. Mehmet Z. Avcı), Traffic Education and Research Centre, EMU and the critical importance of research for road safety (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet M. Kunt), youngsters and road safety (Mr. Ahmet R. Ömeroglu).

At the end of the conference, discussions took place between the guests and the speakers. All participants were distributed with a flash memory containing all presentations and the project booklet containing the campaign materials.

Road Safety Training for Elementary School Students
Development of road safety as a culture in society, trainings should start from the elementary school stage. The training pack we developed for this purpose, essential information on road safety, gmaes, ouzzles and paintings for kids and recommendations for the parents and teachers. You can download the training material in the form of a digital brochure - please click.

We produced 15,000 copies of CDs containing the training materials in the form of a digital brochure and delivered to the authorities in charge of education to distribute in the next semester to all of the elementary school students.

Effective Traffic Inspection for Road Safety
the analysis conducted indicates that effective inspection is a sine qua non for road safety all over the world. It was also highlighted in the training needs assessment conducted in our project. In order to support the traffic inspection units of the DG Police, we organised delivery of a one-day long, specialised training developed by the Turkish DG Security- Directorate of Traffic Education and Research.

The main topics covered in the training organised on May 31, 2011 with 20 participants were general information on traffic inspection, strategies, inspection types, planning and rules of inspection. 

Workshop with the Units in charge of Regulation and Enforcement
Effective regulation and enforcement are key to satisfy road safety. With participants representing the units in charge of regulation and enforcement, the half-day workshop was organised on May 3,2011. There was a wide participation in the workshop, which was moderated by Prof. Mustafa Ilıcalı, who was an ex- MP from the Turkish Parliament, participated in the inter-parliamentary road safety studies representing Turkey and who is currently the chairman of the Applied Transportation research Centre in Bahcesehir University. Besides, Prof. Ilıcalı was the training expert of the project.

The major topics discussed in the workshop were: analysis of the road safety situation for our community, comparison with the developed countries, articles that needs revision in the existing regulation, studies that should be performed and related examples from the developed countries. In the final section of the workshop, the participants expressed their views; and the major outcome was the common intention to initiate studies to develop a Road Safety Action Plan. the workshop was fully recorded by local media and shared with the community.

Professional Driver Training
Professional drivers are regarded as a risk group all around the world, especially due to the time they spent in traffic. Aim of the training provided for the professional drivers under the Road Safety Education and Campaigning project was to increase participants’ awareness of the risk factors associated with driving for work, increase their familiarity with good practice and through the adoption of good practice to ultimately contribute to the reduction of road accidents in the northern part of Cyprus. Training was delivered on April 29, 2011 and focused on current accident patterns in the northern part of Cyprus, risks associated with driving for work, fleet driver effect, seat belts and vehicle load restraint systems, how to identify and safely deal with vulnerable road users. There were 19 participants in the training which took one-full day. The training was delivered by a trainer, specialised on driving psychology with more than 20 years experience in practical and academic studies for driving safety. 

Training of Driving School Trainers
Teh trainign needs assessment performed under the Road Safety Education and Campaigning project, indicated that improvement of driver training quality is oen of the most critical issues to ensure road safety. Training of driving school trainers was performed with the aim of sharing best practices from the world and promoting high standards in driver training, on 27-28 April 2011 as a 1.5 day course. The trainer was specialised on driving psychology with more than 20 years experience in practical and academic studies for driving safety.

 In the training programme, current accident patterns, recent developments in driver training including GDE matrix, licensing process and forthcoming changes in the licensing system; content of the theoretical and practical exams for cars and light vans, trucks, passenger carrying vehicles and motorcycles, which EU directive 2006/126/EC stipulates were among the major topics. The qualifications required to be a good driver trainer and the learning process and training techniques to maximise the learning performance were discussed. Practices were on preparation of a course, delivery and feed-back stages. 

Safe Driving Techniques Training for the Young Drivers
Under the EU funded Road Safety Education and Campaigning project, “Safe Driving Techniques” training for young drivers was conducted twice on 20th and 21st of April as a one-day course.

The training was provided by a trainer accredited on advanced and defensive driving techniques by RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) linked to the Driving School Agency (DSA)  founded in 1917.  The participants were 18-24 age group drivers, who were considered among the risky driver groups everywhere in the world. They received theoretical and practical training on safe driving techniques. 

The participants evaluated the training as highly useful especially the below topics consisting the major part of the training: braking techniques, prossible risks of traffic, factors causing road accidents, good driver profile, tyre safety, driving on a rainy day, road balance, cornering and economic driving.

Media Workshop for Road Safety
“Media Workshop” was organised in Merit Hotel, Nicosia on March 10, 2011.

The aim of the workshop was to increase participatory contribution of media in providing information to community on the measures to be taken to ensure road safety; to help in developing news focused on generating a positive change of behaviour for road safety and to improve the communication channels between the media representatives and the stakeholders.

The workshop started with a short movie exemplifying how the media currently presents road accidents. A presentation was made providing information on the project. The participants shared the difficulties they face in collecting information on the road accidents in developing the news. At the final part of the conference representatives of media and stakeholder organisations expressed their expectations from each other and cooperation possibilities. The brochures prepared in 10 different topics on major factors causing road accidents were distributed to the participants as a resource of information to be disseminated to the community.

Capacity building Workshop
The capacity building workshop was organised in Merit Hotel on November 09, 2010 in Nicosia. A total of 25 participants among the stakeholders of the Road Safety Education and Campaigning project participated in to the one-day workshop and discussed how to implement more efficient campaign and training activities to ensure road safety.

In this context, insitutions' vision related to this issue, performance of the previously implemented campaign and training activities on road safety and capacity improvement areas are dicussed as well as the regulatory and enforcement dimension of the subject. 

A report is prepared at the end of the workshop and shared with the participants.

The next stage of the capacity building component of the project is focus group studies, which are planned based on the results of the workshop. These will be initiated in the next few days.

This project is funded by the European Union and implemented by Piri Group consortium.