Local actions winner leads road safety assessment intervention in Indonesia

Local actions winner, Titis Efrindu along with his team from Transportologi in Indonesia, conducted a road safety perspective survey for assessing the level of children, parents, and teachers’ understanding of road safety and the potential risks of travel. Through the survey, Titis and his team were able to identify key issues the community want to address.

It was found that although young children understood the importance of safety and security on the road, they were more afraid of getting to school late than of the threat of road crashes. This being the case, the children believed that the school zone is safe but they were still concerned of speeding motorists. From the survey, it was revealed that parents themselves would often be involved in risky road user behavior.  

More importantly, the survey showed that both children and parents considered transportation through private vehicles as the safest mode of transport available. This being said, the two demographics would much prefer to have better and safer street designs where children would not have to go through the risk of getting involved in a crash. 

Titis and his team planned the first interventions through a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) focused on discussing the basics of road safety with a priority on raising commitments, engaging stakeholders, and improving the overall road safety situation in the area.

For a wider reach among children and students, the team collaborated with a local teacher’s group to work with national and local institutions to improve the road safety campaign. Among the key partners for the project is the National Facilitator of Child-Friendly School – one of the lead agencies for protecting women and children.

Through the FGDs, the team has reached 409 parents, 379 students, and 29 teachers, coming up to a total of 817. They also teamed up with a total of ten stakeholders to support the initiative and received the commitment of two decision-makers to work on road safety infrastructure in the area.