Road safety workshops for international students

Local Actions winner, Linda Nekesa, and her team from Hasselt University have completed a road safety workshop for international students held in person at the university. The workshop gave the students an idea about the basics of road safety and assessed their general understanding of road safety and sustainable mobility and happened simultaneously with orientation week to get the greatest number of audiences.

Linda and her team worked with the international student office and a bicycle renting service organization called VETO to highlight the importance of sustainable mobility and active modes of transport. The international student office provided the physical space while VEDO provided twenty bicycles for international students so they can practice cycling. There were two instructors present and a total of sixty students to take part. 

The initial aspect of the project focused on a needs assessment survey about what the students wanted to learn about road safety. The survey received a total of 55 responses. From the survey, it was revealed that the students were very open to alternative modes of transport but were concerned about the level of safety in the area. 

To address some of the issues identified by the students, the team decided to engage different stakeholders around the area to work on improving access to bicycles and the road safety facilities in the area to encourage more students to cycle and utilize other modes of transportation.

From left to right, the interns are Emile Uwamamungu, Christiane Rosine Routouyou Ndondoki, and Tsegay Gebru Hagos.

As part of efforts to ensure the continuity of the project, three master’s students from the transport sciences joined the project to support in building more resources, opportunities, and activities. The output of their internship is tied to the project activities; this means that, as the interns are completing their requirements, they are also supporting the implementation of the #MovingSafe2Hasselt project. 

The initial progress of the initiative resulted in the inclusion of five more students who will support the project within the academic year as part of the university courses. Meetings with the students will be scheduled between regular intervals for the sustainability of the progress.