Global Road Safety Partnership

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Russian Federation

The Russian Federation is a vast country, crossing 11 time zones from Europe to Asia. Sakhalin Island is located in the Russian Far East off the Siberian cost in the Sea of Okhotsk. The Island is 950 km long from North to South and belongs to the Sakhalin Oblast, which also includes the Kurile Islands. Sakhalin is the largest island of Russia, being 948 km (589 miles) long, and 25 to 170 km (16 to 105 miles) wide, with an area of 78,000 km² (30,100 mi²)

Sakhalin has a population of 650,000, the majority of whom live in the towns located in the southern part of the Island. Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is the capital city of Sakhalin.
Sakhalin Island is rich in natural resources, such as timber and fish. In 1995 offshore oil and gas was discovered in the waters around the island. The development of the oil and gas fields has had a profound effect on the island and its residents. One change has been a dramatic increase in population and motorization as thousands of people moved to Sakhlain to work for the oil and gas companies or their contractors.

Sakhalin is characterized by severe weather conditions. A freezing cold winter lasts for about 6 months, spring and summer are very muddy and dusty, and although cool, autumn is beautiful with the changing of the trees. Much of the Island remains undeveloped, attracting tourist seeking the quiet and beauty of nature

Road Safety in Russian Federation Facts GRSP in Sakhalin Project selection Projects Road Systems Management Crash Data Collection and analysis (completed) Pre-hospital Care (ongoing) Safer Roads Black spot improvement (ongoing) Safer Roads Users Seat Belt Campaign (ongoing) Road Victims Remembrance Day Safe Routes to School (ongoing)

Projects

• Road Systems Management

  • Crash Data Collection and analysis (completed)

    High quality crash data collection and analysis systems provide vital information for planning improvements to road safety. They are key to establishing the root causes of crashes and for identifying and prioritising improvement actions. This project aims to review the systems currently used in Sakhalin against international practices and identify possible areas for improvement.

  Project leader: BP Sakhalin

  Project partners: GIBBD, local administration, Ministry of Justice, GRSP

  • Pre-hospital Care (ongoing)

    The Russian Federal Road Safety Programme recognizes that many road crash deaths and injuries in Russia could be prevented through improved rescue efforts and pre-hospital care. In July 2006, the SRSP launched a technical assistance project to increase the professional skills of road safety professionals at the crash scene to safe lives and prevent second-hand injuries and provide essential equipment.

    Components of the Pre-hospital Care project include training all traffic police officers in first aid, as they are usually the first at the crash scene; a mock-crash scene exercise to evaluate rescue techniques and cooperation among professionals at the crash scene (undertaken by the World Rescue Organisation in cooperation with GRSP), focus group discussions with these professionals, training and equipment provision.

    First aid training commenced in July 2006 and was conducted according to international standards by the Sakhalin unit of the Russian Centre for Disaster Medicine. First aid kits have been procured to equip all mobile units on Sakhalin Island.

    In October 2006 representatives of the World Rescue Organisaion (WRO) travelled to Sakhalin as part of the project to assess the co-operation among the services at the crash scene. Components of their visit included a rescue exercise (mock crash scene) and a series of focus group discussions with road safety professionals (police, rescue, medical, fire). ACLS training for first-responders also commenced in late October. The crash scene exercise was the first ever multi-agency exercise of this kind conducted on Sakhalin. In follow-up to the visit, the WRO drafted a report with a series of recommendations. A second phase of the project will build on these recommendations and commence in mid 2007.

    Project summary: Sakhalin pre-hospital care, Russia

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• Safer Roads

  • Black spot improvement (ongoing)

    According to crash data provided by the Traffic Militia (GIBDD), some 25% of traffic crashes on Sakhalin occur at black spots. Many of these crashes involve vulnerable road users including pedestrians. Additionally, children are involved in 16% of crashes on Sakhalin, a rate that exceeds the Russian average. Therefore this project aims to improve the safety at black spots where a high number of vulnerable road users are involved, in particular children.

    Of the list of 23 priority black spot sights identified by the traffic police, 9 were chosen for detailed evaluation within the scope of this project as they involved a high number of vulnerable road users and it was believed that low-cost measures could be very effective in improving the safety at these sites. Between 2002 and March 2005, 173 injury crashes had taken place at these 9 sites resulting in 21 deaths and 204 injuries. By the end of 2005, USD 120,000 had been raised to finance the black spot improvement project.

    At one chosen site, for example, there were 39 crashes resulting in 2 deaths and 45 injuries, including 10 children. Examples of Low Cost Measures, which will be used to improve the spot include:

     

    • Short curb construction
    • Highly reflective “zebra crossing”
    • Change street reflectors and lamps
    • Two highly reflective “pre-warning” signs
    • Renovate or replace pedestrian crossing signs
    • Install four reflective poles on either side of street

     

    The implementation of the measures and the accompanying community awareness campaign will begin in late spring 2006 after the snow melts.

    Project summary: Sakhalin black-spot programme, Russia

  Project leader: Schlumberger

  Project partners: GIDBB, Sakhalin Administration

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• Safer Roads Users

  • Seat Belt Campaign (ongoing)

    The Sakhalin Island seatbelt campaign will be implemented for a third time in mid-2007. Seat belt wearing rates continue to be low on Sakhalin in comparison to regions with a more developed road safety culture and there is a need to raise the awareness of population with respect to seat belts.

    The campaigns have been developed according to international good practice with guidance from GRSP and the FIA Foundation and in close cooperation with the traffic police (GIBDD) and local administration. The Sakhalin Oblast Administration and the traffic police (GIBDD) continue to be decisive partners in the campaign development and implementation process.

    2005 Seat belt Campaign

    Before starting the development of this campaign, a detailed public opinion survey was undertaken on Sakhalin Island. This was designed to identify the 'reasons' that local residents chose not to wear a seat belt. This was recognised as being of key importance in designing a campaign that would be effective in addressing incorrect assumptions and inaccurate beliefs - and allowed the project team to tailor the initial campaign ideas and messages accordingly. Before the campaign launch, all campaign materials were thoroughly tested in a number of externally managed focus groups. This ensured that the materials and messages that had been developed would be effective in reaching their target audiences (and where they weren't, the project team was able to make changes).

    The project team also identified that, although it is Russian law that seat belts should be worn, seat belt enforcement wasn't regarded as a high priority of the Sakhalin GIBDD. Though close engagement with the GIBDD, the reason for this was established - a lack of enforcement officers led to the prioritisation of road safety violations of which seat belts was not highly recognised. While the project team were not able to provide additional GIBDD officers it was able to reach an agreement with the head of the local GIBDD that he would pass an act, at a pre identified point in the campaign implementation period, to ensure that enforcement of seat belt usage on Sakhalin Island would be intensified during the 'enforcement' phase of the campaign. Should the effectiveness of this action deliver quantifiable results in terms of a reduction in severity of injury incurred in accidents on the Island - as is predicted - the project team hope to petition for seat belt enforcement to be recognised as a continued high priority for the Sakhalin GIBDD.

    In order to develop a successful seat belt campaign on Sakhalin Island the campaign was implemented in two phases. First an awareness campaign was launched to address why seatbelts should be worn and to correct incorrect seatbelt assumptions that were held by members of the public. Secondly, and most critically, an enforcement campaign was launched to reinforce the fact that the use of seat belts is law - and not using your belt is - and will be - punishable by a fine.
    In developing the Sakhalin Island seatbelt campaign the Sakhalin Island project team undertook the following key steps:

    • Engagement with, and buy-in from, the local Administration regarding the need for a seat-belt campaign on the Island.
    • Engagement with, and buy-in from, the local GIBDD regarding the need for a seat-belt campaign on the Island.
    • A Public opinion survey was conducted to establish public views on road safety, and in particular, on the use of seatbelts.
    • Monitoring of seat belt use (using FIA handbook recommended techniques) to give a true percentage figure of pre campaign seatbelt use.
    • Initial focus group discussions with members of the public to help develop the campaign slogan, determine target groups and design/develop campaign awareness materials.
    • The development of campaign materials based on focus group feedback
    • Testing of campaign materials on focus groups (GIBDD and public)
    • Approval of campaign materials from the local Administration and GIBDD.
    • Pre-launch briefings with key stakeholder groups (teachers, GIBDD, transportation companies).
    • In-depth Pre-launch briefings with the GIBDD (Island wide) were held as it was recognised that the effectiveness of the GIBDD enforcement would be a critical element in ensuring the campaign was a success.
    • AWARENESS CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
    • High profile media coverage of campaign key messages (TV adverts, radio adverts, billboards, interviews in the media with identified representatives etc).
    • Education campaign in Schools
    • ENFORCEMENT CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
    • Post campaign monitoring to establish effectiveness of the campaign.

    The Campaign was launched in November 2005 for a period of 3 months covering New Year period which is also vital as many road crashes take place during the holiday period.

    Research conducted before and after the 2005 campaign shows an increase in wearing rates in urban areas (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) from 3.8% to 13.9% and on rural roads from 26.8& to 51.8%.

    2006 Seat Belt Campaign

    In an effort to bolster wearing rates a second campaign was launched in mid 2006. The project team evaluated lessons learned from the first campaign and chose to focus more effort on:

    • ensuring consistent enforcement throughout the entire campaign period;
    • creating stable positive opinions of the advantages of buckling up;
    • reaching more people by using a larger scope of mass media sources;
    • implementing the campaign during the summer period when crash rates are usually highest in the Sakhalin Oblast

    The geography of the 2006 campaign was expanded by conducting campaign launches in smaller communities. Video materials and radio clips were updated to reflect the summer season and higher level of enforcement. The 2006 campaign started in May with a high volume of communications activities, which continued until mid-November.

    The following measures proved particularly critical in developing and implementing two successful campaigns:

     

    • Winning high level political support for the campaign;
    • Engaging with local stakeholders representing diverse sectors;
    • Well promoted and properly launched enforcement of traffic laws;
    • Professional development of campaign materials using focus groups;
    • Pre and post campaign data collection on wearing rates based on international good practice;
    • Pre-launch educational events for media and local traffic police to raise the awareness of these key stakeholders about the risks involved in not wearing a seat belt;
    • High profile media coverage using local true stories;
    • Debrief of key stakeholders after the campaign

     

    In addition, the following measures proved important to the success of the 2006 campaign:

    1. Individual community campaign launches and presentations made by a professional road safety trainer, which provided opportunities to discuss the issue of seat belts with local residents;
    2. Increased enforcement starting in parallel with the information campaign;
    3. Educational seminars with road transport companies;
    4. Involvement of individuals well known on the island to deliver campaign messages and support the campaign (representatives of administration, traffic police and church);

    Research conducted before and after the 2006 campaign shows an increase in wearing rates in urban areas (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) from 14.3% 22.7% and on rural roads from 56.1% 77.9%

    Project summary: Sakhalin seatbelt campaign, Russia

  Project leader: Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd

  Project partners: GIBDD, Sakhalin Administration

  • Road Victims Remembrance Day

    A high profile Road Victims Remembrance Day event took place at the end of November with the aim of increasing community awareness about risks on the roads. It was the first such event on Sakhalin. Activities included religious ceremonies, road safety information sessions a concert. Speeches were made by road crash victims and high-profile community representatives. The event was held under the umbrella of the Road Victims Fund on Sakhalin, financed by the CTSD Ltd.

  • Safe Routes to School (ongoing)

    The SRSP in cooperation with GRSP facilitated a workshop on the Safe Routes to Schools approach in October 2006. The workshop aimed to develop an approach to reducing child injury as a result of road crashes on Sakhalin that could be implemented through the schools. It was attended by representatives of the Department of Education, traffic police, two pilot schools, the black spot project (Schlumberger), and BP. The project is funded by BP Sakhalin and led by the Sakhalin State University.

    Workshop participants and the project team defined six components of the initiative including the development of discussion prints for use in class rooms, the development of “safe routes to school” maps for pupils and parents identifying the safest routes for the children to travel to school, video materials, topics for regular “five minute” talks with children and infrastructure measures (being taken forward as part of the Black Spot project). An additional component to be taken forward by the Sakahlin State University is training student teachers how to create and deliver road safety lessons.

    In February 2007, GRSP facilitated the participation of an international specialist in road safety education (safe routes to school) to assist local professionals begin the development of the discussion prints, safe routes maps and video materials and increase their understanding of the SRTS approach by conducting a workshop on the issue. Two schools will test the materials in a pilot phase to be launched at the beginning of the next school year (September 2007).

    Project summary: Sakhalin safe routes to schools, Russia

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