Traffic safety promotion and awareness raising campaign: organisational and ecological issues

Abstract

Traffic accidents are one of the most difficult problems in human society, followed by human and material losses and a problem that every country in the world faces, regardless of technological progress and traffic culture. International institutions and numerous experts are constantly trying to find an appropriate model that can respond to the problem of everyday vehicle growth in the world, serious and alarming situations with the number of traffic accidents and the harmful consequences that the traffic arises. Numerous analyzes and statistical surveys are trying to define appropriate scenarios that would give a true answer to the direct causes of accidents, with the minimization of the harmful consequences that inevitably result from them. In September 2015, amendments to the Law on Road Traffic Safety in the Republic of Macedonia were adopted, which, as an important novelty, determined the maximum allowed speed of vehicles, instead of the previous 60 to be 50 kilometers per hour. At the same time, very severe penalties were adopted for drivers who did not respect this limitation. The idea of these measures was to create conditions for greater traffic safety, especially for pedestrians and specifically reducing the number of traffic accidents in which pedestrians are often injured. Analyzes show that these amendments, despite of good intentions, caused other difficulties, such as reducing the throughput of the streets in populated areas and adversely affecting environmental conditions, visibly increasing air pollution, increased noise and harmful effects on the urban environment. In this paper, a cross-section is being made, of the necessary preparations for more effective application of these legal solutions, as well as analyzes of the harmful effects on the environment in the city centers in the Republic of Macedonia.