Schools are Invited to Participate in the Competition “Save Young Lives on the Roads”
The State Enterprise Lithuanian Road Administration (hereinafter referred to as the Road Administration) together with its partners – the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and Lithuanian Road Police Service – organizes the national competition of the Lithuanian schoolchildren “Save Young Lives on the Roads”.
This year the renewed competition will take place from April to June. Traditionally, about 50000 schoolchildren of various ages from various schools all over the country test their knowledge and skills in this competition every year.
This year, the project organizers are once again inviting primary school children to the competition “Traffic Lights”, the young cyclists 11–14 years old – to the contest “Safe Wheel”. The schoolchildren aged 15–18 are invited to try their best at the contest of young moped and motorcycle drivers, and the young people aged 17–19 are invited to take part in a contest for young car drivers.
“It is very important to educate a responsible and committed road user from an early age. The skills developed in childhood remain for a long time, thus in order to have a cultural and responsible road user, we need to pay a large attention to educating young people. By participating in this competition, the schoolchildren repeat theoretical and practical knowledge, learn to apply them in real traffic. All the schoolchildren of classes 1–12 are invited to participate in different parts of the competition, depending on their age group”, says Remigijus Lipkevičius, Director of the Road Administration.
Ramūnas Skaudžius, the Vice-Minister of Education, Science and Sport also invites Lithuanian schoolchildren to actively take part in the competition and to strengthen their traffic safety skills. “Schools carry out a variety of activities to help children develop a responsible attitude and behaviour as road users. This competition is another attractive opportunity to remember, learn, test and consolidate the knowledge and practical skills of traffic safety”, says R. Skaudžius.
This year’s competition will welcome participants renewed but still keeping its most relevant traditions. Some of the competition stages will take place remotely from April to June, but the teams and individual schoolchildren who will show the best results will be invited to come to the final stages and to participate live. As every year, participants will have to solve theoretical tasks revealing their understanding of traffic rules, and to answer questions about the increasingly popular vehicle among children and young people – the electric scooter. In addition, participants will have to answer questions about rollers and skateboards and explain what traffic rules each pedestrian must comply with.
According to the Director of the Road Administration, by participating in the competition the schoolchildren repeat theoretical and practical rules of road safety and learn to apply them in real traffic. This road safety initiative, which has been implemented for more than two decades, has become traditional and is well known to both – the schools and the schoolchildren themselves. Encouraged by the teachers in the primary classes to take part in the competition, the senior-classes schoolchildren increasingly register themselves for the competition and invite their friends to join the initiative.
Vytautas Grašys, the Head of the Lithuanian Road Police Service, by inviting young road users to actively participate in this national competition, emphasizes: “It is very important to understand that everyone’s proper behaviour on the road creates a safe environment for all of us. When preparing for the competition together with the teachers, show your knowledge gained not only in the individual competition stages, but also in real everyday life – in public traffic. You can be an example to follow, you can inspire friends, younger brothers and sisters, and even some adults to follow traffic rules. At the same time, I would like to thank the pedagogues not only for helping children to prepare for this competition, but also for developing their understanding and responsible behaviour on the road”.
More information about the competition can be found on the website www.saugusmokinys.lt
The national competition of Lithuanian schoolchildren “Save Young Lives on the Roads” is organized by the Road Administration with partners, the competition is carried out by the communication agency that won the public procurement.